Looks like the whole lot apart form the couple of later reunion albums
PM:slightly_smiling_face: Also a November release

https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/the-free-design-butterflies-are-free-the-original-recordings-1967-72-4cd/?mc_cid=0163382aaa&mc_eid=4cbaf2edc7

The Free Design: Butterflies Are Free – The Original Recordings 1967-72, 4CD

The Dedrick children, Chris, his brother Bruce, their sister Sandra and their younger sisters Ellen and Stefanie, were born into a world of music. Their father, Art, was a trombonist and arranger, their mother a music teacher who played French horn. Uncle Rusty, a jazz trumpeter with Red Norvo.


Under the influence of the Hi-Lo’s and Peter, Paul and Mary, The Free Design rose through the folk scene of the Greenwich Village coffee houses, achieving national prominence with the enchanting ‘Kites Are Fun’. They would prove to be at least the artistic equals of such popular contemporaries as The Association, The Mamas and the Papas, The Fifth Dimension and Harper’s Bizarre, but without quite matching their commercial success.


Rather than be dictated to and diluted by the majors, they chose to commit to the artistic freedom and potential to develop offered them by the producer Enoch Light through his independent set up, Project 3. While his label might not have been able to provide the resources of a Columbia or RCA, he believed in the group, gave them carte blanche and hired some of the finest session musicians in New York to back them.


The decision to put their art first was justified by the extraordinary quality of the seven albums recorded between 1967 and 1972. We have Enoch Light’s vision and the group’s brave decision to stick to their guns to thank for the fact that this splendid music exists today.


During the 1990’s The Free Design enjoyed a renaissance. The enthusiastic reevaluation of their work by a new generation of international musicians; Cornelius, Beck, Stereolab and the High Llamas, who insisted that The Free Design be placed among the all-time greats of vocal harmony; to be spoken of in the same sentence as The Beach Boys and The Carpenters.


With exceptions, The Free Design were at their most pure in recordings of their own compositions. ‘Kites Are Fun’, ‘Bubbles’, ‘Kije’s Ouija’, ‘My Brother Woody’, ‘Ivy On A Windy Day’, ‘Starlight’, ‘Daniel Dolphin’, ‘I’m A Yogi’, ‘My Very Own Angel,’ and the ‘Dorian Benediction’, each adorned by the baroque fantasy quality which is uniquely theirs. Breathtakingly original songs full of playful, nostalgic lyrical imagery; sometimes surprisingly dark; always enormously listenable.


Whilst the arrangements reflected Chris Dedrick’s classical training and eclectic taste, the beautifully detailed sound must be attributed – at least in part – to the legendary sound engineer Phil Ramone, a magician whose emphasis on subtlety and nuance in performance conceived such creations as ‘The Girl from Ipanema’ by Astrud Gilberto, ‘Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard’ by Paul Simon, the Bob Dylan album, “Blood On the Tracks”, and, of course, ‘Bubbles’ by The Free Design.


Track List:

DISC ONE:

KITES ARE FUN (1967)

KITES ARE FUN
MAKE THE MADNESS STOP
WHEN LOVE IS YOUNG
THE PROPER ORNAMENTS
MY BROTHER WOODY
59TH STREET BRIDGE SONG (FEELIN’ GROOVY)
DON’T TURN AWAY
UMBRELLAS
MICHELLE
NEVER TELL THE WORLD
A MAN AND A WOMAN
STAY ANOTHER SEASON
YOU COULD BE BORN AGAIN (1968)

YOU COULD BE BORN AGAIN
A LEAF HAS VEINS
CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’
THE WINDOWS OF THE WORLD
ELEANOR RIGBY
QUARTET NO. 6 IN D MINOR
I LIKE THE SUNRISE
I FOUND LOVE
DANIEL DOLPHIN
HAPPY TOGETHER
IVY ON A WINDY DAY
AN ELEGY


DISC TWO:

HEAVEN / EARTH (1969)

MY VERY OWN ANGEL
NOW IS THE TIME
IF I WERE A CARPENTER
YOU BE YOU AND I’LL BE ME
GIRLS ALONE
2002 – A HIT SONG
SUMMERTIME
WHERE DO I GO
HURRY SUNDOWN
MEMORIES
DORIAN BENEDICTION
SING FOR VERY IMPORTANT PEOPLE (1970)

DON’T CRY, BABY
CAN YOU TELL ME HOW TO GET TO SESAME STREET?
CHILDREN’S WALTZ
SCARLET TREE
LITTLE COWBOY
LOVE YOU
RONDA GO ‘ROUND
BUBBLES
DANIEL DOLPHIN
KITES ARE FUN
LULLABY


DISC THREE:

STARS / TIME / BUBBLES / LOVE (1970)

BUBBLES
TOMORROW IS THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF MY LIFE
KIJE’S OUIJA
BUTTERFLIES ARE FREE
STAY OFF YOUR FROWN
STARLIGHT
TIME AND LOVE
I’M A YOGI
RAINDROPS KEEP FALLING ON MY HEAD
HOWDJADOO (FLY ME DOWN)
THAT’S ALL PEOPLE
ONE BY ONE (1972)

ONE BY ONE
FELT SO GOOD
FRIENDLY MAN
LIGHT MY FIRE
LIKE TO LOVE
YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE
GO LEAN ON A RIVER
GOING BACK
LOVE ME
FRIENDS (THANK YOU ALL)


DISC FOUR:

THERE IS A SONG (1972)

CANADA IN SPRINGTIME
KUM BA YAH
PETER, PAUL AND MARY
PINEAPPLE CRABAPPLE
THE SYMBOLS RING
STAY
I WANNA BE THERE
THERE IS A SONG
A CHILD IS BORN
LOVE DOES NOT DIE
CHORALE
FUGUE
BONUS TRACKS

KITES ARE FUN (MONO SINGLE)
THE PROPER ORNAMENTS (MONO SINGLE)
YOU BE YOU AND I’LL BE ME (MONO SINGLE)
NEVER TELL THE WORLD (MONO SINGLE)
59TH STREET BRIDGE SONG (FEELIN’ GROOVY) (MONO SINGLE)
I FOUND LOVE (MONO SINGLE)
UMBRELLAS (MONO SINGLE)
CLOSE YOUR MOUTH (IT’S CHRISTMAS) (SINGLE)
CHRISTMAS IS THE DAY (SINGLE)
ELLEN DEDRICK NATURE BOY (SINGLE)
ELLEN DEDRICK SETTLEMENT BOY (SINGLE)
BUTTERFLIES ARE FREE (SINGLE VERSION)
TO A BLACK BOY
(RECORDED 1970 –

UNRELEASED UNTIL 2004)

Yeh it took me a while to get into this bunch when I first heard them many years ago, but I love their sound now, middle age making me more appreciative of lighter more mellow sounds? I do have all the albums that's on this box set on cd reissues, the last 3 albums that are on cd 3 on this box set are excellent!! I look forward to seeing this box set out.exquisite pop with airy vocals and harmonies, with a nice 60s summery vibe on those early albums, some even touching on lite psych, the later albums are to my ears not as sunshine vibey, more acoustic guitar in the mix from what I remember, but still cracking vocals and the songwriting has certainly matured into other areas, if you've not got all those albums, this box set is well recommended once it's released and that's just the music, I'm sure they'll be a booklet etc!!

cant find this advertised anywhere

It won't be yet it's not out until late November. Advance details are on the Cherry Red website in the link I put in my original post

https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/the-free-design-butterflies-are-free-the-original-recordings-1967-72-4cd/?mc_cid=0163382aaa&mc_eid=4cbaf2edc7

PM:slightly_smiling_face: