Originally released in 1970 on Enoch Light’s Project 3 label, Stars/Time/Bubbles/Love served as The Free Design’s turning point: mixing the group’s timeless elements of soft-psych with a dose of funk! In the words of Free Design historian Robbie Baldock, “Stars is where The Free Design gets funky”!
With Stars/Time/Bubbles/Love the group’s fourth album, chief Free Design songwriter Chris Dedrick continued to develop his experimental approach to composing, songwriting, and arranging, while beginning to introduce his love of jazz, gospel singing, and the Motown sound. Even the Jackson Pollack inspired-album art showcased a change of direction for the Dedricks, illustrating the group’s contention that, with this album, they were pushing The Free Design sound out in completely new directions. (A recent exhibit by the artist Christian Marclay even sampled this cover art.)
As an added bonus, the CD version includes the previously unreleased track “To A Black Boy”, an undiscovered studio gem from circa 1970 and composed by Chris Dedrick. Plus, the 1970 single version of “Butterflies Are Free”.
