(World In Sound 2006, WIS 1003)
Fred – “s/t”
(World In Sound 2006, WIS 1003)
From Aural Innovations #36 (May 2007)
Fred was a Pennsylvania based band from the early 70’s who played live
shows and recorded a number of songs in the studio, but never managed to release
an album...until now. Although the band hasn’t reformed, World in Sound
has issued a collection of some of Fred’s studio tracks recorded between
1971 and 1973. Combining folk, rock, blues, and psychedelia with lush harmonies
and classical touches, Fred creates a sound not dissimilar to other US bands
of the time. It’s a sort of protoprog kind of thing, with an emphasis
on both acoustic and electric sounds. I am reminded of the San Francisco band
It’s a Beautiful Day, in large part thanks to some of the superb violin
work on the Fred album, which can be heard in almost every track. And the vocals
and harmonies are occasionally reminiscent of psychedelic folksters H. P. Lovecraft.
The players are all quite talented, and it’s nice to hear how bands used
to focus so much on crafting strong melodies and beautiful harmonies, an art
that seems to have largely been forgotten in modern music. The music of Fred
is created utilizing a wide array of instruments including guitar, bass, drums,
vocals, the aforementioned violin, piano, organ and even some harpsichord. There
is some superb electric guitar work, with nice psychedelic effects that add
a little edge here and there to an otherwise fairly mellow album (I absolutely
love the solo on By the Way). All in all, some very strong songs with that classic
late 60’s early 70’s sound that you can’t go wrong with. It’s
hinted in the extensive liner notes (by band founding member and guitarist Joe
DeChristopher) that there are still more recordings left over in the archive,
so hopefully we’ll get a second Fred album at some point.
For more info, visit: http://www.worldinsound.com
Reviewed by Jeff Fitzgerald