fred was rediscovered in 2000 by World In Sound. An indie record label, World In Sound found their 45 rpm single “Salvation Lady/a love song” (Arpeggio Records 1971) at a German flea market. Tracking down guitarist Joe DeCristopher via the internet, World In Sound signed the group and has since released 3 albums. Who or what is fred? In Swedish, fred means “peace”, a good idea for any decade. In music, fred was part of the “turn on, tune in, drop out” culture of the late 60’s and started playing together in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania in the autumn of 1969, while the nucleus of the band was still attending Bucknell University. By early 1970, the group was already madly writing innovative original songs, and amidst the belated arrival in small-town rural America of a blossoming counterculture of peace, love, and drugs, it was the beginning of a unique musical journey. When school ended in the spring of 1970, most of the band moved west of town into two small farm houses, where they raised food, hell and plenty of consciousness. Music was just part of the overall experience. There was a shared commitment to the vision of creating a self-sufficient community of artists and musicians. Existing as rebellious outsiders in a society filled with political unrest and generational turmoil, fred defiantly played what pleased them wherever they went. During 1970/71, the group was “on the road” playing “covers” by its favorite artists (Procol Harum, The Band, Traffic, Jethro Tull, Frank Zappa, King Crimson, and Yes) as well as trying out their original fred material on unsuspecting audiences. In late 1971/early 1972, the band recorded many of their original songs at ITI Studios in Maryland with engineer George Massenburg. These recordings make up the bulk of fred’s 1st album on World In Sound, the self-titled “fred” (WIS-1003), digitally remastered/released in 2001. Mystical, trippy lyrics and heavenly vocal harmonies floating over mesmerizing fuzz-tone guitar merge with graceful bass lines, enticing tonal colors, and imaginative rock drumming to produce exquisite progressive rock songs. Haunting lyricism combines with acid rock intensity as these intricate pieces fluidly mix musical styles, venturing off in refreshingly unexpected and enchanting directions. It’s an alluring atmospheric blend of moody art rock, exotic non-western scales, stunning psychedelic instrumental sounds, and a gentle American folk-rock vibe rubbing up against the rich harmonic progressions of European classical music. Joe DeCristopher’s raunchy rock guitar contrasts marvelously against David Rose’s sweet rural violin in these ambitious and curiously captivating tracks. fred brings a unique sensibility and style to these pieces, uncannily as fresh today as they were when they were first recorded. By fred’s 2nd album, “Notes on a Picnic” (WIS-1016), the band’s music evolved into inventive instrumental progressive rock featuring quirky melodies, intricate scored parts, tight ensemble playing, complex polyrhythms, sophisticated multi-tracking, and inspired rock improvisation. Originally recorded 1973/74 at Blue Rock Studios in New York City but not released until 2003 by World In Sound, “Notes on a Picnic” is a full-tilt sonic feast, 24-bit digitally remastered from the original session tapes. Sparkling with creative musicianship, the album overflows with wonderfully raucous rock guitar, mind-bending electric violin with fusion/classical overtones, propulsive rock drums and bass, swirling garage rock organ, and funky electric piano. Bursting with an eclectic, eccentric diversity, “Notes on a Picnic” is adventurous, playful, and unpredictable, vibrating with a vivid intensity. Furious fun, delightfully deranged. With fred’s final album in its World In Sound trilogy, “live at the bitter end” (WIS-1020), the band makes a dramatic leap into high-energy instrumental fusion, floating strange unearthly chords over dark obsessive grooves, with blistering solos that whisper and scream. Recorded over the summer of 1974 while fred was headlining at NYC’s world famous nightspot The Bitter End, these are raw, in-your-face live performances, digitally remastered/released by World In Sound in 2004. It is high-octane, aggressive electric instrumental music with Bo Fox’s pulverizing rock drums, Joe DeCristopher’s wailing gutsy guitar, and David Rose’s wild violin pyrotechnics. The mood ranges from tender to tortured, demented to delirious, always edgy, enigmatic, and full of surprise. With powerful melodic themes over innovative rhythms, complex harmonies and inspired ensemble interplay, fred lets loose over elegant structures for extended solo flights in the twilight zone of rock improvisation. So who or what is fred? Moody, atmospheric art rock? Mysterious, jam band psychedelia? Or some kind of twisted, progressive fusion? How about: Future music from the past for thrill-junkies everywhere. A producer’s perspective by Joe Schick... (from the liner notes for fred - “Notes on a Picnic”) In 1972, I owned a 16-track studio called Blue Rock in New York’s Soho district with a certain amount of downtown cachet. I was 26 and it was a heady time Dylan had recorded there and the excitement of making music that I loved was enough to make up for the fact that I had no idea how to run my business or pay the electric bill. Blue Rock had walls made of denim and Turkish rugs on the floor. It was dark and comfortable. We wanted it to feel like an opium den, and it did. Rolling Stone called Blue Rock “the apotheosis of the laid back.” Somehow, in early 1973, fred wandered in from Amishville and blew our minds. They played music that couldn’t be defined: It was pure and original. It sounded like jazz and classical and rock at the same time. And it was dangerous and awesome because it was so honest that you couldn’t listen to it without feeling it owned you. fred became Blue Rock’s house band, and we became their house. It was fun to have them around, like a family of crazed, hungry, brilliant teenagers. There were the mad ones - David, who tried to be the organized leader, but whose artistic fury and the lunacy that fed it always won out; Peter, a dark cloud of sullen precision, cool intelligence, and entertaining sarcasm; and Fat Mike, the mischievous contrarian jester who never seemed to be the same person he was the last time you saw him. Then the slightly less mad ones Joey, a blue-collar guy with musical chops that let you know how weird he really was; Kenny, maybe a little stern and professorial but subtly unhinged; and Bo, surf god choir boy with a good heart. In the fashion of the day, fred was a democracy, and every damn thing was subject to the will of the majority. With this cast of characters, that meant voting blocs with the stability of the Middle East. There were sleeping bags everywhere, incessant card games, ganja, 18-hour sessions, laughter, passionate arguments, and egg creams at 4:15 am. When fred played gigs, this whole unstable vibe went with them. Sometimes it meant exalted evenings, like those at a tiny dive where I remember a 20-minute version of War’s “Slippin’ Into Darkness” that was achingly disturbed. It also meant gigs in rural Pennsyltucky (fredspeak for nowhere) towns, after long cold rides in vans done up in bad shag carpet. And it could be that the best fred music is buried in the walls of the milkhouse of the farm in Lewisburg, where they rehearsed, unselfconsciously shooting off luminous fragments of now-lost songs into the cool light of midnight. The fragile web that held the whole thing together tore apart way too soon. But when it was working, when Blue Rock was resonating with their stunning originality, we had absolute faith that fred was the best band on the planet. I’m still not sure they weren’t.