Farewell Aldebaran by Judy Henske and Jerry Yester is a remarkable album of folk rock and psychedelic songs issued in 1969. Henske and Yester met while both were working in the West Coast folk scene in the early 1960s, Henske as an uncategorizable solo singer recording folk, blues, jazz and comedy, and Yester as a member of the Modern Folk Quartet. They married in 1963. A few years later, Henske's career was faltering as a result of ill-advised forays into the cabaret market, while Yester had produced albums by Tim Buckley and the Association, and had also replaced Zal Yanovsky in the Lovin' Spoonful. The pair, with their new-born daughter, moved to Los Angeles in 1968. Henske shared a manager, Herb Cohen, with Frank Zappa, and it was Zappa who suggested to her that she should put to music some of the verse she was writing. Yester, at this point, was working with Yanovsky on the latter's first solo album, and experimenting wildly with new electronic and other sound effects. The trio combined to put together "Farewell Aldebaran", drawing on a varied selection of their musician friends, and it was issued on Zappa and Cohen's new Straight label.
The album contains a wild mixture of late 1960s styles, as though recorded by ten different bands, but all featuring Henske's almost gothic lyrics and remarkable vocal range. The opener, "Snowblind", is a Janis Joplin style belter which was issued as a single, but is immediately followed by "Horses on a Stick", almost a parody of "sunshine pop". Next is the quasi-classical "Lullaby", and then a melodramatic hymn with strong anti-clerical lyrics, "St. Nicholas Hall". From here, the album picks up even higher in quality. "Three Ravens" is a sublime slice of baroque pop; "Raider" has been described as an acid sea shanty; "Rapture" is a folk-rock waltz; and the upbeat "Charity" is possibly the best track of all. Finally, the title track is the most overtly "psychedelic" track on the album, featuring electronically treated vocals and Bernie Krause's Moog synthesizer.
Although the album got some good reviews, it failed to sell, purchasers possibly driven away by its sheer eclecticism. Henske and Yester went on to form a more conventional band, Rosebud, before they went their separate ways at the start of the 1970s.
The album was finally reissued on CD by Radioactive Records in 2005. Wiki
The album contains a wild mixture of late 1960s styles, as though recorded by ten different bands, but all featuring Henske's almost gothic lyrics and remarkable vocal range. The opener, "Snowblind", is a Janis Joplin style belter which was issued as a single, but is immediately followed by "Horses on a Stick", almost a parody of "sunshine pop". Next is the quasi-classical "Lullaby", and then a melodramatic hymn with strong anti-clerical lyrics, "St. Nicholas Hall". From here, the album picks up even higher in quality. "Three Ravens" is a sublime slice of baroque pop; "Raider" has been described as an acid sea shanty; "Rapture" is a folk-rock waltz; and the upbeat "Charity" is possibly the best track of all. Finally, the title track is the most overtly "psychedelic" track on the album, featuring electronically treated vocals and Bernie Krause's Moog synthesizer.
Although the album got some good reviews, it failed to sell, purchasers possibly driven away by its sheer eclecticism. Henske and Yester went on to form a more conventional band, Rosebud, before they went their separate ways at the start of the 1970s.
The album was finally reissued on CD by Radioactive Records in 2005. Wiki
Tracklist:
01.Snowblind 3:04
02.Horses On A Stick 2:14
03.Lullaby 3:02
04.St. Nicholas Hall 3:41
05.Three Ravens 3:31
06.Raider 5:15
07.One More Time 2:20
08.Rapture 4:11
09.Charity 3:19
10.Farewell Aldebaran 4:07
Judy Henske and Jerry Yester:
Larry Beckett - drums
Ry Cooder - mandolin
John Forsha - 12 string guitar
Toxie French - drums
Judy Henske - vocals
Eddie Hoh - drums
Bernie Krause - Moog synthesizer programming
David Lindley - bowed banjo
David's friend (Solomon Feldthouse ?) - hammer dulcimer
Joe Osborne - bass
Dick Rossmini - guitar
Jerry Scheff - bass
Zal Yanovsky - bass, guitar
Jerry Yester - vocals, guitar, piano, harmonium, toy zither
01.Snowblind 3:04
02.Horses On A Stick 2:14
03.Lullaby 3:02
04.St. Nicholas Hall 3:41
05.Three Ravens 3:31
06.Raider 5:15
07.One More Time 2:20
08.Rapture 4:11
09.Charity 3:19
10.Farewell Aldebaran 4:07
Judy Henske and Jerry Yester:
Larry Beckett - drums
Ry Cooder - mandolin
John Forsha - 12 string guitar
Toxie French - drums
Judy Henske - vocals
Eddie Hoh - drums
Bernie Krause - Moog synthesizer programming
David Lindley - bowed banjo
David's friend (Solomon Feldthouse ?) - hammer dulcimer
Joe Osborne - bass
Dick Rossmini - guitar
Jerry Scheff - bass
Zal Yanovsky - bass, guitar
Jerry Yester - vocals, guitar, piano, harmonium, toy zither
5 commenti:
flac cue log scans
JUDY HENSKE (born 1936) was loud and sassy. Often described as “Big Judy,” the six-foot-tall singer-songwriter was a favorite in the folk scene of the late ’50s (she shared bills with Lenny Bruce) and on television in the early ’60s; the media crowned her “Queen of the Beatniks.” Her blues-derived blow-torch songs probably inspired Janis Joplin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKjkUPzui7A
Released 16/06/69 LP Farewell Aldebaran (Straight STS-1052) which is often heralded as a one of the most proficient and creative albums of its genre, with Henskey’s incredible range of vocal styles elevating the album to a higher plane. Her mind-blowing vocals on the opening track, the hard-fuzz Snowblind, gives an early clue to Henskey’s talent and range, and although this particular vocal style only features on the one song, the sheer diversity of her singing makes every track on this highly original and experimental album a unique experience. The studio is the pop alchemist’s plaything, the space within which artists can unlock prodigious creativity and document it on quarter-inch tape. Accordingly, Farewell Aldebaran sounds ripe, borderline sumptuous at times and positively stuffed at others. It refuses to rest, scratching little details into the margins of each song, and the arrangements err on the polite side of overblown, full of grand sweeps of strings and arcs of pungent melody, with Henske’s voice moving from dulcet to amorous to acidic. When Yester joins her at the microphone, they twang nasally through “Raider” and feed themselves through primitive electronics on the closing title track, dislocating their physical presence. The whole thing is faintly alien in tone and psychedelic in the truest sense - opulent and temporally dislocating,the album is a chilling, shattering, enticing roundabout of very odd songs — from lullabies for the end of the world to witchy pop children’s tales and a paean to highwaymen. The title song describes a blazing star woman falling out of the galaxy into darkness and oblivion observed by aliens.
Yester and Henske attempted to scale the same artistic heights with their next collaboration, Rosebud, but sadly, it was not to be, and Yester, fearing that he had already peaked as a musician, turned his attention to production, working with other Californian bands and singers of the time including The Association, The Turtles, Tim Buckley and Tom Waites.
more information on Judy, you can find at
http://www.judyhenske.com.
She has a new CD + has reissued one of her old albums.
P.S. This record has unfortunately been hoisted by Fallout Records and is being sold without permission from the artist or copyright holders!... also Radioactive Records is a pirate label.
Click here to learn more.
http://www.yogarecords.com/press/radioactive.html
Thx Marco :)
many thanks for you comment adam!
Da buon indiano cibernetico ... ho trovato le tracce (musicali) lasciate dal mio amico polacco e mi ascolto un disco totalmente sconosciuto.!
Grazie!
è quello che voglio da chi segue il blog, ascoltare sempre quello che si scarica e poi commentare. conosco purtroppo tante persone, blogger vari che non hanno mai ascoltato un album in vita loro perchè non trovano il tempo, collezionano solamente. io ascolto tutto quello che pubblico. Adam è un amico anche per me per i consigli e le recensioni ed è un intenditore. grazie ozrock
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