"Rainbow Chaser: The 60s Recordings (The Island Years)" by NIRVANA (May 2018 UK Universal/Island 2CD Anthology - Patrick Bird Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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1960s and 1970s MUSIC ON CD - Volume 3 of 3

- Exceptional CD Remasters

As well as 1960s and 1970s Rock and Pop - It Also Focuses On

Blues Rock, Prog Rock, Psych, Avant Garde, Underground

Folk-Rock, Singer-Songwriter, Country Rock and more

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"...Tiny Goddess..."

Fans of the British 60ts hippy band NIRVANA will probably have bought their first two albums "The Story Of Simon Simopath" (1967) and "All Of Us" (1968) when they were reissued as Expanded Edition 'Island Remasters' back in October 2003. Here in May 2018 we’re now given an even bigger musical haul – so let’s compare then with now...

The Universal/Island 2003 CD Remaster of their debut "The Story Of Simon Simopath" (Island IMCD 301 - Barcode 602498000106) gave you 'both' the STEREO and MONO mixes of the 10-Track 1967 album along with 4 Bonus Tracks - 3 Non-Album B-sides to UK 7" singles and 1 Previously Unreleased Take 3 Alternate Version of a Nirvana rarity - "Life Ain't Easy".

The "All Of Us" CD Remaster on Island IMCD 302 (Barcode 0602498000113) gave you the 12-Track 1968 second album in STEREO with 4 Bonus Tracks - all Non-Album A&B-sides to UK 7" singles. Both CDs came with detailed/illustrated liner notes and cracking Paschal Byrne Remasters. So what's new here in 2018 and why should you buy it?

Dropping the mono mix of "The Story Of Simon Simopath" – Disc 1 of "Rainbow Chaser..." keeps the 10-Track Stereo mix of the LP as well as the four bonus tracks of the 2003 CD - and adds on a further 13 Tracks – 11 of which are Previous Unreleased (2 of those feature another island Records act – Spooky Tooth - Tracks 22 and 23 - see details below). Disc 2 of "Rainbow Chaser..." offers the Stereo mix of the 12-Track 1968 second album but drops two of the singles sides on the 2003 CD reissue (they’re now over on Disc 1) and also adds on Previously Unreleased material – 11 tracks in all.

So with 52 songs in total – a whopping 22 of which are Previously Unreleased – new MALCOM DOME liner notes and new mastering from PATRICK BIRD – and of course an affordable price tag with generous playing times on both CDs – there really is a lot on offer here for old hands and newcomers alike. Let’s get to the tiny goddesses...

UK released 18 May 2018 - "Rainbow Chaser: The 60s Recordings (The Island Years)" by NIRVANA on Universal/Island 671 145-2 (Barcode 602567114529) is a 52-Track 2CD Anthology (22 are Previously Unreleased) that plays out as follows:

Disc 1 (78:56 minutes):

1. Wings Of Love [Side 1]

2. Lonely Boy

3. We Can Help You

4. Satellite Jockey

5. In The Courtyard Of The Stars

6. You Are Just The One [Side 2]

7. Pentecost Hotel

8. I Never Had A Love Like This Before

9. Take This Hand

10. 1999

Tracks 1 to 10 are their debut album "The Story Of Simon Simopath" - released October 1967 in the UK in Mono (Island ILP 9059) and November 1967 in Stereo (Island ILPS 9059) and March 1968 in the USA in Mono and Stereo on Bell Records (6015 and 6015-S). Produced by CHRIS BLACKWELL, Arranged by Sid Dale and written by the band's two key players - Guitarist and Vocalist Patrick Campbell-Lyons and Keyboardist Alex Spyropoulos - their debut concept album was also subtitled on the rear sleeve as 'A Science Fiction Pantomime' with Sides 1 and 2 called 'Act I' and Act II'.

11. I Believe In Magic (non-album B-side to the July 1967 UK 7" single "Tiny Goddess" on Island WIP 6016)

12. Feelin' Shattered (non-album B-side to the October 1967 UK 7" single "Pentecost Hotel" on Island WIP 6020)

13. Flashbulb (non-album B-side to the March 1968 UK 7" single "Rainbow Chaser" on Island WIP 6029)

14. C Side In Ocho Rios (non-album B-side to the August 1968 UK 7" single "Girl In The Park" on Island WIP 6038 - as The Nirvana Orchestra)

15. Requiem To John Coltrane (non-album B-side to the January 1969 UK 7" single "Wings Of Love" on Island WIP 6052)

16. Lonely Boy (Instrumental, Take 8) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

17. I Never Had A Love Like This Before (Instrumental) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

18. Tiny Goddess (Recorded 21 June 1967 at Olympic Studios with Jimmy Miller on Drums) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

19. Life Ain't Easy (Unfinished Track, Take 3) – first available in 2003

20. Goodbye Baby Bunting (Finished Version) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

21. Omnibus (Olympic Studios Original Version with Different Lyrics) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

22. Oscar (Oh! What A Performance) (Long Version No. 1 featuring Spooky Tooth) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

23. Oscar (Oh! What A Performance) (Long Version No. 2 featuring Spooky Tooth) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

24. Goodbye Baby Bunting (Demo) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

25. City Of The South (Instrumental) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

26. Trapeze (Demo) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

27. Darling Darlane (Long Version, Take 3) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

Tracks 16, 17, 18 and 20 to 27 are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

Disc 2 (79:03 minutes):

1. Rainbow Chaser [Side 1]

2. Tiny Goddess

3. The Touchables (All Of Us)

4. Melanie Blue

5. Trapeze

6. The Show Must Go On

7. Girl In The Park

8. Miami Masquerade

9. Frankie The Great

10. You Can Try It

11. Everybody Loves The Clown

12. St. John's Wood Affair

Tracks 1 to 12 are their second studio album "All Of Us" - released August 1968 in the UK in Stereo only on Island ILPS 9087 and 1969 in the USA on Bell Records 6024.

13. Oh! What A Performance

14. Darling Darlane (Tracks 13 and 14 are the A&B-sides of a May 1969 UK 7"single on Island WIP 6057)

15. Rainbow Chaser (Original Track without Phasing Effect) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

16. The Touchables (All Of Us) (Instrumental, Take 23) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

17. The Show Must Go On ((Vocal and Bouzouki Version) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

18. Frankie The Great (Alternate Version, Take 6)

19. You Can Try It (Alternate Version, Take 7) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

20. Everybody Loves The Clown (Alternate Take with Girl Singers and No Lead Vocal) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

21. The Touchables (All Of Us) (Features vocals from actresses in the film "The Touchables" - Esther Anderson, Judy Huxtable, Marilyn Rickard and Kathy Simmonds) - - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

22. Excerpt from "The Blind & The Beautiful" (Alternate Take, Trident Studios, 2 April 1969) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

23. Black Flower (Alternate Take, Trident Studios, 31 March 1969) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

24. Love Suite (Instrumental, Take 1, Trident Studios, 19 May 1969) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

25. Melanie Blue (New July 2017 Recording by Patrick Campbell-Lyons (Vocals) and Aggelos Karapetros (Guitars and Bass) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

Tracks 15 to 25 are all PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

Given room to spread out - the 24-page booklet is a gorgeous affair to look at and properly in-depth when it comes to detail and history – a typically top-notch job done by liner-notes regular MALCOLM DOME. Not only do you get rare foreign picture sleeves of the big singles "Tiny Goddess" and "Rainbow Chaser" as well as EPs by Francois Hardy (who covered their TG in three languages including her own French)  - the photos go back as far as Patrick Campbell-Lyons' first band 'The Second Thoughts' in 1964 and an uber-rare Sound Studios acetate of their unreleased 45. There are photos of the Irishman Lyons (originally from Waterford) in 1966 in a Denmark Street cafe - already hooked up with the Athens born Greek keyboardist Alex Spyropoulos. The UK's Nirvana was originally a 6-piece and several pictures of the five boys and one girl are featured around the text (with Patrick-Campbell Lyons and Alex Spyropoulos as the core - the others are Pete Kesler, Brian Henderson, Ray Singer and Sylvia Schuster). Ace Arranger and all round genius Sid Dale rightly gets a photo on Page 14 - whilst tie-in artists like backing singers Sue and Sunny (Yvonne and Heather Wheatman) are there by virtue of covering Nirvana’s "The Show Must Go On". There is even a bizarre blurred photo of Salvador Dali with Nirvana on French TV in July 1968 as he wanders around the Psychedelic props looking suitably off his red jacket rocker (them was the days). Movie fans will love the photos of the hip-and-happening actress gals lounging about provocatively on a bed in a still advert for the movie "The Touchables" (their four vocals feature on an unreleased outtake – Track 21 on Disc 2).

The new Audio comes courtesy of PATRICK BIRD and quality is superb. The "Rainbow Chaser" track itself famously claims to have had the first use of phasing and is presented here in both forms - the released 'with' version that opens album No. 2 and the 'without' phasing version - the 'without' being Previously Unreleased. Whichever is your poison - they sound huge - as does much everything else. To the music...

The debut opens with longing and drama - a little swallow in the sky is enticed down to the ground by bags of sweets so our boys can harness his 'wings'. As late as January 1969 Island Records tried Side 1's "Wings Of Love" as a 7" single A-side in the UK (WIP 6052) with the non-album "Requiem To John Coltrane" as the flip (Track 15 on Disc 1) - but it was more of a soppy 1967 tune so did little business. The keyboard ping-pong of "Lonely Boy" (all I want to do is cry) and the whimsical jaunt of "We Can Help You" feel like Donovan meets The Move. Flute, fuzzed guitar and treated vocals make "In The Courtyard Of The Stars" another potential 45. There's amazing Stereo in "You Are Just The One" - another happy ditty that could easily be mistaken for The Association over on Warner Brothers. Their second UK 45 "Pentecost Hotel" from October 1967 feels like eavesdropping on happier times - a lingering Summer of Love vignette that evokes the optimism of the age completely. And the bride wore blue for "Take This Hand" while the album ends on a knees up - "1999" sounding like 'have a drink and be merry' Small Faces.

"All Of Us" opens with a genuine slice of period razzmatazz - the phasing of "Rainbow Chaser" - a fantastic slice of 60ts Pop with Strings and Swirling Brass and Voices that the Small Faces would have coveted. Winner number two on "All Of Us" is "Tiny Goddess" - a song that shows how much their songwriting prowess had moved on from the rather twee pop of the "Simon Simopath" concept LP. The wind from somewhere East will take us back home Nirvana sing on "The Touchables..." (a groovy movie dalliance) - whilst "Melanie Blue" is pretty too if not a little overdone in the strings department. Fifty years after the event the circus song "Trapeze" feels awkward now but the deceptively beautiful "The Show Must Go On" could be instrumental Nick Drake. The Smoke would cover the excellent "Girl In The Park" but the irritatingly upbeat CIA-spy crap of "Miami Masquerade" is dreadfully dated now. Sounding like a young Colin Blunstone on "You Could Try It" - Nirvana use Sue and Sunny as backing girly vocals to perfect effect. "Everybody Loves The Clown" is another hard-to-take listen now - but the album ends on the better "St. John's Wood" – clever arrangements all the way to that brass fade out ending. A genuine find amongst the outtakes is the lovely Take 3 of "Life Ain't Easy" - a bit of wonder and something Burt Bacharach would have looked upon with pride had he written it. The Vocal & Bouzouki Version of "The Show Must Go On" is a great outtake too.

For sure all this relentless 60ts-hippy happy-wappy will not be for everyone - but there's enough here to please old and new. And with great audio, decent presentation and all those more than interesting outtakes - it's a job well done...

"The Elektra Albums" by JUDY HENSKE (July 2017 Ace Records CD Reissue - 2 Stereo LPs onto 1CD - Duncan Cowell Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

This Review Along With 300+ Others Is Available In My

SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites

1960s and 1970s MUSIC ON CD - Volume 2 of 3 - Exceptional CD Remasters

As well as 1960s and 1970s Rock and Pop - It Also Focuses On

Folk, Folk Rock, Country Rock, Reggae, Punk and New Wave

Just Click Below To Purchase for £3.95

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"...The Real Thing Comes Along..."

There's a 1963 Elektra Records upper-body-shot publicity photo for Wisconsin's Judy Henske on Page 19 of the booklet that accompanies "The Elektra Albums" and it says beneath her perfectly manicured Bob haircut and serene expression 'JUDY HENSKE looks like this...' You turn over to the last page of the booklet (Page 20) to find where the dots lead and it says '...and sounds like THIS!'

There's our Judy – late 20’s – no longer the-girl-next-door - mouth open like the Mississippi in full-on flood-mode - literally screaming her lungs out into a microphone like she's gonna swallow that sucker whole. And when you play the first two tracks of "Judy Henske" - a studio album recorded live in front of an invited enrapt audience - you understand why Elektra wanted to emphasise her sheer vocal power (THIS!) - a sort of early Janis Joplin voice meets the wit of Phyllis Diller via the sheer out-front force and shocker good looks of Grace Slick.

For sure her gravel voice and quirky beat-them-into-submission personality was not (and would not) be for everyone and some of this 1963 and 1964 material is seriously dated in 2018. But there's much to love here (the second studio album is a bit of a forgotten gem in my opinion). When she does her intro to "Ballad Of Little Romy" - it lasts for nearly five minutes - brilliant repartee with the audience who are in fits of laughter at her bawdy explanation of a murder ballad – a personality so big you just had to love her (she’d a thing for old-timey songs and their eyebrow-raising words and themes). Judy famously banged her foot so hard keeping time during one song - she punched right through the floorboards in front of the audience. Six-foot tall Henske just laughed it off and went on with the gig. Let's sing the praises of an American lady who deserves our applause...

UK released Friday, 28 July 2017 (August 2017 in the USA) - "The Elektra Albums" by JUDY HENSKE on Ace Records CDCHD 1501 (Barcode 029667079921) offers two Stereo LPs from 1963 and 1964 in their entirety Remastered onto 1CD and plays out as follows (79:47 minutes):

1. Low Down Alligator [Side 1]

2. Empty Bed Blues

3. Ballad Of Little Romy

4. Wade In The Water

5. Hooka Tooka

6. I Know You Rider

7. Lily Langtree [Side 2]

8. Lilac Wine

9. Love Henry

10. Every Night When The Sun Goes In

11. Salvation Army Song

Tracks 1 to 11 are her debut album "Judy Henske" (aka "Miss Judy Henske") - released 1963 in the USA on Elektra Records EKL 231 (Mono) and EKS 7231 (Stereo) - the STEREO mix is used.

JUDY HENSKE - Vocals and Stories

JOHN FORSHA - Guitar

JOHN (STREAMLINE) EWING - Trombone

JIMMIE BOND - Bass

ONZY MATTHEWS - Orchestral Arrangements

12. High Flying Bird [Side 1]

13. Buckeye Jim

14. Till The Real Thing Comes Along

15. Oh, You Engineer

16. Baltimore Oriole

17. Columbus Stockade

18. Blues Chase Up A Rabbit [Side 2]

19. Lonely Train

20. Duncan And Brady

21. God Bless The Child

22. Good Old Wagon

23. You Are Not My First Love

24. Charlotte Town

Tracks 12 to 24 are her second album "High Flying Bird" - released 1964 in the USA on Elektra Records EKL 241 (Mono) and EKS 7241 (Stereo) - the STEREO mix is used

JUDY HENSKE - Vocals

JACK MARSHALL - Guitar

JOHN FORSHA - 12-String Guitar

JOHN (STREAMLAND) EWING - Trombone

BILL MONTGOMERY - Bass

EARL PALMER - Drums

Production and Arrangements JAC HOLZMAN

The 20-page booklet features new liner notes from KRIS NEEDS whose penned many's a review for England's Record Collector magazine. In between the superb history (which includes interviews with Henske now in her 80s) - we get label repro's of the first album's lone 45 - "I Know You Rider" b/w "Love Henry" on Elektra EKSN-45003 and the second record's pair - white labels demos of "High Flying Bird" b/w "Till The Real Thing Comes Along" on Elektra EKSN-45007 and "Lonely Train" b/w "Charlotte Town" on Elektra KSN-45010. There are gold Elektra LP labels for the Mono variant of the US debut (both sides) and the gorgeous front-sleeve artwork for both albums gets a full-colour page each. There's even an advert for the MGM Movie "Hootenanny Hoot" which featured a bikini-clad Judy hanging out with various hipster types. It's the usual Ace Records classy affair. But little preps you for the Stereo mixes of both LPs remastered by DUNCAN COWELL - an Audio Engineer with longstanding ties to Ace Records and the Blue Horizon CD reissues (including Fleetwood Mac). These recordings sound utterly amazing - clean and full of life - clearly the tapes have been looked after. Let's get to the songs... 

"...And now ladies and gentleman...a special treat...it's another song! This is about a woman with an empty bed - Lord!" The invited audience laugh - and why wouldn't they. Her version of "Wade In The Water" is a little hissy for sure but powerful nonetheless as God troubles the river. Her "Hooka Tooka" song is a history capsule of how children were used as warning signals in the red-light district of Chicago - look-outs should the cops come calling - and the audience joins in - her voice and the harmonica match perfectly as she sings about mama chewing tobacco. Elektra tried "I Know You Rider" as a 45 but I'm not sure who they were aiming this rapid-paced big-voiced Folk at? Better is "Lilac Wine" where Judy sounds like a gruffer version of Julie London pining for her man with a jug of blitz in hand (lovers of Jeff Buckley will instantly recognise the melody and lyrics of "Lilac Wine" from his 1994 masterpiece "Grace" - a song that dates back to the Fifties and was first covered I believe by Eartha Kitt). The audience gets in the sing-a-long act with the witty "Salvation Army Song" where she forsakes drink, drugs and sex in the gutter with naughty men for banging her drum (with a sigh).

The second album wisely forsakes the gimmicky 'live' vibe and is a straightforward Folk, swinging R&B, Blues Standards album with fab tracks like "Till The Real Thing Comes Along" where Jack Marshall and John Forsha both get to stretch out on Acoustic guitars. "Oh, You Engineer" is a co-write between Henske and Shel Silverstein where a wife hears of her husband's busy schedule with the ladies down the line and she urges him to turn his Piston Rotations down (nice). Hoagy Carmichael's "Baltimore Oriole" gets a Bluesy acoustic make-over where Henske's voice feels like she's channelling Karen Dalton six years hence. Low and lonesome vocals and shimmering shuffles on the hi-hats give "Blues Chase Up A Rabbit" a melancholic yet sweet feel - book shop and café society cool. The American Traditionals "Lonely Train" and "Duncan and Brady" both get ticket-and-travel acoustic versions where her aching vocals sound like she's feeling the weary lyrics for the first time. And on it goes to the bedroom lure of "You Are Not My First Love" where the singer admits through a fog of cigarette smoke that others lovers were merely trial runs for her present squeeze...

She would go on to cult fame with Jerry Yester (ex Modern Folk Quartet) and cult-hero fame on the "Farewell Aldebaran" album in 1969 on Straight Records (a huge influencer in the UK) - but this is where her Folk and Traditional's musical career started. A very cool reissue from Ace and one to check out - especially that "High Flying Bird" album...

PS: see also my review for "Farewell Aldebaran" by JUDY HENSKE and JERRY YESTER. It was issued June 1969 on Frank Zappa's Straight Records in the USA (STS 1052). The 2016 Omnivore Recordings CD Reissue offers a new remaster from original tapes and five Previously Unreleased Instrumental Home Demos as Bonus Tracks...

"Farewell Aldebaran" by JUDY HENSKE & JERRY YESTER (2016 Omnivore Recordings 'Expanded Edition' CD Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review Along With Almost 300 Others Is Available In My

SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites

1960s and 1970s MUSIC ON CD - Volume 3 of 3

- Exceptional CD Remasters

As well as 1960s and 1970s Rock and Pop - It Also Focuses On

Blues Rock, Prog Rock, Psych, Avant Garde, Underground

Folk-Rock, Singer-Songwriter, Country Rock and more

Just Click Below To Purchase for £3.95

Thousands of E-Pages - All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs

(No Cut and Paste Crap)

"...Eggs And Emeralds..."

A little history first about our two musical heroes and their 1969 double-dip on Straight Records...

Along with Chip Douglas (later with The Turtles), Cyrus Faryar (later with Zodiac) and his brother Jim Yester – Jerry Yester had been in The Modern Folk Quartet – a hipster outfit who'd punched out a few albums in the early 60ts on Warner Brothers. Yester then met the tall, gargles-gravel-for-breakfast torch singer Judy Henske and they toured for a few years - him with M.F.Q. and her as a solo artist for Elektra Records (they married in 1963). Jerry then briefly joined the ranks of John Sebastian's Lovin' Spoonful for their 1967 "Everything Playing" album – orchestrating songs and co-writing two - "Only Pretty, What A Pity" with Joe Butler and "Close Your Eyes" with Sebastian.

A couple of years forward and with Herb Cohen as Executive producer (a long-time manager for Henske) – Yester suggesting a duet album with his wife - where he wrote the music and she penned the lyrics. And so "Farewell Aldebaran" was born – recorded early 1969 in New York and issued Stateside in June 1969 on Frank Zappa's home for all things weird, wonderful and left of field - Straight Records (Straight STS 1052). This cult LP even received a UK issue with the same catalogue number and gatefold sleeve in February 1970 via CBS Records (they distributed all artists on Straight in England - people like Tim Buckley, Tim Dawe, The GTO's, Alice Cooper, Captain Beefheart and more). Yester and former Lovin' Spoonful member Zal Yanovsky produced the LP with all songs written by Henske and Yester except "Snowblind" which also had Zal Yanovsky as a third co-write.

Did they do well – not really... There's an issue of Billboard Magazine dated 21 July 1969 where the industry bible reviews three gloriously off-kilter albums of the period. Each is now revered so deeply that they might indeed induce a genuflection amongst men of a certain age - even though at the time they warranted only tiny paragraphs per record that few outside of bleary-eyed industry-types ever read. First up was Captain Beefheart's double-album "Trout Mask Replica” on Straight Records STS 1053 – a discordant and deeply challenging beast if ever there was one (bow down ye minions of no consequence). Next came another genre barnstormer - the ex Moby Grape guitarist and notorious druggy Alex Spence and his nutty "Oar" LP over on Columbia Records. And finally, a catalogue number below Beefheart on STS 1052 - "Farewell Aldebaran" by outspoken folky Judy Henske and her 'teen idol' husband Jerry Yester. The reviewer reliably informs his hipster readership that although the album is actually good - "...it needs a push and the 'Underground' ought to help there..." Well it did need a push but unfortunately those underground types were too stoned to do anything for our Acid-Folk champions because although the LP made waves in certain circles – it did little chart action anywhere (much like everything on the Straight label for that matter).

Not for the want of trying or good will either. In early July 1969 - Straight Records tried to stimulate sales by combining the album's Side 1 fuzz-guitar opener "Snowblind" with the Todd Rundgren-jaunty childlike melody of "Horses On A Stick” for its flipside on an American 45 (Straight STS 102) – but no joy. However over in Blighty – members of Fairport Convention and Matthews Southern Comfort loved the album. Ian Matthews and ex Liverpool Scene/future Grimms songwriter Andy Roberts covered "Raider" in 1972 with their Plainsong band and its "In Search Of Amelia Earhart" LP project – as obscure a cover version as one could get.

A word about genre and legend too while we’re at it. Although they’re obviously trying to lure in a lucrative market - this Omnivore Recordings reissue screams loudly from its sticker that the LP is a 'Psychedelic Masterpiece' when it's actually neither. "Farewell Aldebaran" is more Folk-Rock with tinges of hippy Acid-Folk than Psych - especially the kind of whig-out guitar pyrotechnics some would expect from such a word. This record is much more mellow than that – musically adventurous for sure in places but the term Psych is stretching it. Still the 1969 album has gathered a steady following ever since...which brings us to this rather lovely-sounding 2016 reissue. Let's get to the details...

US released August 2016 - "Farewell Aldebaran" by JUDY HENSKE and JERRY YESTER on Omnivore Recordings OVCD-180 (Barcode 816651015566) is an 'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue and Remaster (authorised by both artists) with Five Previously Unreleased Instrumental Demos that plays out as follows (48:28 minutes):

1. Snowblind [Side 1]
2. Horses On A Stick
3. Lullaby
4. St. Nicholas Hall
5. Three Ravens
6. Raider [Side 2]
7. Mrs. Connor
8. Rapture
9. Charity
10. Farewell Aldebaran
Tracks 1 to 10 are the album "Farewell Aldebaran" - released June 1969 in the USA on Straight Records STS 1052 and February 1970 in the UK also on Straight Records STS 1052. Produced by JERRY YESTER and ZAL YANOVSKY - it failed to chart in either country

BONUS TRACKS (all Previously Unreleased):
11. Merry-Go-Round ("Horses On A Stick" Instrumental Demo)
12. Charity (Instrumental Demo)
13. Zanzibar ("Farewell Aldebaran" Instrumental Demo)
14. Moods For Cellos ("Three Ravens" Instrumental Demo)
15. Divers Asleep ("Rapture" Instrumental Demo)

PLAYERS:
JERRY YESTER - Acoustic Guitar, Banjo, Harmonium, Piano, Marxophone, Moog Synthesizer, Chamberlin Tape Organ, Harpsichord, Toy Zither
Lead Vocals on "One More Time" and "Farewell Aldebaran"
Duet Vocals with Judy Henske on "Horses On A Stick", "Three Ravens", "Raider" and "Charity"
Backing Vocals on "St. Nicholas Hall" and "Raider"
JUDY HENSKE - Lead Vocals on all tracks except "One More Time" and "Farewell Aldebaran"
ZAL YANOVSKY - Bass and Electric Guitars
JOHN FORSHA - Electric Guitars
DICK ROSMINI - Acoustic Guitar on "Charity"
JOE OSBOURNE - Bass on ""Horses On A Stick"
RAY BROWN - Bass on "One More Time"
SOLOMON FELDTHOUSE - Hammered Dulcimer on "Lullaby" and "Raider"
DAVID LINDLEY - 5-Stringed Banjo on "Raider"
LARRY BECKETT - Drums on all tracks except EDDIE HOH on "Horses On A Stick" and TOXIE FRENCH on "Raider" and "One More Time"

The gatefold digipak is pretty enough - the lyrics that filled up both sides of the inner sleeve now transferred in readable typed form into the 20-page booklet while a repro of the "Snowblind" US 7" single label for Straight Records STS 102 is featured beneath the see-through CD tray. Page 6 gives us detailed musician credits (for the first time I believe) and Pages 2 to 8 feature new BARRY ALFONSO liner notes that included fresh interviews with both the protagonists. There are rare tape box sleeves pictured, a trade advert and a rare Euro picture sleeve for the "Snowblind" single. Produced by CHERYL PAWELSKI - the mastering was done by MICHAEL GRAVES at Osiris Studios in Atlanta - newly remastered from original tapes. The audio for the album is superb - rich and full - but the demos vary - dipping in and out - especially the last two (not that any of them are actually something you're ever going to listen to more than once). To the core LP...

Given the deliberately blurred family-portrait photo negative on the front sleeve (suggesting perhaps dysfunction) - when the fuzzed-up guitar kicks in for the Side 1 opener "Snowblind" –- you're half expecting a whole album of the same attack. But the 10-track LP is mostly made up of Folk Melodies with occasional lapses into seriously sarcastic jabs like raising money for religion in "St. Nicholas Hall" (a message sent from Sister Content – she is mean and incredibly old). Judy even apes a whooshing comet on "Farewell Aldebaran" - her voice always feeling like a thing of wonder that can go anywhere. Back to track 2 - the slightly childish Pop of "Horses On A Stick" comes as a shock after the hard-hitting opener - a sort of Association meets early Todd Rundgren mishmash of sounds - a grower actually. Things improve immeasurably with the Harpsichord ballad "Lullaby" – Judy and her extraordinary croaking voice sounding like someone from another realm – a female Klaatu rocking you to sleep as she sings about the end of the world. "Three Ravens" ends the side with complex and impressive arrangements - a song that reaches for different ways of delivering musical melody and largely succeeds.

A strangely wonderful song and a blinding opening to Side 2 - I've loved the song "Raider" for decades and I play the damn thing to death. Some ne'er-do-well steals a morning mare - sleeps out in the fields - lighting fires on a cold night to keep him and his sly mare warm. The dusty Wild West vibe is anchored by Folky instruments like the Hammered Dulcimer (supplied by Solomon Feldthouse from Kaleidoscope) while future Jackson Browne sideman David Lindley plucks a 5-string banjo (he was also in Kaleidoscope). But what makes it tingle are the staggering number of layered vocals - all supplied by Henske and Yester as they chant "...raider stole the morning mare...as slick as she was sly..." - over and over again. 

Yester then takes a rare lead vocal on the sad "One More Time" - a hymn to Mrs. Connor and her beau who longs to lay beside her, once again at one with his lady's long white hair. "Rapture" also feels thematically epic as Judy sings of divers, pilots and lovers literally dying for love in varying ways - the hot sun calling them to stillness - a doomed but poetic end. Interestingly the liner notes tell us that Paul Beaver of the pioneering Synth duo Beaver & Krauss programmed the Moog for the album's final excursion - "Farewell Aldebaran" - but it’s a mess of ideas I've always found hard to like. The Demos are particularly innocuous - curios at best – a waste of time at worst.

Is it Psych - no - is it a Masterpiece - no not that either. But this wonderfully remastered variant of "Farewell Aldebaran" is the kind of album you keep coming back to - always finding surprises - something new. And for me that's the best recommendation there is.

Check out this Morgan Mare - slick as she is sly...

PS: see also my review for "The Elektra Years" by JUDY HENSKE. It's a July 2017 Ace Records CD Reissue that offers her first and second albums from 1963 ("Judy Henske") and 1964 (High Flying Bird") on Elektra Records in Stereo in their entirety. 

"Johnny Winter: The Woodstock Experience" by JOHNNY WINTER (July 2009 Columbia/Legacy 2CD Reissue and Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"…Johnny B. Goode…"

Released July 2009 - "Johnny Winter: The Woodstock Experience" by JOHNNY WINTER on Columbia/Legacy 88697 48244 2 is a 2CD set celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the legendary Sixties festival (see list of other releases below) which couples Winter’s self-titled Columbia Records debut LP with a new CD of live recordings from the Sunday that August weekend in 1969. 

Outside there's a textured-feel card slipcase containing two oversized 5" hard card replica sleeves inside - each with sepia-feel inner bags (separate liner notes too). There's also a fold-out two-sided poster. 

Disc 1 (34:14 minutes):

1. I’m Yours And I’m Hers [Side 1]

2. Be Careful With A Fool

3. Dallas

4. Mean Mistreater

5. Lean Mississippi Blues [Side 2]

6. Good Morning Little Schoolgirl

7. When You Got A Good Friend

8. I’ll Drown In My Own Tears

9. Back Door Friend

Tracks 1 to 9 are his 2^nd studio album "Johnny Winter" - released on vinyl in the USA in May 1969 on Columbia CS 9826 and July 1969 in the UK on CBS Records S 63619

The 2nd CD is "Recorded Live At The Woodstock Music & Art Fair, Sunday, August 17, 1969” with all tracks bar "Mean Town Blues" being PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED (65:01 minutes). 

Both card repro sleeves are gorgeous to look at and the recording details/liner notes are impressively comprehensive. As with the other 4 releases in this series - the large foldout poster has a colour shot of the Woodstock crowd on one side (with the festival logo at the top) and a black and white quality photograph on the flip by Elliott Landy. The black and white shot of Johnny mid solo on the rear of the card sleeve is also gorgeous...

Winter’s debut for Columbia featured a mixture of 6 great covers and 3 originals – “Be Careful With A Fool” by B.B. King, “Mean Mistreater” by James Gordon was made famous by Leroy Carr and Muddy Waters, “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl” by Sonny Boy Williamson, “When You Got A Good Friend” by Robert Johnson, “I’ll Drown In My Tears” made famous by Ray Charles and “Back Door Friend” by Lightnin’ Hopkins. The originals are “I’m Yours And I’m Hers”, “Dallas” and “Leland Mississippi Blues” (he was born in Leland in 1944). Blues legends Willie Dixon and Walter “Shakey” Horton even turn up on “Mean Mistreater” playing Acoustic Bass and Harmonica respectively. Mastered by JOE PALMACCIO – the audio is fabulous – clean and muscular (check out the pour of his slide on “Back Door Friend” – great stuff.

It’s going to be no surprise to fans that Johnny Winter and his Band ‘live’ is a beautiful thing to behold and hear. The blistering live set has the band of the album supplemented by EDGAR WINTER on Keyboards. It opens with the J.B. Lenoir class “Mama Talk To Your Daughter” where zippy fretwork wakes the crowd and amps up. The Blues Boogie of his own “Leland Mississippi Blues” is fantastic. His bottleneck guitar rendition of “Mean Town Blues” is so damn good too. Edgar arrives for three tracks – “I Can’t Sand It” (Bo Diddley cover), “Tobacco Road” (Loudermilk cover) and “Tell The Truth”. Mastered by Tape Supremo VIC ANESINI – the sound is superb – especially given the notorious acoustics of the event. By the time he gets to Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” finisher – the crowd are slayed.

His passing this year came as a real sadness for me. I’ve loved this Blues Rock genius since I was boy of 11 in Dublin grooving in my front room with a tennis racket and a fertile imagination. He’s with Muddy in Heaven now trading licks – both smiling widely at this tremendous reissue…

The 5 titles "The Woodstock Experience" Series from July 2009 are:

1. Jefferson Airplane - uses the "Volunteers" album and has an 8-track live album recorded 17 Aug 1969 Catalogue No: RCA/Legacy 88697 48240 2 (Barcode 886974824022)

2. Janis Joplin - uses the "I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!" debut album and has a 10-track live album recorded 17 Aug 1969. Catalogue No: Columbia/Legacy 88697 48243 2 (Barcode 886974824329)

3. Santana - uses the "Santana" debut album and has an 8-track live album recorded Saturday 16 Aug 1969. Catalogue No: Columbia/Legacy 88697 48242 2 (Barcode 886974824220)

4. Sly & The Family Stone - uses the "Stand!" album and has a 9-track live disc recorded 17 Aug 1969. Catalogue No: Epic/Legacy 88697 48241 2 (Barcode 886974824121)

5. Johnny Winter - uses the "Johnny Winter" album and has an 8-track live disc recorded 17 Aug 1969. Catalogue No: Columbia/Legacy 88697 48244 2 (Barcode 886974824428)