Search - Judy Henske :: High Flying Bird

Magic Judy Judy Judy

Gregor von Kallahann | 07/11/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"We've gone from a famine to a feast in terms of Judy Henske's back catalog. The import double album, containing Judy's two early 60s Elektra albums, was released a bit earlier than the Collector's Choice editions. That's a very attractive package, but for anyone who wants to start more modestly, this re-release of Judy's second album may be the place to begin. It's a bit less raucous than the eponymous first album, which is to say that it lacks the zany spoken intros of that record. It is also a bit sparer musically, a bit more characterisically folky.I have known one or two people in fact, who were a little put off by the intros on the "Judy Henske" album. They were music purists and maybe a little humor impaired--but we need those folks in the world too. And they do have a point, the music DOES come first. "High Flying Bird" is the best available introduction to Judy Henske's MUSIC currently available. Of all the several recorded versions of the title song, none can compare to Judy's soulful interpretation. And that's just for openers. Judy Henske is one of those rare performers who can go from the ribald to the ethereal with ease, often within a single song. From the surreal lullabye "Buckeye Jim" to the barrelhouse sensibility of "Oh, You Engineer," she doesn't falter once on this classic album.Once you've sampled HFB, you'll be almost certainly want to check out "Judy Henske" and the recent comeback album "Loose In the World." And there's more good news, Judy and her husband, keyboardist and producer extraoridinaire, Craig Doerge are hard at work on a new CD, hopefully set for a 2002 release date. Check her website (judyhenske.com, natch) for further updates. It's great to have this legendary performer back on the scene. And it's even better that her seminal early work is now available in CD format."

High Flyin? Bird descends. Hold out your hand.

Peter M. Stocks | Riverside, CA United States | 06/13/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I know so many people who have spoken of this album over the years, wishing that Siddhartha would take it out of the carved teak box that holds his few precious karmic possessions. Judy Henske--it seems--has become a sort of female Fred Neil, confident in her own worth as a person, proud enough of her gifts, to not waste her life chasing down fame. In High Flyin' Bird she melds folk and blues into real gutsy human music. She sings about love and heartbreak like Hemingway could describe a tall drink on a hot Caribbean island afternoon. The tears run down the eyes in your ears like the rivulets of chilly water run down the outside of that printed tumbler. "God Bless the Child" and "You Are Not My First Love" are gentle, soft, and heartbreaking. Henske's full throated voice is as controlled as a cooing dove. On "Oh, You Engineer" She cuts loose with that rowdy late-night speakeasy moan that so colors her version of the old folk song "Hookey-Tookey My Soda Cracker" (not on this album, er, CD). Her version of "Columbus Stockade" is rife with that folksy rowdiness that drew people in to see Hoyt Axton in his days at the Mecca and the Lighthouse. Judy's version of this song is rivaled only by Willy Nelson's on one of his early Nashville records. But the title track is just plain great folk singing. You can almost hear it begging to be part of what the electric guitars would add in but a few years. This might not be the greatest album of its type; but it will have to do "Till The Real Thing Comes Along.""

The Real Thing

L. L. Anderson | Portland, OR USA | 03/30/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Judy's music opened up a part of my soul when I first heard it forty years ago, and rehearing it still sends the goosebumps up and down my spine. Judy's music is powerful, it's raw, it's full and deep... and best of all, there's humor in it. At 17, I went out and bought a kazoo straight away.In retrospect, I'm not sure why it's categorized as "folk" music, except that it was the music that moved us at the same time as Baez, Dylan and Fred Neil and she played in coffee houses. To me, it's just great dirty blues."