* En anglais uniquement
The short-lived
Rosebud has sometimes been classified as an outgrowth of the duo of
Judy Henske and
Jerry Yester, who did one album, the underrated cult classic
Farewell Aldebaran, in 1969. In fact, although Henske and
Yester were both key performers and songwriters in
Rosebud,
Rosebud was an entirely separate entity from Henske and
Yester. It was in fact a group consisting of Henske,
Yester, keyboardist/vocalist Craig Doerge, drummer/vocalist John Seiter (who had been in
Spanky & Our Gang and
the Turtles), and bassist David Vaught. Henske and
Yester did write six of the ten songs on their sole album,
Rosebud (1971);
Judy Henske was the most prominent vocalist (as she should have been, since she was the best and most distinctive); and singer and multi-instrumentalist
Jerry Yester produced. But other singers also took lead and backup vocals on the LP, and Doerge and Henske co-wrote the remaining four tunes. The confusion about whether
Rosebud was a group was perpetuated by the artist billing, on the cover and spine, to "
Jerry Yester,
Judy Henske, Craig Doerge, John Seiter" (Vaught, a full member of the band, was left off as he joined after the album had been started).
Henske-
Yester's
Farewell Aldebaran was a neat, often terrific blend of psychedelia, folk-rock, art song, and just plain quirkiness, featuring Henske-
Yester's melodic songwriting, Henske's versatile and powerful vocals, and
Yester's imaginative production. A few of the songs on
Rosebud are similar extensions of the
Farewell Aldebaran's sound, but it would be a mistake to view this as a follow-up. There's much more of a standard easygoing L.A. early-'70s rock feel to both the songwriting and production, as well as an occasional country-rock touch. These tunes are much more ordinary fare than what Henske and
Yester had crafted on their own, and although Henske again demonstrates her vocal excellence, those tracks on which she does not sing lead are again far more ordinary for her loss. Perhaps it would have been a better idea to make her the dominant or exclusive lead singer, but then
Rosebud seems to have been consciously conceived of as a group effort, not Henske or Henske-
Yester with backup musicians.
Any chance
Rosebud might have had to make a commercial impact was scuttled when they broke up shortly after completing the album. This occurred in tandem with the breakup of Henske and
Yester's marriage; to make matters more awkward, Henske married Craig Doerge shortly afterward. Although Henske retired from the music business for nearly 30 years after the
Rosebud album,
Yester continued to work as a producer (most notably for
Tom Waits) and musician with reunion lineups of
the Lovin' Spoonful and
the Modern Folk Quartet, while Doerge became one of the top session musicians in Los Angeles. ~ Richie Unterberger