I think I've had one of those great Charity Shop related finds! £2.99 in Oxfam, Canterbury. 5p for the bag. Judy Henske. Queen of the Beatniks. Released on Elektra Records in the early sixties. Always a good sign. The liner notes read:
'Judy Henske is a Christian artist and a bitchin' singer...she must be six feet tall...a 'neat' performer...a snorting, long-legged, foot-stopping improvisation...Three years ago, or so, Judy Henske sat on the keyboard of a player piano in the espresso darkness of the Unicorn...L.A.Hollywood, Sunset Strip, Calif...sandal feet propped on a cane-backed chair...long dark tresses swinging and dangling as her head nodded with the rhythm...she belted out Twelve Gates To The City in a voice that tromboned a destiny soon to be fulfilled...You hold in your hands the first thin wafer taste of what life will develop into the gratifying and enduring feast of Judy Henske...'
The rest of the notes are worth reading too. Three dots separate each over-excited statement. I'll leave that to your record shopping. As for the record itself, possibly the best £3.04 I've ever spent. If I had a chance to live in another age and time, a question I suppose we all ask ourselves at some point, New York in the early sixties would be right up there. Beatnik bohemian bars, Don Draper on an adjoining table barely concealing his disdain, Judy Henske type on the low stage. Something coming to an end. Something just about to begin.
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