Originally released on Frank Zappa's Straight record label, it contains an eclectic mix of songs in a wide variety of styles and is also notable for its early use of synthesisers.

A few years later, Henske's career was faltering as a result of ill-advised forays into cabaret while Yester had produced albums by Tim Buckley and the Association, and replaced Zal Yanovsky in the Lovin' Spoonful.

[1][4] The album was based on Henske's lyrics, many of which were verses written when she had a high fever: "an extraordinary group of literate song-poems setting oblique commentary on their life and her past against evocations of the fate of a fallen knight, a mare’s connection with the man who had stolen her, and the biography of a ship named Charity which yearned for a safe harbour.

[1] Musicians on the album, besides Yester, Henske, and Yanovsky, included David Lindley, Paul Beaver, Dick Rosmini, Larry Beckett, and Ray Brown.

Finally the title track, featuring electronically treated vocals and Moog synthesizer, is a unique piece of "space-rock" based upon an insistent bass drum, full of rushing, wailing and bleeping sounds as Yester intones "the comets cling to her, the fiery bride, she is the mother of the mark and the prize, the glaze of paradise is in her eyes, her mouth is torn with stars..." before the track fades into chaos.

[5] According to AllMusic reviewer Mark Deming: "What holds Farewell Aldebaran together is the strength of the songs and arrangements, where Yester brings together a striking range of sounds and moods, and makes imaginative use of mellotrons and early Moog synthesizers.

"[2] Overall, Justin F. Farrar of SF Weekly that Farewell Aldebaran was unusual even for a Straight release, calling it "a bizarre little collection of hard rock, baroque pop, AM-friendly pap, anthemic marches with vital social messages, and uptempo country-folk."