Album Title: Paraiso
Artist(s): Haruomi Hosono
Year: 1978
Genre(s)/Style(s): Exotica, Jazz/Easy Listening, Other
Track Listing:
- “Tokio Rush” 3:31
- “Shimendōka” (四面道歌) 4:44
- “Japanese Rhumba” 3:34
- “Asatoya Yunta” (安里屋ユンタ) 2:15
- “Fujiyama Mama” 2:50
- “Femme Fatale” (妖婦 Yōfu) 5:00
- “Shambhala Signal” (シャンバラ通信 Shanbara Tsūshin) 3:36
- “Worry Beads” 4:28
- “Paraiso” (はらいそ Haraiso) 4:35
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Liner, Listening & Album Notes:
Part of Haruomi Hosono’s mid-1970s “Exotica Trilogy” (along with “Tropical Dandy,” in 1975, and “Bon Voyage co,” in 1976). Part homage; part psychedelic off-shoot; part parody.
Hosono asks that the exotic dream continue, but with himself as both spectator and participant. He sees the exotica phenomenon for what it is — silly and patronizing — but adores it and revels in it … If you think too much about how the parody is eating its own tail, that this is “the Japanese way of exoticising American exoticism,” it’s dizzying.
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