Paraiso

Haruomi Hosono

Year: 1978

Genre(s)/Style(s): Exotica, Jazz/Easy Listening, Other

Track Listing:

  1. “Tokio Rush” 3:31
  2. “Shimendōka” (四面道歌) 4:44
  3. “Japanese Rhumba” 3:34
  4. “Asatoya Yunta” (安里屋ユンタ) 2:15
  5. “Fujiyama Mama” 2:50
  6. “Femme Fatale” (妖婦 Yōfu) 5:00
  7. “Shambhala Signal” (シャンバラ通信 Shanbara Tsūshin) 3:36
  8. “Worry Beads” 4:28
  9. “Paraiso” (はらいそ Haraiso) 4:35

Note: Something off? Please submit any album corrections in the comments.

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.

— Colin from Dinosaur Gardens

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