Haruomi Hosono

Let's Start with some great Japanese music, from someone perhaps most well known in Japan and outside for his work with bands Happy End, Tin Pan Alley and Yellow Magic Orchestra (all of which will be covered in later blog posts).

Often overlooked is his solo career which began in 1973 with Hosono House an album which was heavily influenced by American singer-songwriters like Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt and Gram Parsons. That was followed in 1975 with Tropical Dandy, an album which draws influence from Hawaiian music and Exotica (artists like Martin Denny, Les Baxter and Henry Mancini) and combines it with that great 70s rock/pop sound. For me this is Hosono at his best as a solo artist. This formula is continued on his albums Bon Voyage Co.(1976) and Paraiso (1978) which featured Yukihiro Takahashi and Ryuichi Sakamoto (who together would soon form YMO).
Hosono's final solo contribution of the 70's was the wonderful and bizarre Cochin Moon, a soundtrack to a fictional Bollywood movie.
Hosono's solo career continued thruogh the 80's and 90's alongside his work with YMO, however it his work in the 70's that really stands out in my opinion.



薔薇と野獣
from Hosono House (1973)





Peking Duck
Hurricane Dorothy
Kinu Kaido (Silk Road)
from Tropical Dandy (1975)





Exotica Lullaby
from Bon Voyage Co. (1976)






Shimendoka
from Paraiso (1978)






Hum Ghar Sajan
from Cochin Moon (1978)