Stones Throw to reissue Haruomi Hosono's 1975 album, Tropical Dandy

The album is a cult classic that marked Hosono’s shift toward genre-blending, fusing exotica, jazz, and pop to lay the groundwork for Japanese City Pop. Van Dyke Parks, a lifelong fan, says: “I’ve orbited around [Hosono] for light years during his pan-Pacific musical adventures. Cinematic romance with sonic texture.”

Hosono, born in 1947 in Tokyo, Japan, is the founding member of the influential folk rock act Happy End and the pioneering electronic trio Yellow Magic Orchestra. Haruomi, or Harry Hosono, has also released several solo albums in his five-decade career.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @stonesthrow

This is the first-ever international reissue of Tropical Dandy. Pressed in the US, Stones Throw’s edition is on 180-gram black or ocean blue vinyl with an OBI and a new translation of Haruomi Hosono's original 1975 liner notes. It’s the second time Stones Throw and Hosono have collaborated, following the release of Hosono House Revisited, a compilation of songs from Hosono’s debut solo album, reworked by artists including Mac DeMarco, Sam Gendel, and John Carroll Kirby.