The music varies between mid-tempo pop with stuttering rhythms to warm-beachy-evening ballads. Occasional lapping waves and bird calls add to the exotica feel. But it's definitely faux-tropicana-meets-Asia, with references to Peking ducks, old silk roads, and Yokohama's China town, and ironic sprinklings of Japanesque/Asiatic musical cliches.
The album kicks off with a cover of Carmen Miranda’s version of “Chattanooga Choo-Choo”, from the 1942 film Springtime in the Rockies. It hops and pops along at break-neck pace, blurring boundaries along the way. A one-time Americana big-band swing classic, it's performed in a samba-esque style with occasional boogie-woogie piano asides, and sung in Japanese-accented Portuguese. Guaranteed to make you smile, or at least to ask 'Whaaat!?'
For me, the highlight is “Hurricane Dorothy”, which begins with a slouching, squelching whup-whup-whup bassline. Harry then compares his love to the Caribbean winds ('kimi no hitomi wa, Caribou no kaze…”), supported by a soaring female backing vocals and loungey piano flourishes (those glissandos!). The slightly rum-slurred chorus rhymes ‘bolero’ with ‘odoru’ (dance), mingled with ‘la-la lu-la'. Take a sip, and then repeat.
The rest of side one is consistently strong, whereas side two lazily reworks a couple of instrumental versions of earlier tracks. Harry's rum-soaked drowsy vocals may take some getting used to, but he mixes some strong songs with kitschy, escapist fantasies and comes up with an enjoyable and original album. Right then, back to the marimbas!
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