John Sebastian and Haruomi Hosono are buddies?

John Sebastian and Haruomi Hosono are both artists that I really enjoy and respect for their musical ability. Both were sort of into the folk-rock scene, though Hosono would branch off into more electronic music when he was in Yellow Magic Orchestra. Nevertheless, especially his earlier stuff bears some similarity's to Sebastian's style. I became a fan of John Sebastian after watching this particular perforance at Tanglewood in 1970, an incredible display of his musical talent and songwriting ability. Although I like the album versions of these songs, there's really something to be said for the raw sound of just his voice and his guitar playing. That and his endearing conversation with the audience throughout make this one of my favorite live performance recordings. Of particular note are "You're a Big Boy Now", "She's a Lady", "Magical Connection", and "Goin' to Germany". Youtube

On the other hand, I have also been aware of Hosono for a while now, but mainly through his session work with Tatsuro Yamashita -- it was only recently that I started listening to his solo work. He brings something really unique and heartfelt to his folky style of music that is really hard to put into words -- I guess part of it is that I can really feel what he was trying say through his music, despite not being able to understand the lyrics. I've mentioned Hosono before when talking about the band he was in from 1969 to 1972, Happy End. I cited an aritcle by Moritz Sommet where he writes: "The band’s drummer and main lyricist, conceived of [their album] Wind City as a nostalgic and surrealistic re-imagination of the ‘lost’ Tokyo before the building boom set off by the 1964 Olympic games."¹ Similar to this, Hosono's albums often seem to have a theme. Maybe my favorite song of his, Hurricane Dorothy, was featured in his album "Tropical Dandy." Youtube

In a 2014 interview with Red Bull Music Adademy, Hosono says: "these Americans living in Hawaii, I felt empathy with them. Not America, not Japan. The idea of Hawaii was right for me. It was so appealing."² This album's theme is sort of this feeling of out-of-place-ness that Hosono felt. His early solo work really exudes an air of solitude -- his first solo album, Hosono House, was literally recorded in Hosono's own home, taking a "back-to-basics approach" as the obi notes on the 2018 Light In The Attic vinyl repressing put it.³ This really reminds me of John Sebastian's solo work after he left The Lovin' Spoonful -- a simpler approach that allows more room for him to express himself.

All of this is why it wasn't too big of a surprise, although a pleasant one nonetheless, that John Sebastian and Haruomi Hosono have crossed paths. I first found out about this when I discovered the album "Tribute To Haruomi Hosono." Although most of the songs on the ablum are performed, arranged, and produced by Japanese artists, the track "Choochoo-San"(蝶々さん or Chou-chou San) is credited to "Woodstock Vets", including John Sebastian, John Simon, Geoff Muldaur, and Eric Garth Hudson. Honestly, Sebastian is the only artist I really know from this lineup. Sebastian plays harmonica and guitar on the track, in addition to arranging, translating, and producing it. Pretty cool, and it probably means that John Sebastian knows Japanese. I only wish he was the one singing, because I really do not dig Geoff Muldaur's singing on this song very much. A neat tribute, but not as good as I should like it to be.

In a 2022 interview with Jeff Burger of Americana Highways, Sebastian said this when asked what music he was listening to: "Haruomi Hosono has been on the machine a lot. He’s a really unique guy who sometimes calls himself Harry the Crown, and he was kind of the Japanese sixties guy. He and I are almost the same age, and he did a whole disco phase as Yellow Magic Orchestra. A very creative guy."

In 1977, Hosono produced an album entitled "Dixie Fever" by the band Makoto Kubota & The Sunset Gang. On this album is a cover of a song John Sebastian wrote for the Lovin' Spoonful -- "Wild About My Lovin'" -- and it sounds awesome. You can really hear how Hosono's production style meshed with Sebastian's writing style to create something that really works.

Here is a teaser for a film about Hosono's 2019 US tour -- I have not been able to find the full movie, but the important information is here -- at around 1:05, we see Hosono with Sebastian backstage. This teaser also tells us a lot about Hosono's recent popularity in the US because of factors like the internet. Hosono's influence is undeniable, as it is so visible both through his fans and through his peers. Youtube

The other collaboration of theirs I was able to find was again through Geoff Muldaur. From this blog and the discogs page I was able to gather that they had both collaborated with Muldaur on songs in his album "Rare And unissued - Collectors Items 1963-2008", Sebastian on guitar and Hosono on Marimba. I had found a page mentioning a 2006 tribute concert in Japan to Fritz Richmond, a deceased member of a band Muldaur was in, the Jim Kweskin Jug Band. Mentioned on this page was John Sebastian and Haruomi Hosono, and I was able to confirm on the Discogs page of the album that their contributions were indeed recordings from that tribute concert.⁴ Interesting stuff! Unfortunately, I can't seem to find an upload of the album online. I will have to check out some of Geoff Muldaur's other work, however, because it does seem he had some ties with Hosono.

That's pretty much all I found on this one, really cool to make a connection between two of my favorite artists!