| Tokyo Rose | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | July 1989 | |||
| Length | 46:24 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. | |||
| Producer | Andrew Wickam | |||
| Van Dyke Parks chronology | ||||
| ||||
Tokyo Rose is an album by the American musician Van Dyke Parks, released in 1989. [1] [2] The album concerns the intersection between Japanese and American cultures and economics. [3] [4]
The album's first song, "America", is an adaptation of "America (My Country, 'Tis of Thee)" with numerous pentatonic shifts characteristic of Japanese music, played on a combination of standard Western instruments and traditional Japanese instruments, such as the biwa and the koto. Syd Straw and Danny Hutton sang on the album. [5] "Manzanar" is about the internment of Japanese Americans. [6]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [7] |
| Chicago Sun-Times |  [8] |
The Philadelphia Inquirer called the album "an ambitious suite of songs dealing with the politics, cultures and economies of a changing world." [9] The Chicago Sun-Times deemed it "a gorgeously idiosyncratic piece of work," writing that "the string arrangements that dominate this album are every bit as beguiling as we've come to expect from Parks." [8] The Times determined that Parks's "music ploughs its charming, obscure and highly original furrow, faintly evoking Gilbert and Sullivan or Rodgers and Hammerstein rather than any discernable acknowledgement of rock, soul or pop." [10]
The New York Times wrote: "Sustaining a tone like the innocence and hardheadedness of E. L. Doctorow's Ragtime, Mr. Parks begins in pre-Sony times. As history and dreams flash through the orchestral arrangements, they begin a century-long prelude to an even closer future the two nations may share." [11]
All songs written by Van Dyke Parks, except track 1, which is public domain, arranged and adapted by Parks; track 10, Japanese lyrics by Amy Furumoto.
Van Dyke Parks is an American musician, songwriter, arranger, and record producer who has composed various film and television soundtracks. He is best known for his 1967 album Song Cycle and for his collaborations with Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys. In addition to producing or arranging albums by Randy Newman, Harry Nilsson, Phil Ochs, Little Feat, Happy End, Ry Cooder and Joanna Newsom, Parks has worked with performers such as Syd Straw, Ringo Starr, U2, Grizzly Bear, Inara George, Kimbra, Suzy Williams, Bob Dylan and Silverchair.
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