Haruomi Hosono -- Jamaica Ginger

 

The shot above is from our 2017 Caribbean cruise with that one day in Jamaica. I wonder how Royal Caribbean is faring these days.

Well, last week, I made an article based on Ryuichi Sakamoto's（坂本龍一）contribution, "Dragoon" to the February 1979 compilation album "Hi-phonics, Hi-phonics", and so I've decided to also happily tackle one more track here from the LP today. "Jamaica Ginger" is Haruomi Hosono's（細野晴臣）gift to the record and it seems to hearken back to his earlier solo days when he recorded "Tropical Dandy". At the same time though, Hosono has also thrown some AOR into the cocktail shaker and what has come out is a very pleasant and refreshing tune that would also make for an actual tasty cocktail.

Unlike the YouTube video for Sakamoto's "Dragoon", there is no other information on who was involved instrumentally in "Jamaica Ginger", and I haven't been able to find out anything else at any other site mentioning the album. That's a pity since I'd like to know who was playing those steel drums although I'm pretty sure that Sakamoto was on the keyboards.

Well, whaddaya know? There is an actual cocktail called the Jamaica Ginger. Good ol' Jamaican rum in it as well (as there should be).🍸