Dixie Fever

MAJOR REISSUE OF MAKOTO KUBOTA'S SUNSET GANG ALBUMS RECORDED IN THE 70S WITH HARUOMI HOSONO FOR THE SHOWBOAT LABEL AND FEATURING HIS BLEND OF JAPANESE FOLK, BLUES AND R&B WITH HAWAIIAN, OKINAWAN AND NEW ORLEANS INFLUENCES. THE ALBUMS ARE RELEASED IN COLLABORATION WITH MAKOTO KUBOTA AND COME WITH ORIGINAL ARTWORK, REMASTERED BY MAKOTO KUBOTA HIMSELF. Wewantsounds is closing its Makoto Kubota reissue series with the release of "Dixie Fever" recorded in Hawaii in 1976 and co-produced by Haruomi Hosono. Like its predecessors, 'Sunset Gang' and 'Hawaii Champroo', 'Dixie Fever' continues to explore American and Island music through a Japanese prism with a skilful mix of blues, swamp funk and America adding an exotic edge to the whole. It is the first time the album is released outside of Japan and the LP features original artwork with OBI and insert plus remastered audio by Makoto Kubota himself. A year after the release of their highly-acclaimed album 'Hawaii Champroo' in 1975, Makoto Kubota and The Sunset Gang reunited at Sounds of Hawaii studios with co-producer Haruomi Hosono to record a new album, 'Dixie Fever'. They used pretty much the same ingredients that had made the success of Champroo - an effortless mix of Japanese folk and american roots music with some tropical influences. The same mix that Haruomi Hosono was applying to his own albums, especially ''Tropical Dandy which was experimenting with the same ideas - In fact the front cover of both 'Tropical Dandy' and 'Dixie Fever' are illustrated by Yasuo Yagi. ?As per 'Hawaii Champroo' and 'Sunset Gang', 'Dixie Fever' includes a mix of original compositions and covers. On the album, you spot The Lovin' Spoonful's 'Wild About My Lovin' and a funked up version of UK singer songwriter Ralph McTell's song 'When i Was a Cowboy'...