Released February 25, 1973 Length 29:41 | Recorded October 6 – 19, 1972 Release date 25 February 1973 | |
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Happy End is the third and final album by Japanese folk rock band Happy End. It was produced by Van Dyke Parks and features Lowell George and Bill Payne of the band Little Feat as session musicians.
Contents
Happy end fuuraibou 1973
Background and recording
The album was recorded at Sunset Sound Studios in Los Angeles in late 1972. Van Dyke Parks, known for his collaborations with Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys, produced the album. In 2013, Parks stated that the band walked in unannounced while he and Lowell George were working on "Sailin' Shoes" and asked him to give them the "California Sound". He initially refused saying he was busy with sessions for his own album Discover America, but accepted when George noticed a suitcase full of new one hundred-dollar bills with Happy End's manager.
Although Haruomi Hosono later described the work with Parks as "productive," the album sessions were tenuous, and the members of Happy End were disenchanted with their vision of America they had anticipated. A language barrier along with opposition between the Los Angeles studio personnel and the band was also apparent, which further frustrated the group. Eiichi Ohtaki recalled that Parks was drunk during production and tried to lecture them about Pearl Harbor and World War II. These feelings were conveyed in the closing track "Sayonara America, Sayonara Nippon" (さよならアメリカ さよならニッポン, "Goodbye America, Goodbye Japan"), which received some contributions from Parks and George. As Takashi Matsumoto explained: "We had already given up on Japan, and with [that song], we were saying bye-bye to America too—we weren't going to belong to any place."
Happy End officially disbanded on December 31, 1972, two months before the album was released on February 25, 1973.
In 1974, Shigeru Suzuki returned to Los Angeles to record his first solo album Band Wagon and once again worked with Lowell George, Bill Payne, Dick Hyde and Kirby Johnson.
Personnel
Happy End
Session musicians and production staff