On
The Hit Parade, pop darlings
Puffy cover Japanese songs from the 1980s and give a late-'90s smiley-face makeover to decade-old favorites in the process. Released 14 months after
Spike,
The Hit Parade is an homage to a number of
Puffy's influences and a sign of the duo's dedication to covering songs. Among the CD's ten covers are songs originally written and performed by such diverse outfits as
Boowy, Shanels,
Spitz,
Masahiko Kondo, Toshihiko Tahara,
Blue Hearts, Beat Takeshi, and the Downtown Boogie Woogie Band. From doo wop to jazz to punk to Japanese pop and rockabilly,
Puffy is able to bring it all together and re-present a broad base of hits with buoyant optimism, expectation, and desire.