I think I've figured out why Puffy has sold so many records. It's not just the trendy kogals buying their CDs, it's also all the aging salarymen who can flash back to their youth listening to the Beatles, but with the bonus that this time, they're two cute homegrown girls instead of British lads with goofy hair.
Producer Okuda Tamio, who probably wasn't even born when the Fab Four first touched down at Haneda Airport, has this time gone whole-hog with his retro bag, and damned if he doesn't make you grin and enjoy every minute of it. Behind the disco-inspired cover art, you'll find the Stones, the Carpenters, a mildly oriental-sounding rumba, a country-and-western tune sung in English, and practically every member and era of the Beatles represented among the fifteen tracks. The bass lines on "nannari to naru deshou" are straight out of "Something", while "taiyo" manages to borrow the theme, the bright feeling, and the lyrical cleverness of every song about the sun written by the Beatles. While "Cake Is Love" from the previous "Jet-CD" was a sort of lyrical translation of George Harrison's "Savoy Truffle", "koi no line ai no shape" takes on the musical half this time. "kirei na namida ga tarinai yo" is a dead ringer for Paul Simon's "Hazy Shade of Winter", with some very nice sixties-style harmonies. "Tararan", written by Andy Sturmer (lyrics by Okuda), is the only track that's obviously not retro, taking "bouncy" to a new level. It makes you want to skip off into the sunset holding hands with your sweetheart.
Three of the tracks are written and performed entirely by Ami and Yumi, but don't get your hopes up -- they're mere novelties that clock in at under a minute. Don't quit your day jobs yet, girls. On the other hand, their singing is getting better, with each gaining a distinctive voice that wasn't heard in their earlier releases.
The last track "dare ga sore wo" is the perfectly circa-1968 album closer, opening with an acoustic guitar and building to a fadeout singalong chorus where every line is a reference to another Puffy song title.
The CD, perhaps in an effort to sound like a psychedelic 60's concept album, features some random-conversation segues between tracks, which can be amusing, but really doesn't add anything of value. Yes, we know they're cute and ditzy.
Thirty years from now, some middle-aged Japanese housewife is going to come across a dusty old CD of "Abbey Road", left by her deceased father, listen to it for the first time and say "Wow, these Beatles guys are great! But ... it sounds just like Puffy!"