From 'Cornerstones 2', I got the impression that the songs closely followed the original. On the other hand, in this album, Chikuzen selected famous songs in Japan and overseas as the title shows; 'The Hits', and arranged fleely. 'LION Heart' a song of national idol group "SMAP" became a jazzy gospel. WHAM!'s 'Last Christmas' became more funky. I was surprised at these songs.
'Mokuren no namida(tears in the season of magnolia)' is a very popular song of Stardust Revue. I heard on the radio- On covering this song, Kaname Nemoto, the leader of Stardust Revue, showed two conditions:
・Not be higher in the charts than original As a result, thanks to the great collaboration with Kobukuro, this song made a bigger hit than original.
'Tokyo City Serenade'- of course this is Christopher Cross's 'New York City Serenade' and the scene is Tokyo. This song was a theme song of a TV drama 'Tokyo Wonder Hotel' and 'Tokyo Wonder Tours'. Chikuzen appeared on the drama as an extra. Unfortunately, this drama was broadcasted only in Tokyo. It's not fair!