B'z guitarist Tak Matsumoto will release a new cover album this summer.
As its title suggests, THE HIT PARADE II is a sequel to 2003's THE HIT PARADE. The album will contain covers of ten tracks — nine songs and one instrumental — released between the late '60s and early '90s, performed by a host of guest vocalists.
These will include anison singer LiSA, GLAY frontman TERU, enka singer Leon Niihama, singing dentists GRe4N BOYZ, WANDS frontman Daishi Uehara, Aoi Garnet's Yamamoto Picasso, and Z vocalists KEISUKE and YUJIRO.
In addition, Mai Kuraki and Matsumoto's B'z bandmate Koshi Inaba return from THE HIT PARADE.
Elsewhere, earlier in May, Matsumoto released the digital singles BATTLEBOX and GLORIOUS 70. The latter track was produced to mark the 70th anniversary of The Japan Airport Terminal Co., operators of Haneda Airport's first passenger terminal.