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I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.

Friday, June 6, 2014

Dreams Come True -- Eyes to Me

The image I've always had of Dreams Come True all these years was the trio of Miwa Yoshida, Masato Nakamura and Takahiro Nishikawa （吉田美和・中村正人・西川隆宏）walking arm in arm, with Yoshida in the middle beaming that smile. Of course, this was also the cover from their mega-successful album, "Million Kisses" from 1992.


Now, from that album, came another one of DCT's early memorable singles, "Eyes to Me". From the title, one might think it was some sort of biting order from an ornery drill sergeant in the army. However, as Yoshida sang it all the way back in the early 90s, it's an adorably catchy lyric repeated in the refrain, although there is also the "Smile, smile, smile" line. As has been usually the case, Nakamura was responsible for the music while Yoshida came up with the lyrics.


The first time I heard Dreams Come True's 9th single was back in 1991 when a teenage Arisa Mizuki（観月 ありさ） (now veteran drama actress) was popping up in a number of commercials for Fuji Film. The first few of the CMs have "Eyes to Me" as the official jingle. The single came out in April 1991 and hit the top spot on Oricon, and by the end of the year, it was the 9th-ranked song.



The song has that early "Let's-have-a-nice-run-in-the-sun-for-the-heck-of-it" Dreams Come True vibe, but I also enjoy it for that slight echo of disco in the rhythm line. And naturally, Yoshida has always had that gleeful optimism which came out in her vocals.
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2 comments:

  1. Marcos V.June 9, 2014 at 8:28 PM

    Hi, J-Canuck.

    Although I can somewhat conncet with its light disco vibe, it makes me kinda sad that Dreams Come True was losing the late 80s heavy synth sound used in songs like "Anata ni Aitakute", "Egao no Yukue" or "Sayonara wo Matteru" when "Eyes to me" came by in 1991. They surely had to work with a poppier and less 80s type of pop music to be successful in the 90s, but as an 80s synthpop fan I truly don't feel excited about Dreams Come True's works after "Sayonara wo Matteru", which was released in September 1990. One exception is the groovy "Kessen wa Kinyoubi", which is from 1992. After that, though, Dreams Come True is not my cup of tea.

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    1. J-CanuckJune 10, 2014 at 9:53 AM

      Hi, Marcos.

      I think my interest in Dreams Come True lasted somewhat longer than yours. It wasn't until near the end of the century that I lost interest in them altogether, but then again I really only appreciated some of their biggest hit singles instead of their albums.

      I remember when the band was trying to break into the United States with "Sing or Die?". There is no doubt that Yoshida has the vocal chops but no matter how the US producers tried to do it, I just couldn't imagine DCT breaking out in mainstream pop music Stateside.

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