Misato Watanabe -- eyes

Back in 2012, I started the Misato Watanabe（渡辺美里）file for "Kayo Kyoku Plus" by talking about the obvious choice, "My Revolution" which was her breakthrough hit and her 4th single from 1986. The song was the template for her music and vocals: big, bold and brassy.

However, when I bought her first BEST album, "She Loves You" (1995), I came across this track, "eyes" which struck me for a bit of a loop. Misato here was more in "sweet voice" form and the arrangements almost made it sound like a very nice aidoru tune from the 80s. Well, as I was to find out, "eyes" was the title track from her very first album which came out in October 1985, so I guess this was more of a proto-Misato. And coming across this track on her BEST album was wonderful for me, since: 1) it's an adorable song and 2) it shows how far she progressed since then.

"eyes" was written by Masami Tozawa（戸沢暢美）who would also provide lyrics for Miki Imai's（今井美樹）mellow "Boogie-Woogie Lonesome High-Heel", and composed by a member of the band TM Network. But unlike the case with "My Revolution", it wasn't keyboardist Tetsuya Komuro（小室哲哉）but guitarist Naoto Kine（木根尚登）. Even with the electric guitar in the song, Kine was able to create a pleasant mid-tempo stroll of a track. "eyes" was never an official single from the album, so the fact that it was not only included in "She Loves You", but also in her next BEST album to commemorate her 15th anniversary, "Sweet 15th Diamond" in 2000, may mean that it was a pretty personally special tune for Misato as well.