Mariko Tone -- Broken Eyes

 

I am very grateful to my good friend, JTM, for sending me over this compilation of City Pop by female singers, "Tokyo Nights". Included are tracks such as the late Aru Takamura's（高村亜留）"I'm In Love" and Kaoru Akimoto's（秋元薫）classic "Dress Down".

Another track is provided by Mariko Tone（刀根麻理子）through her "Broken Eyes" which was originally the lead track on her 2nd album "Purple Rose" from October 1985. Written by Goro Matsui（松井五郎）and composed by Ken Sato（佐藤健）, I'll give a quote from the liner notes provided by Eli Cohen from "Tokyo Nights":

"Broken Eyes" is a dark, synth-heavy workout examining suspicion and infidelity. The scent of another woman lingers and her eyes would have to be broken not to see that there is something amiss in their relationship.

Woooh! As the time reflects, this would be the plot for an 80s suspense movie starring folks like Meg Ryan and Jeff Bridges or perhaps this could be the story for one of those moody perfume ads that populated the airwaves back then. However, although the lyrics are dark, Sato's melody is bright and brassy and reminiscent of similar songs sung by Tone's contemporaries like Anri（杏里）and Yurie Kokubu（国分友里恵）. Going into the West, the synths but not the brass remind me of what Madonna was doing back in those days. I can even posit that "Broken Eyes" could be reflected by the cover of "Tokyo Nights" itself although those overhanging eyes in the sky look pretty clear to me.

Still a few more tracks to bring over to the blog from "Tokyo Nights" which I'm looking forward to.