Naked Eyes
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| Naked Eyes | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Bath, England |
| Genres | New Wave Synthpop |
| Years active | 1982–1984 2005–present |
| Labels | EMI, Parlophone |
| Associated acts | Climie Fisher, Tears For Fears, Neon |
| Website | Naked Eyes homepage |
| Members | |
| Pete Byrne | |
| Past members | |
| Rob Fisher | |
Naked Eyes is a British New Wave band that rose to prominence in the early 1980s. Originally a duo, the band is known largely for its singles: a cover of the Burt Bacharach/Hal David standard "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" (Bacharach himself has cited the cover as a personal favorite), as well as the band's subsequent hits "Promises, Promises", "When the Lights Go Out" and "(What) In the Name of Love."
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[edit] History
Naked Eyes consisted originally of childhood friends from Bath, England: Pete Byrne on vocals and Rob Fisher on keyboards. The two had formerly played in a band called Neon with future members of Tears for Fears.
Naked Eyes were one of the first bands to make significant use of the Fairlight CMI sampling synthesizer on a recording. Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush had used the instrument on prior efforts, but the usage had been far less than Naked Eyes would employ on their debut effort.
The debut album Burning Bridges was produced by Tony Mansfield, along with the follow-up album Fuel for the Fire, which also featured two titles produced by Arthur Baker.
Their second and third singles, "Promises, Promises" (which appears in an episode of the TV series, Knight Rider, and the 12" mix of which features vocals from Madonna) and "When the Lights Go Out", were also hit singles, mainly in the U.S. and in Canada. However, their second album Fuel for the Fire and the single "(What) In the Name of Love", were not as well-received, and the group broke up soon after its release.
[edit] Naked Eyes today
Following the release of the band's second album, Byrne married and moved to California and began doing session work. He performed on Stevie Wonder's "Part-Time Lover", and wrote and in 1992 wrote and produced "I Am the Cute One" for Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen. Fisher joined another duo, Climie Fisher.
"(What) In the Name of Love" was used in 1993 for the ABC Daytime "In the Name of Love" campaign promotions.
Fisher died on 25 August 1999, aged 42, following surgery.
Byrne released a solo album The Real Illusion in 2001, which featured some of the last tracks he wrote with Fisher for a proposed third Naked Eyes album.
More recently, the Naked Eyes version of "Always Something There to Remind Me" was used in the trailers of the Vince Vaughn/Jennifer Aniston comedy, The Break-Up.
In 2005, Byrne put a band together to play some Naked Eyes shows and has been touring regularly since.
On 2007, Naked Eyes released Fumbling with the Covers, an acoustic album which consisted of covers of Bob Dylan, The Beatles and Elvis Costello songs, along with Naked Eyes hits.
In the summer of 2008, Naked Eyes completed a U.S. tour along with Belinda Carlisle, ABC and The Human League.
Currently, Naked Eyes is finishing work on Rapid Heartbeat. The album is to be released in the summer of 2012.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
- Burning Bridges (1983) - (released as Naked Eyes in the U.S. and Canada) #32 US
- Fuel for the Fire (1984) #83 U.S.
- The Best of Naked Eyes (1991)
- Promises Promises (1994)
- Everything and More (2002)
- Fumbling with the Covers (2007)
[edit] Singles
| Year | Song | U.S. Hot 100 | U.S. Dance | U.S. A.C. | Canada Singles | New Zealand Singles Chart[1] | UK Singles Chart[2] | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | "Always Something There to Remind Me" | 8 | 37 | 31 | 8 | 2 | 59 | Burning Bridges/Naked Eyes |
| 1983 | "Promises, Promises" | 11 | 32 | 19 | 6 | 15 | 95 | |
| 1983 | "When the Lights Go Out" | 37 | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 1984 | "(What) In the Name of Love" | 39 | 35 | - | 77 | - | - | Fuel for the Fire |
| 1984 | "Sacrifice" | - | - | - | - | - | - |
[edit] References
- ^ [1]
- ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 387. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
[edit] External links
- Official website
- MySpace
- Naked Eyes discography
- Fan site
- Q&A with the Naked Eyes' Pete Byrne John Hood for the Miami New Times 6 July 2009
