Naked eyes

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Naked eyes
Singer Pete Byrne in 2011
Singer Pete Byrne in 2011
General information
Genre (s) New wave , synth pop , pop rock
founding 1982, 2006
resolution 1984
Website www.nakedeyesmusic.com
Founding members
Pete Byrne
Rob Fisher
former members
Keyboard
 Rob Fisher († 1999)

Naked Eyes were a British new wave band that had four top 40 hits on the Billboard charts during their brief existence from 1982 to 1984 .

history

Pete Byrne (* 1954) and Rob Fisher (1956-1999) were friends from the English city of Bath , who initially appeared together in local pubs. In 1980 they were members of the short-term band Neon , which also included Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal . After the separation, Smith and Orzabal formed the group Tears for Fears , while Byrne and Fisher appeared under the band name Naked Eyes from 1982 . They quickly got a contract with the EMI Group and recorded their first album Burning Bridges at Abbey Road Studios , on which Tony Mansfield worked as a producer.

They had their breakthrough with their first album and the song (There's) Always Something There to Remind Me , the cover of a song by Burt Bacharach and Hal David from the 1960s, which was given a synth-pop garb. The song reached number 8 in the American singles chart and was also in the top ten in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. With the self-written songs Promises, Promises and When the Lights Go Out , they were noted in 1983 with two other songs in the US charts, followed the following year (What) In the Name of Love at number 39. During this time, Naked Eyes as potential future top stars, their music videos have been broadcast many times in the US on MTV . In contrast to their chart successes in the USA, they only reached lower positions in the charts in their home country, the high point being number 59 for (There's) Always Something There to Remind Me . In Germany, naked eyes were never in the charts.

Naked Eyes are considered to be the first group that not only made successful use of a Fairlight CMI , but for which the sounds of the Fairlight CMI were a central component and trademark of their music. On the one hand, their electronic music sounded extraordinarily lush and thick for the early 1980s, but the advanced nature of their technical means made live performances impossible. After the sales of the second album Fuel in the Fire were behind those of the first album, Naked Eyes broke up in 1984. Pete Byrnes became a solo singer and studio musician, while Fisher became a member of another pop duo with Climie Fisher from 1986. Fisher died after prolonged health problems in 1999 when he and Byrne were planning a Naked Eyes reunion.

Since 2006, Naked Eyes has existed again with Byrne as the only permanent member, mostly giving several concerts a year in the USA together with other 1980s music artists. In 2007 Byrne released the third album Fumbling with the Covers as Naked Eyes , which mainly contains acoustic cover versions and thus differs in style from the first two albums.

Discography

Studio albums

  • 1983: Burning Bridges , # 32 in the US
  • 1984: Fuel for the Fire , # 83 in the US
  • 2007: Fumbling with the Covers

Compilation albums

  • 1991: The Best of Naked Eyes
  • 1994: Promises, Promises (The Very Best of Naked Eyes)
  • 1998: Naked Eyes / Spandau Ballet - Back 2 Back Hits
  • 2002: Everything and More

Singles

year title Highest chart position album
US CA AU NZ
 UK
1983 (There's) Always Something There to Remind Me 8th 8th 7th 2 59 Burning Bridges / Naked Eyes
Voices in My Head - - - - -
Promises, promises 11 13 - 15th 95
When the lights go out 37 - - - -
1984 (What) In the Name of Love 39 77 - - - Fuel for the Fire
"-" indicates that a song has not been released in that country.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bio. Retrieved May 24, 2020 (American English).
  2. ↑ James E. Perone: Listen to New Wave Rock! Exploring a musical genre . ABC-CLIO, 2018, ISBN 978-1-4408-5969-4 ( google.de [accessed on May 24, 2020]).
  3. ↑ Whatever happened to Naked Eyes? In: AXS . ( axs.com [accessed May 24, 2020]).
  4. ↑ Naked Eyes | Biography & History. Retrieved May 24, 2020 (American English).
  5. ↑ Whatever happened to Naked Eyes? In: AXS . ( axs.com [accessed May 24, 2020]).
  6. ↑ Naked Eyes | Biography & History. Retrieved May 24, 2020 (American English).
  7. ↑ John Hood: Q&A With the Naked Eyes' Pete Byrne, Playing at the Norton Museum on Thursday, July 9th, July 6th, 2009, accessed on May 24th, 2020 .
  8. ↑ Whatever happened to Naked Eyes? In: AXS . ( axs.com [accessed May 24, 2020]).
  9. ↑ Naked Eyes: Fumbling with the Covers. September 6, 2007, accessed May 24, 2020 .
  10. ↑ https://www.billboard.com/music/naked-eyes/chart-history/billboard-200
  11. ↑ Steffen Hung: Naked Eyes - Always Something There To Remind Me . charts.nz. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
  12. ^ David Roberts: British Hit Singles & Albums , 19th. Edition, Guinness World Records Limited, London 2006, ISBN 1-904994-10-5 , p. 387.