Naked Eyes | tl

Naked Eyes was a synth pop duo which formed in 1982 in Bath, England. They consisted of Pete Byrne (vocals) and Rob Fisher (keyboards). The band split in 1985. Byrne reformed the band in 2006 without Fisher, who died in 1999. Unusual for a British group, they have had far more success in the U.S. than around where they started, with new wave hits "Always Something There to Remind Me" and "Promises, Promises" still remaining popular.

The group consisted 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 and stayed together as a duo after the group broke up.

Naked Eyes is best known for their first single, a new romantic inspired 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 favourite). It peaked at #8 in the US, but it only achieved a peak of #59 in the UK. The song had reached number one in the U.K. in 1964 for Sandie Shaw. Some versions of this track (including that of Naked Eyes) have the word "(There's)" dropped from the title: "Always Something There to Remind Me".

Their second and third singles, "Promises, Promises" and "When the Lights Go Out", were also hit singles. However, their second album, 'Fuel for the Fire', and its related single, "(What) In the Name of Love", were not as well-received and the group broke up soon after its release, finding their work somewhat lost in the shuffle of the ever evolving synthpop scene. Byrne ended up doing session work (he is heard on Stevie Wonder's "Part-Time Lover" and wrote and produced "I Am the Cute One" for Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen in 1992) while Fisher joined the group Climie Fisher.

Fisher died on August 25, 1999 from complications following stomach surgery. Byrne has taken back up the group's name and released Fumbling With the Covers, which consists of covers of Bob Dylan, The Beatles, David Bowie, and others (many of them acoustic). That album was released independently on the PJB label. Byrne has also 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.

Like some other new wave acts such as The Fixx and The Outfield, Naked Eyes found themselves receiving more acclaim in the U.S., sometimes regarded as a 'two hit wonder' due to their success from their first two single releases. Their work continues to be included in mutli-artist collections listened to by numerous fans of electropop. Note that the term 'The Naked Eyes' also denotes a solo artist from Perth Scotland, mixing electronic and acoustic music, unrelated to the above artist. .