Naked Eyes - The Best of Naked Eyes

when the lights go out

It's so sad that this song isn't on this comp, it would be perfect if not for that. I would skip always something there to remind me for when the lights go out! October 26, 2008

Always something there to frustrate me

Naked Eyes (Pete Byrne on vocals and Rob Fisher on keyboards), were one of the many synth-pop bands to burst on the 80's scene after record companies went New Wave crazy. With the success of Soft Cell, Thompson Twins and The Human League, if you looked good on camera, could carry a tune and had a fairlight, you had a gig. The photogenic Byrne was one of those, and when they secured an American deal with EMI, their clever cover of Bacharach/David's "Always Something There to Remind Me" made them stars.

However, for reasons Byrne explains in his review of Promises, Promises: The Very Best of Naked Eyes, this older, sonically inferior and fewer (15 over 20) songed collection remains in print when the newer one was deleted in a beauraucratic snafu. So instead of 4 hits, you miss out on "When The Lights Go Out." The advantage to this set is the song "Could Be," left of the "Promises Promises" collection.

Naked Eyes managed a string of 4 top 40 singles and two albums to hit the top 100, but their run was short lived. Given that the two albums contained the whole of 21 songs and this CD has 15, you can pretty much sum the group up on one disc. Byrne and Fischer were adequate enough tunesmiths, but they lacked any sort of real identifying qualities (like Soft Cell's over-the-top sleaziness or Tom Bailey's instinctive pop-sense with Thompson Twins). Much of this CD is affable, lightweight fare: synth-pop as Adult Contemporary background music.

However, the three main singles here do strike sparks. "Promises Promises" contains a killer hook, and despite its low chart peak (39 in the US), "What in The Name Of Love" should have been dance floor dynamite. The US single was produced by Arthur Baker (who was a dominant hitmaker at the time) and cribs from both the Thompson Twins and The Supremes. Of the remaining tracks, "Flag of Convenience" and "Burning Bridges" were the best of the lot; most of the others are indistinguishable from a million other 80's pop bands.

Fisher became a hit songwriter in his own right and struck the charts again ("Love Changes Everything") as half of Climie Fisher before his death in 1999, while Byrne carries on with the Naked Eyes name (Fumbling with the Covers). August 15, 2008

The title said it all.

The title states all that you need to know. There are a few really good 80's hits that we remember, but the rest sound pretty much the same. May 14, 2007

Excellent CD to add to Your Collection

First of all, the intro to David Bowie's "Lets Dance" doesn't sound very similar to the intro in "Promises, Promises." Second, both songs were released in 1983, so the chance of "Promises, Promises" copying "Let's Dance" is small. Naked Eyes is the most unique and underrated musical group of the 1980's. This cd starts out with their most popular hit "Always Something There To Remind Me," with it's stong synth. Other notable hits on the album are "Promises, Promises," and "No Flowers Please." This CD keeps it coming all the way through from the beginning to the end. All in all a great cd to add to your collection. January 27, 2007

4 1/2 Stars - Some of the Best of the 80's!

First, thanks to Pete Byrne (the surviving half of Naked Eyes, along with the late Rob Fisher) for clarifying what happened with the two greatest hits collections of Naked Eyes in his Amazon review of Promises Promises (December 14, 2005) - EMI put this earlier compilation together, leaving off When the Lights Go Out, one of only four Top 40 hits by Naked Eyes (What WERE they thinking?). Pete subsequently put together a different, and somewhat superior, compilation (the aforementioned Promises Promises collection), but when EMI decided to delete one of them, they chose the wrong one and kept this one - Promises Promises is now long out of print, and used copies are usually VERY expensive. (Byrne, of course, makes nothing on the sale of used CD's, so don't blame him for profiteering.) This "Best Of" collection only contains 15 songs (all from their two U.S., studio albums), while "Promises Promises - The Very Best Of" contains 20 (including some bonus material).

That being said, even without When the Lights Go Out, this is a fantastic collection of songs by Naked Eyes, covering 9 of the 10 songs from their first album, the self-titled Naked Eyes, never yet released on CD. The Promises Promises collection leaves off only Could Be from their first album. By the way, looking at a Naked Eyes discography, I just found that the debut album was titled Burning Bridges in other countries, including two additional songs A Very Hard Act to Follow and The Time is Now, both included on Promises Promises, but not on this compilation.

Four of the ten songs from their other studio album, Fuel for the Fire (also never yet released on CD), are left off this compilation - Once is Enough and Answering Service do not appear on either compilation, while New Hearts and Me I See in You appear on Promises Promises. Of these four, all but New Hearts appear on Everything and More, a later compilation of rarities, b-sides, and remixes.

For the completist, almost everything from the two studio albums appears on either this Best Of package or the Everything and More rarities CD (and you can pick up When the Lights Go Out on the Back-to-Back Naked Eyes / Spandau Ballet CD quite cheaply - it has all 4 of their Top 40 hits). But hopefully Pete Byrne will be successful in the negotiations he mentioned in his review, to eventually bring out ALL of the Naked Eyes recorded output on CD. And hopefully this will include the song from the Dr. Pepper commercial done by Naked Eyes that someone in another review referred to - how cool.

Though they released only two studio albums, Naked Eyes had some of the catchiest pop songs of the 80's, and this CD is an excellent collection of all (except one) of their best! June 25, 2006

More reviews at Amazon.com ...