About
Bath, England gave us plenty of things, but few as sonically memorable as Naked Eyes, the synth-pop duo that carved out a solid niche in the early 80s New Wave scene. Pete Byrne and Rob Fisher met in the late 70s and built their sound around lush synthesizers, hooky melodies, and Byrne's distinctly emotive vocals. Fisher handled the production and keyboard wizardry while Byrne fronted the project, and together they had chemistry that translated beautifully onto tape.
Their 1983 debut album, also titled Naked Eyes, is the one fans keep coming back to. It spawned their biggest hit, a slick cover of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's Always Something There to Remind Me, which cracked the US Top 10 and introduced American audiences to their polished, radio-friendly brand of New Wave. The follow-up Fuel for the Fire arrived in 1984 and showed some artistic growth, though it never quite matched the commercial punch of the debut.
Naked Eyes never became household names the way Duran Duran or the Human League did, but they hold a warm spot in the hearts of anyone who grew up flipping through MTV in the early 80s. Their music sits comfortably in that sweet zone between moody and danceable, and Always Something There to Remind Me remains a genuine earworm decades later. Rob Fisher tragically passed away in 1999, but the songs he and Byrne made together still hold up.
