First, I confess I had no idea Naked Eyes was covering this song. It has a long recording history, first charting for Lou Johnson in 1964. There is an excellent clip available of Johnson performing the song for that kid Dick Clark on American Bandstand. Burt Bacharach originally wrote the tune, and there is also a manic lounge version of his with all singing melodies converted to brass and strings except for the chorus, when suddenly a handful of female voices shriek "Always something there to remind me!" The song was recorded by many, many artists in the '60s and '70s before the rise of what I consider the definitive version by '80s synthpop duo Naked Eyes.
Based on a strong demo tape, Naked Eyes were signed to EMI in 1982 and began work on a debut album. One song on that demo was "Always Something There to Remind Me." Apparently the group recorded the song fairly spontaneously, getting the lyrics from a friend by phone, then recreating the rest of the song from memory. The night they recorded the album version at Abbey Road studios was a good night for Naked Eyes. In the midst of tracking their would-be hit, they went downstairs for a spell to attend a party thrown by Paul McCartney. They returned to the studio to nail the vocal track in a single take.
The Paul McCartney tie-in may have been incidental, but it's hard to miss how McCartney-esque the singing melody became on the Naked Eyes version. I was going to bring it up even before learning all this about the song. Now I picture the band coming up from that jolly party and thinking, hell, why not do our best "Your Mother Should Know" Paul voice on this?
The brilliance of the Naked Eyes version is in that English-accented vocal - and the non-stop invention of great instrumental sounds and melodies. Maybe it was fortuitous they were recreating an impression of the song from memory instead of making a direct transcription.
In no other version is there anything resembling the instantly recognizable chiming intro. That whole melody and mix of instrumentation was dreamed up new. It oozes classic MTV bravura.
All previous versions I heard put the song in a kind of straight lounge beat, while the Naked Eyes version gives us a hustling synth drum shuffle.
No other version has the middle development section like the Naked Eyes version, synth bass running mean scales. Other versions resort to an awkward upward key change and some soaring strings.
Much like a classic Beatles Paul McCartney song, all these invented new touches pack the fairly basic original song with ideas, so that after only 3 minutes there has been a journey. The song fades out on that chorus, satisfied this is now The version.
One of the records in my parents' small collection was Naked Eyes, that self-titled 1983 release. It's one of my points of pride that I listened to that album and this song repeatedly (in between obsessive helpings of Thriller and No Jacket Required). I heard the song with new ears after becoming a musician myself and began to cower before its creativity. Naked Eyes may not have lasted more than few years, but they burned bright. They'll always have this fantastic pop song and that jolly party with McCartney.