Eyes That See in the Dark

Eyes That See in the Dark
Studio album by Kenny Rogers
Released August 30, 1983
Recorded May 1983 at Middle Ear, Miami Beach, Lion and Ocean Recording, Los Angeles
Genre Country, roots rock, folk rock, adult contemporary
Length 39:56
Label RCA Records
Producer Gibb-Galuten-Richardson
Kenny Rogers chronology
20 Greatest Hits
(1983)20 Greatest Hits1983		 Eyes That See in the Dark
(1983)		 What About Me?
(1984)What About Me?1984
Singles from Eyes That See in the Dark
  1. "Islands in the Stream"
    Released: August 1983
  2. "Eyes That See in the Dark"
    Released: August 1983
  3. "This Woman"
    Released: December 1983
  4. "Evening Star"
    Released: June 1984
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]

Eyes That See in the Dark is the fifteenth studio album by Kenny Rogers, first released by RCA Nashville in August 1983.

Background

Eyes That See in the Dark marks Barry Gibb's third production project of the 1980s outside of the Bee Gees. Gibb wrote most of the songs that were more reminiscent of Rogers' days with the First Edition.

Just after Barry Gibb contributed producing the Heartbreaker album, he and Rogers met later in the year and it was then that Rogers asked about some songs and that song was the title track. The other songs in this album was written in late 1982 and recorded in early 1983. Gibb recorded demos for Rogers while working with the Bee Gees for the 1983 film Staying Alive until April 1983, as Rogers started to record this album in May the same year.[2] Also in 1983, when Maurice participated in Robin Gibb's album How Old Are You?.

The album, Rogers' first for RCA Nashville, was issued while his previous effort on Liberty Records We've Got Tonight was still in the charts and had to compete with singles from that still being issued by his previous label.

Recording

The finished instrumental tracks were dubbed onto the demos, and some of the guitar, bass, and synthesizer on the demos is heard in the completed mix. Ron Ziegler had to dub drums exactly in time with the drum machine used on the demos. Some of the musicians had also played on all of Andy Gibb's albums, Tim Renwick, George Terry, and Ron Ziegler. Barry and Maurice Gibb with Albhy Galuten appear both from the demo tracks and new recordings. "Islands in the Stream" was not a duet and Rogers was not happy with the recording and only after Dolly Parton was brought in and recorded the song as a duet did the song take off.[3]

The producers at the vocal dub sessions were surprised by Rogers' laid-back approach. He had kept the song demos in his possession for a period of time, but still needed to read lyric sheets while singing. He also, in Galuten's opinion, was just copying Barry's vocals instead of making the songs his own, a comment for which Galuten was banished from the rest of the vocal dub sessions. Kenny recalls it differently, that the producers urged him to sing them like Barry. At any rate, his vocals do follow Barry’s closely.[3]

The Gatlin Brothers contributed background vocals on "Buried Treasure" and "Evening Star", while the three members of the Bee Gees: Barry, Robin & Maurice Gibb did the same on "Living with You".

Release

"Islands in the Stream" became a major hit, reaching #1 on both the Billboard pop and country charts. It turned out to be the #1 country chart song of 1983.

Elsewhere on the album is "Buried Treasure", a single which was a top 3 country hit, the track "This Woman", which reached the top 20 on both the Billboard pop and country charts, while the title cut "Eyes That See in the Dark" also charted on the UK Singles Chart, spending six weeks in the top 100.[4]

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."This Woman" (Barry Gibb, Albhy Galuten)3:58
2."You and I"4:37
3."Buried Treasure"4:12
4."Islands in the Stream" (duet with Dolly Parton)4:10
5."Living with You"3:10
Side two
No.TitleLength
6."Evening Star" (Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb)3:40
7."Hold Me"4:15
8."Midsummer Nights" (Barry Gibb, Albhy Galuten)3:50
9."I Will Always Love You" (Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb)4:22
10."Eyes That See in the Dark" (Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb)3:42

Notes

The song "I Will Always Love You" featured on this album was written by Barry and Maurice Gibb, and is not the same as the more famous song of the same name, which was written by Dolly Parton. Kenny Rogers would later record a rendition of the Dolly Parton song, for his 1996 covers album Vote for Love.

The song "Buried Treasure" is not to be confused with Rogers's 1978 song "Buried Treasures", which appears on his album Love or Something Like It. "Buried Treasures" had not been a released single.

Personnel

  • Kenny Rogers — lead vocals
  • Barry Gibb — background vocals, guitar, arranger
  • Maurice Gibb — bass, synthesizer, guitar, background vocals
  • Albhy Galuten — synthesizer, piano, arranger
  • Tim Renwick — guitar
  • George Terry — guitar
  • George Bitzer — piano, synthesizer
  • Ron Ziegler — drums
  • Joe Lala — percussion
  • Dolly Parton — duet vocals on "Islands in the Stream"
  • Denise DeCaro — background vocals on "I Will Always Love You"
  • Myrna Mathews — background vocals on "I Will Always Love You"
  • Marti McCall — background vocals on "I Will Always Love You"
  • Larry Gatlin — background vocals on "Buried Treasure" and "Evening Star"
  • Steve Gatlin — background vocals on "Buried Treasure" and "Evening Star"
  • Rudy Gatlin — background vocals on "Buried Treasure" and "Evening Star"
  • Fred Tackett — guitar on "Evening Star"
  • Mitch Holder — guitar on "Evening Star"
  • John Hobbs — piano on "Evening Star"
  • Paul Leim — drums on "Evening Star"
  • Sid Sharp — concertmaster
  • Jimmie Haskell — strings arrangement on "Hold Me"
  • Peter Graves — horns on "You and I" and "Islands in the Stream"
  • Whit Sidener — horns on "You and I" and "Islands in the Stream"
  • Ken Faulk — horns on "You and I" and "Islands in the Stream"
  • Neal Bonsanti — horns on "You and I" and "Islands in the Stream"
  • Robin Gibb — background vocals on "Living with You"
  • Karl Richardson — sound engineer
  • Steve Klein — sound engineer

Chart performance

Chart (1983) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums 1
U.S. Billboard 200 6
Australian Albums Chart[5] 6
Canadian RPM Top Albums 5
UK Albums Chart 53

The Eyes That See in the Dark Demos

Barry Gibb originally recorded the songs for Kenny Rogers on his album, the songs recorded from August 1982, January until April 1983. Gibb's version of the songs was released officially in October 2006 in iTunes.

References

  1. ↑ Viglione, Joe. "Eyes That See in the Dark review". Allmusic. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
  2. ↑ http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/beegees/82.html
  3. 1 2 http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/beegees/83.html
  4. ↑ Eyes That See in the Dark Charts
  5. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
Preceded by
The Closer You Get… by Alabama		 Top Country Albums number-one album
October 29, 1983 – February 11, 1984 		Succeeded by
Right or Wrong by George Strait
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