(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me explained

(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me
Type:single
Artist:Lou Johnson
Album:The Magic Potion Of...
B-Side:Wouldn't That Be Something
Released:1964
Genre:Pop, soul
Length:2:58
Label:Big Hill
Producer:Burt Bacharach
Prev Title:Reach Out for Me
Prev Year:1963
Next Title:Kentucky Bluebird (Message To Martha)
Next Year:1964

"(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" is a song written by American songwriting duo Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Originally recorded as a demo by Dionne Warwick in 1963, "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" first charted for Lou Johnson, whose version reached No. 49 on the Billboard Hot 100 in mid-1964.[1] Sandie Shaw took the song to No. 1 in the UK that same year, while the duo Naked Eyes had a No. 8 hit with the song in the US two decades later in 1983.

Sandie Shaw version

(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me
Type:single
Artist:Sandie Shaw
B-Side:Don't You Know
Released:September 1964
Recorded:1964
Genre:Pop
Length:2:42
Label:Pye, Reprise (US)
Producer:Tony Hatch
Prev Title:As Long As You're Happy Baby
Prev Year:1964
Next Title:I'd Be Far Better Off Without You
Next Year:1964

British impresario Eve Taylor heard Johnson's version while on a US visit scouting for material for her recent discovery Sandie Shaw, who consequently covered the song for the UK market. Rush-released in September 1964, the song was premiered by Shaw with a performance on Ready Steady Go!, the pop music TV program. The first week after its release, the single sold 65,000 copies.[2] Shaw's version reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart, spending three weeks at the top of that listing in November 1964, and that same month it debuted on the Billboard Hot 100. However, despite reaching the Top Ten in some markets including Detroit and Miami[3] Shaw's version failed to best the US showing of the Lou Johnson original; the Hot 100 peak of Shaw's version was No. 52.[4]

A No. 1 hit in Canada and South Africa, Shaw's version of "...Always Something There to Remind Me" was also a hit in Australia (No. 16), Ireland (No. 7) and the Netherlands (No. 10), the track's success in the last territory not precluding hit status for the Dutch rendering by entitled "Ik moet altijd weer opnieuw aan je denken" (No. 12). Shaw herself recorded "...Always Something There to Remind Me" in French, as "Toujours un coin qui me rappelle", with lyrics by, which reached No. 19 in France, and in Italian, as "Il Mondo Nei Tuoi Occhi". A cover by Eddy Mitchell was more successful, reaching No. 2 in France in April 1965 and also reaching No. 3 on Belgium's French-language chart. Shaw made a bid for a German hit as well, rendering "...Always Something There to Remind Me" as "Einmal glücklich sein wie die ander'n". It was not a success.

Charts

Chart (1964–65)! scope="col"
Peak
position
Australia16
Canada1
Ireland (Irish Singles Chart)7
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[5] 10
New Zealand (Lever)[6] 6
South Africa1
UK Singles (OCC)[7] 1
US Billboard Hot 10052
US Cash Box Top 100[8] 49
Chart (1965)! scope="col"
Peak
position
Belgium3
France 2

R. B. Greaves version

Always Something There to Remind Me
Type:single
Artist:R. B. Greaves
Album:R.B. Greaves
B-Side:Oh When I Was a Boy
Released:1969
Recorded:1969
Genre:Pop
Length:3:09
Label:Atco
Producer:Ahmet Ertegun, Jackson Howe
Prev Title:Take a Letter Maria
Prev Year:1969
Next Title:Fire & Rain
Next Year:1970

"(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" – as "Always Something There to Remind Me" – entered the US top 40 for the first time via a version by R. B. Greaves which reached No. 27 in February 1970. Recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in 1969, with production by Ahmet Ertegun and Jackson Howe, Greaves' version was also a No. 3 Easy Listening hit.[9] This version peaked at number 48 in Australia.[10] In Canada, it reached number 12.[11]

Naked Eyes version

Always Something There to Remind Me
Cover:Naked_Eyes_-_ASTTRM..jpg
Type:single
Artist:Naked Eyes
Album:Burning Bridges
B-Side:The Time Is Now
Released:October 10, 1982
Recorded:September 1, 1982
Studio:Abbey Road Studios, London, England
Length:
  • 3:18
  • 3:40 (7-inch and LP)
Label:EMI
Producer:Tony Mansfield
Next Title:Voices in My Head
Next Year:1983

Nearly 20 years after its composition, the song became a major hit in the United States for the first time via a synth-pop reinvention by Naked Eyes titled "Always Something There to Remind Me", which peaked inside the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1983.

Vocalist Pete Byrne and keyboardist Rob Fisher first cut "Always Something There to Remind Me" as one of a number of demos recorded in Bristol upon forming the duo later known as Naked Eyes in early 1982. Byrne would recall: "I had always loved the song 'Always Something There to Remind Me' so we called a friend who had the record, he read the lyric over the phone and we put it together from memory."

On the strength of the demos cut in Bristol, Byrne and Fisher were signed to EMI Records in May 1982 and the track "Always Something There to Remind Me" was cut on September 1, 1982, in a session at Abbey Road Studios produced by Tony Mansfield. Byrne would recall: "The record was recorded at Abbey Road, and we were invited to a party downstairs, with Paul McCartney and many other stars...When we returned upstairs to the studio around 1 a.m., I decided to have a go at the vocal, it was the first time I have ever recorded a vocal in one take".[12]

Originally released in the UK in 1982, Naked Eyes' "Always Something There to Remind Me" gradually gained attention, entering the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1983 to peak at No. 8 that June, becoming the duo's only top 10 American hit.[13] The cachet of entering the US top 10 allowed the single, previously overlooked in its performers' United Kingdom homeland, to make a July 1983 UK chart debut, although it only rose to No. 59. "Always Something There to Remind Me" did afford Naked Eyes top 10 success in other countries besides the United States: Australia (No. 7), Canada (No. 9) and New Zealand (No. 2).[12]

Charts

Chart (1983)! scope="col"
Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[14] [15] 7
Canada Top Singles (RPM)9
New Zealand (RIANZ)[16] 2
UK Singles (OCC) 59
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[17] 31
US Dance/Disco (Billboard)37
US Cash Box Top 100[18] 7
Rank
Australia (Kent Music Report)42
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[19] 60
New Zealand (RIANZ)[20] 21
US Billboard Hot 100[21] 46
US Cash Box Top 100[22] 50

Tin Tin Out featuring Espiritu version

Always (Something There to Remind Me)
Cover:Always (Something There to Remind Me).jpg
Type:single
Artist:Tin Tin Out featuring Espiritu
Album:Always
Released:[23]
Genre:House
Length:
  • 3:29 (original edit)
  • 7:02 (original mix)
Label:WEA
Producer:
  • Darren Stokes
  • Lindsay Edwards
Chronology:Tin Tin Out
Prev Title:The Feeling
Prev Year:1994
Next Title:All I Wanna Do
Next Year:1997

English electronic music duo Tin Tin Out recorded a house cover of the song titled "Always (Something There to Remind Me)" in 1995. The song features vocals by French singer Espiritu (aka Vanessa Quinones) and went to No. 14 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 1 on the UK Dance Singles Chart. A music video was made to accompany the single, filmed in the Café de Paris in London.[24]

Critical reception

A reviewer from pan-European magazine Music & Media wrote, "The first thing she [Espiritu] reminds you of is all the previous versions of this Burt Bacharach & Hal David song. Spirited and dancey as it is, it doesn't make a poor figure at all."[25] Brad Beatnik from Music Weeks RM Dance Update commented, "This unabashed house cover of Dusty Springfield's 'Always Something There to Remind Me' is already on its way into the dancefloor history books thanks to its initial Hooj Choons release and its ability to whip a club into a total frenzy. Simple in its piano house format and chugging Euro rhythm, this is hardbag house at its purest and most joyful."[26] Another editor, James Hamilton, noted, "Vannessa calmly croons the title over piping wheezy organ and plonking piano in [a] naggingly effective simple jiggly chugging 0-129.7bpm [track]".[27]

Charts

Weekly charts! Chart (1994)! Peak
position
UK Club Chart (Music Week)[28] 49
Chart (1995)Peak
position
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[29] 42
UK Club Chart (Music Week)[30] 4
UK on a Pop Tip Club Chart (Music Week)[31] 3

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Artist Search for "lou johnson". AllMusic. November 9, 2018.
  2. Book: Billboard Magazine, October 1964 . October 31, 1964 . June 28, 2018.
  3. Web site: Tim Warden . ARSA | Sandie Shaw (There's) Always Something There To Remind Me . Las-solanas.com . August 17, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110713184932/http://las-solanas.com/arsa/charts_item.php?hsid=500 . July 13, 2011 . dead .
  4. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/sandie-shaw-p20486/charts-awards/billboard-singles Sandie Shaw's charting singles
  5. Web site: Single Top 100 page for Always Something There To Remind Me. September 11, 2013.
  6. Web site: flavour of new zealand - Lever hit parades. Flavourofnz.co.nz. November 9, 2018.
  7. Book: Billboard . November 9, 2013 . November 14, 1964 . Billboard Magazine . 34. 0006-2510.
  8. Web site: Cash Box Top 100 12/26/64. Tropicalglen.com. November 9, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20171201044058/http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/60s_files/19641226.html. December 1, 2017. dead.
  9. Web site: Artist Search for "rb greaves" . AllMusic . November 9, 2018.
  10. Book: Kent, David. David Kent (historian). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 . illustrated . Australian Chart Book . St Ives, N.S.W.. 1993. 0-646-11917-6. 129.
  11. Web site: RPM Top 100 Singles - March 7, 1970.
  12. Web site: Naked Eyes interview . Discog.info . August 17, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110721195819/http://www.discog.info/naked-eyes-interview.html . July 21, 2011 . live .
  13. Web site: Artist Search for "naked eyes". AllMusic. November 9, 2018.
  14. Book: Kent, David. . David Kent (historian). Australian Chart Book. St Ives, N.S.W . 1993. 0-646-11917-6.
  15. Web site: Kent Music Report – National Top 100 Singles for 1983 . . Imgur.com . January 22, 2023.
  16. Web site: charts.org.nz - Naked Eyes - Always Something There To Remind Me . 2024-01-28 . charts.nz.
  17. Book: Whitburn, Joel . Joel Whitburn . 1993 . Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993 . Record Research . 171.
  18. Web site: Cash Box Top 100 7/02/83. Tropicalglen.com. November 9, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20150215162557/http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/80s_files/19830702.html. February 15, 2015. dead.
  19. Web site: Top 100 Singles of 1983 – Volume 39, No. 17, December 24 1983 . . . November 19, 2017.
  20. Web site: End of Year Charts 1983 . . November 19, 2017 .
  21. Web site: Top 100 Hits of 1983/Top 100 Songs of 1971. Musicoutfitters.com. November 9, 2018.
  22. Web site: Cash Box YE Pop Singles - 1983. Tropicalglen.com. November 9, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20190516174621/https://tropicalglen.com/Archives/80s_files/1983YESP.html. May 16, 2019. dead.
  23. New Releases: Singles. Music Week. 33. March 11, 1995. June 27, 2021.
  24. Beats & Pieces . Music Week, in Record Mirror (Dance Update Supplemental Insert) . March 4, 1995 . 12 . May 6, 2021 .
  25. New Releases: Singles. Music & Media. October 22, 1994. April 10, 2018.
  26. Brad . Beatnik . Hot Vinyl: Tune of the Week . Music Week, in Record Mirror (Dance Update Supplemental Insert) . February 25, 1995 . 12 . May 5, 2021 .
  27. James . Hamilton . Dj directory . Music Week, in Record Mirror (Dance Update Supplemental Insert) . March 18, 1995 . 15 . May 6, 2021 . James Hamilton (DJ and journalist).
  28. The RM Club Chart. Music Week, in Record Mirror (Dance Update Supplemental Insert). October 1, 1994. 6. May 20, 2023.
  29. Eurochart Hot 100 Singles. Music & Media. 12. 13. 20. April 1, 1995. April 9, 2018.
  30. The RM Club Chart . Music Week, in Record Mirror (Dance Update Supplemental Insert) . March 11, 1995 . 8 . September 2, 2021.
  31. The RM on a Pop Tip Club Chart . Music Week, in Record Mirror (Dance Update Supplemental Insert) . March 18, 1995 . 10 . September 2, 2021.