Our interest in Eye/Timmy is due to the release of their 3CD Anthology recently put out by German label Pride And Joy Music back on January 20th, 2023. Much of the material on this album is also on the new one.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Eye
ALBUM: It Might Rain
LABEL: Eternal Youth Enterprises
SERIAL: NA
YEAR: 1989
CD INFO : Discogs Info List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Don McLeod – guitars, shotgun effect (11) * Peter Penhallow – vocals, keyboards * John Harrison – vocals, bass, keyboards * Paul Chatterton – drums
Additional Musicians: Andy West – bass, backing vocals (5,6,8,11) * Charles Tapp – drums, backing vocals (5,6,11) * Bob Rigus – drums, percussion (6,11) * Vince Welnick – keyboards (4)
TRACK LISTING: 01 I’m After You * 02 The Hero Is Dead * 03 Big Boy * 04 Under The Weather * 05 Baby / Lady * 06 Honestly Lovely * 07 It Might Rain * 08 Nuclear Affair * 09 You Don’t Know Me * 10 Right Time Right Place * 11 Reddi Freddi
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
As per our previous review of the Timmy and their 4 Track EP ‘The Atlanta Project’, we begin fleshing out the history of this longstanding band, who changed their name to Eye in 1988, and shifted their style more toward a pompous brand of AOR away from their progressive rock origins which kicked off in 1973 during the height of the Yes era.
Our interest in Eye/Timmy is due to the release of their 3CD Anthology recently put out by German label Pride And Joy Music back on January 20th, 2023. Much of the material on this album is also on the new one, so I can dovetail a review of this one into the new one, saving me some work without having to do a rewrite.
[Harrison, Chatterton, McLeod, Penhallow]
The Songs
During the 1984-1990 period, Eye were doing double duty with recordings laid down in both San Rafael/San Francisco and Atlanta. The latter due to renowned English producer Eddy Offord having a studio there. The two tracks which were recorded in Atlanta were ‘Baby/Lady’ and ‘Nuclear Affair’, which are also coincidentally on ‘The Atlanta Project’.
The Frisco tracks were recorded at different times/sessions, using three different engineers, one of them Under The Weather”was with The Tubes keyboardist Vince Welnick. Some of the others hit the AOR jackpot. ‘I’m After You’ and ‘Honestly Lovely’ are prime time AOR, with pumping bass and tinkly synth teaming up.
Eye change it up for the environmentally themed title track ‘It Might Rain’. In fact the album is dedicated to saving the planet, somehow the message got lost in the following thirty plus years since. The oddball track on this album is the boogie hard rock of ‘Reddi Freddi’, which sounds like something a Euro rock/boogie outfit might have played ten years earlier.
In Summary
The fact that this album will be incorporated in the forthcoming Anthology review should shine the spotlight on Eye once and for all. Watch this space.
Video
Honestly Lovely
I’m After You
From researching this album, it looks like some of these tracks were recorded earlier than 1989, and probably under the Timmy banner.
The original CD came out without a tray card just a cover that opened to credits and on the back a band pic. It was later re-released in 2006 via Broun Sound /CD Baby with the cover shown above but then “Timmy” underneath in white lettering – not sure if that version had a tray card