Music Video Of the Week

"Ebony Eyes," Bob Welch

I heard this song in the supermarket today, and when I went to another store immediately afterward, the piped-in music system there was playing Fleetwood Mac's 1973 song "Hypnotized," and so I thought I'd pay tribute to Bob Welch (1945-2012) by posted the promotional video for "Ebony Eyes" as my Music Video Of the Week.

"Ebony Eyes" was the second single off Welch's debut solo album French Kiss.  Having been a member of Fleetwood Mac from 1971 to 1974 and written "Sentimental Lady" (remade for French Kiss) and "Hypnotized" for that band, he quit to found a new power trio, Paris, which included former Jethro Tull bassist Glen Cornick and former Nazz drummer Thom Mooney.  When that group folded after two LPs, Welch released French Kiss in 1977.  

"Ebony Eyes" is not to be confused with the Everly Brothers teen-tragedy song of the same title.  Rather, it is a disco-rock hybrid power ballad a desire to win over a mysterious woman whose eyes have Welch's narrator intrigued.  It reached number fourteen on the Billboard chart in the United States.  It's a fine example of late-seventies California rock.  Enjoy.