IT BITES

It Bites carved a name for themselves in the 1980s playing progressive music for the synth pop generation - fusing catchy melody with slick musicianship and arrangements. Lead singer and guitarist Francis Dunnery sounded like Nik Kershaw, but he could play sophisticated Holdsworth runs working outside the root key and showcasing a jaw-dropping, lightning legato technique. Albums featured catchy pop songs like 'Calling All the Heroes' alongside fifteen-mintue long epics with complex time and key changes like 'Once Around the World.'

Then as they were on the verge of conquering the United States the band imploded. Dunnery departed and produced a series of lovely, whimsical singer-songwriter albums. His fellow band members faded into session playing before briefly reviving It Bites in the 2010s, John Mitchell replacing Dunnery. They recorded two excellent albums with crafted songs by Mitchell and keyboardist John Beck, then disappeared again. Drummer Bob Dalton finally announced the end of the band earlier this year, seemingly to the suprise of the other band members.

Perhaps it was this that prompted Francis Dunnery to return with this new incarnation of It Bites, who toured (featuring Luke Machin on second guitar) this summer and who have now released this wonderful album. It Bites FD are very much a return to the early formula - carefully crafted pop songs with sophisticated mid-sections or middle eights interspersed with longer numbers. On first listening it sounds Howard Jones simple. Don't be fooled. This is music which deepens with every listen and whose music is not a slave to ostentation to time signature nerdiness.

The album kicks off with 'Turning the Sky Into Fire'. The song starts simply - soft acoustic guitars and intimate singing lull us into Chris Spedding style guitar refrain and lilting chorus which is enriched with multi-layered, soulful harmony vocals and counterpoint. Then the song breaks into a Dunnery guitar solo which teases and cajoles, holds back on the soaring Holdsworth lines and drifts into a rich middle section with some deliciously creative, sparse rhythm and bass playing. It sets the tone for the album. 'Return to Natural' is catchy too, with more delightfully creative rhythm playing and lovely textured vocals. The guitar solo is both emotionally taut and restrained, leaving you pardoxically satisfied, yet wishing Dunnery would unleash some of that lightning technique. Which he finally does on 'While We Were Sleeping', the first song on the album to really showcase the band's musical virtuosity; without appearing delibaretely to showcase it all. The solo dips and ducks along the fretboard - effortless legato runs dancing around the root key with playful inventiveness. And while the song starts off simple and sparse, with tinkling keys and soulful bass, it broadens into delicious complexity, while never losing its melodic heart or feeling self-indlugent.

Dunnery leaves it until the last song to deliver us a magnum opus. 'We're Going to Clean the Sea' takes us on a ride through a series of different musical rooms, from ethereal, reflective soundscapes, into symphonic cascades with orchestral counterpoint and driving, riff-rolling rock. It's a tour de force. The song completes all Return to Natural's lyrical themes - the environmental ruin we are leaving as a legacy for the next generation, their practical determination to better things mixed with a kind of sad nihilism, a call to better our mental health with more contact with the natural world. If much of it is left... The album closes with Dunnery plaintively begging us to come and 'help him clean the sea' before fading into radio noise...

"Once Around The World", their sophomore album, dates from 1988 and therefore has the classic line-up with mr. Dunnery as frontman. I say this explicitly because I think his contribution to the album is truly brilliant. Okay, the album can be listened to as a group product. Yet it is Francis Dunnery who, with his expressive voice and his virtuoso guitar playing, enters my heart at lightning speed. Of course, don't rule out the other young guns. John Beck chases his keyboard parts through the songs superbly and bassist Dick Nolan and drummer Bob Dalton constantly keep the momentum alive. The harmony vocals are a different story since they often vary in composition as opposed to the lead vocals. Beck's high pitched background vocals are not to be sneezed at. Definitely a special band, this It Bites.

To emphasize the poppy side of the band sound a bit more, Steve Hillage had been recruited to produce a few songs on the advice of Virgin (their record company). His efforts can be heard during the first five songs. These are the least complex parts of the album. They are nice and catchy, take opener Midnight and the driven Kiss Like Judas where the unmistakable 80s sound collides wonderfully with the rhythm. The subsequent Yellow Christian is a special song that, like the entire album, reflects the Catholic background of the band members. Lyrically it is about the star of Bethlehem (Francis Dunnery is a Christmas child himself), musically we hear a rippling song with a delightful interlude, full of strange rhythms and other genius discoveries. This piece is in line with many songs after that. For the sake of completeness, Rose Marie and Black December complete the Hillage section, aka side A.

The band continue with Old Man And The Angel. Every time I hear this song I am as happy as a little kid as the CD version has been extended by over five minutes from the drastically shortened single-edit on the LP. In this full length version you can hear atmospheric keyboard parts, a few great guitar solos and a twittering Moog.

An extra song has also been added to the CD, Hunting The Whale. It's a bit less distinctive than the average It Bites song, but no less attractive. On two occasions there are contrasting sections, especially the sailor's song part is very striking.

But there's more. With Plastic Dreamer it was love at first sight. The stunning vocal arrangements did it for me and still do to this day. The song is somewhat reminiscent of a band like Moon Safari in terms of atmosphere. A short guitar solo and a triumphant keyboard melody complete this song.

And then It Bites outdoes itself. The almost 15 minutes long title track is a true epic. The song is packed with tempo and mood changes. These are so skillfully put together they simply take your breath away. The band switches effortlessly between quiet Genesis moments, heavy guitar riffs, ragtime and slapstick sections, keyboard extravaganza, Dixieland and a Yes-style finale with goosebumps-inducing guitar melody. The song is so beautiful, almost too good to be true.

"Once Around The World" is a bizarre album whereas the first five songs with their accessibility neatly pave the way for the more complex sequel of the album. It Bites has more than once shown its high testosterone levels, full of bravado, talent and urgency.

Originally posted on www.progenrock.com

It was a bold step for It Bites to reform many years after the iconic Francis Dunnery moved on to fresh pastures. Recruiting long-time fan John Mitchell on vocals and guitar was a masterstroke, and whilst some of the original fanbase would only ever accept the return of Francis himself to the fold, most were encouraged by John's experience with a range of bands (Arena, Frost*, Kino, etc.), his vocal style, virtuoso guitar playing and love of prog with a strong melodic content. With John Beck adding his magic on the keyboards and Bob Dalton providing the driving beat, the combination built on some positive live performances and transferred itself into the studio.

Map of the Past (2012) was released several years after The Tall Ships (see review), and whilst retaining the popular and accessible feel of that album, it is a more mainstream prog release with both complexity and shifting themes and also a general concept concerning a revisiting of the Mitchell's family past through photographs and memories and the role that fate and events stamp on our futures. The Edwardian period and the demands of the First World War on the common man are there in the atmosphere the album generates. It is an excellent, focused, album steeped in heavy melancholy and poignancy despite once again having some very catchy melodies, humour and insights throughout. Bass guitarist par excellence Lee Pomeroy joined for this release (Mitchell and Beck handled the bass duties on the previous album) and does a fine job, combining well with Bob Dalton rhythmically throughout the tracks.

The atmospheric Man in the Photograph starts the album and sets the wistful tone perfectly as the radio dialling reveals the sounds of the past, but then Wallflower powers in with a driving guitar riff followed up by keyboard runs to wake us up. Map of the Past is an uplifting and sincere return to the album concept, with another memorable lyrical theme. Clocks and Flag are fine precursors to one of the undoubted highlights of the album, the thunderous The Big Machine, with Dalton's drums kicking off full ensemble playing ? and setting an ominous tone that will be revisited before the end.

Cartoon Graveyard is unbearably catchy, from the gentle vocal introduction, the staccato guitar riffing, flowing keyboards and memorable sing-along chorus. There is even a touch of Supper's Ready keyboards and percussion towards the end for prog-heads to identify. However, the sombre, ironic tone returns for Send No Flowers with its sardonic lyrical edge, and the contemplative, but also highly melodic, Meadow and the Stream. The gradual sad, pensive sense of loss that has been building up is summed up by the epic, piano-led ballad The Last Escape, as our journey into the past takes in the sinking of the Titanic ? with not a dry eye in the house, supported by the brief words of Exit Song, rounding things off. Unlike The Tall Ships, where every song is very much a stand-alone effort, Map of the Past works best when listened to in one full sitting, in my view. As a result, its charms reveal themselves more slowly, but for many, maybe for longer.

Once again, the two bonus outtake tracks, Lighthouse and Come On, are nice additions rather than essential works, but the former flows pleasantly and the latter has some meaty and edgy swirling guitar and keyboards which should be prog-enough for any It Bites fan.

For many out there who still treasure the original releases, the question is whether purchasing the reissues is worth doing. I would say undoubtedly yes. The bonus tracks are fun, but it is the sonic upgrading and fresh sparkle and polish the albums exhibit which is the real bonus. Even with these old ears, I can see the benefits of the remastering process and the whole quality of the CD packaging (and vinyl versions), with new linear notes included, make these two reissues more than worthy of your pennies!

John Mitchell maintained the impetus from the It Bites reboot with the four wonderful Lonely Robot releases, but the rumours that another It Bites album could be released in the foreseeable future is an exciting prospect. His stunning musical interplay with John Beck remains clear to see, and hopefully the logistics (and the stars) align to allow the story to continue!

(Extract from The Progressive Aspect)

It was a bold step for It Bites to reform many years after the iconic Francis Dunnery moved on to fresh pastures. Recruiting long-time fan John Mitchell on vocals and guitar was a masterstroke, and whilst some of the original fanbase would only ever accept the return of Francis himself to the fold, most were encouraged by John's experience with a range of bands (Arena, Frost*, Kino, etc.), his vocal style, virtuoso guitar playing and love of prog with a strong melodic content. With John Beck adding his magic on the keyboards and Bob Dalton providing the driving beat, the combination built on some positive live performances and transferred itself into the studio.

The Tall Ships (2008) is one of the very best examples of that rather vague genre label known as 'prog-pop'. Yet it sums up the style perfectly; complex instrumentation and compositional structure but married to a popular and commercial style that produced the most 'catchy' melodic hooks you can find on any prog rock album. John Mitchell admits to writing largely to a template defined by the original line-up in the '80s, especially on the classic Once Around the World. However, he was able to add something of himself as well, creating real synergy at the time.

Starting with the amazingly fresh hit of harmonies and powerful guitar noodlings of Oh My God, the album flows seamlessly through each track with not a single mis-fire, making in remarkably consistent throughout. Ghosts storms through powerfully, but with that other-worldly keyboard motif complementing the pace. Playground brings down the tempo and has a typical Mitchell-style poignancy, seen in abundance on his Lonely Robot albums. Memory of Water picks up the tempo and adds grandiose instrumentation to the memorable lyrical lines before the stately elegance and melancholy of the wonderful title track (one of my all-time favourites, it never fails to bring a lump to the throat).

More overtly proggy, The Wind That Shakes the Barley pushes through memorably into the joyous exuberance of Great Disasters and the insanely catchy '80s pop vocal refrain that rapidly becomes an earworm that is difficult to lose! Fahreheit maintains the quality, but it is the emotional beauty and intimacy of For Safekeeping that lingers longest in the mind, and it is Mitchell's vocal highlight for me. No time to succumb to its pleasures for too long, though, as Lights crashes in with another melodic Mitchell guitar line augmented with Beck's layered keyboards. In any parallel universe where popular and musicianship go hand in hand, this would be top of the pop charts for weeks!

The epic This is England may well have been an attempt to mirror the Dunnery-era Once Around the World track, as well as push the long-form prog style to a greater extent. It is a very good track for sure, but never quite fulfils its remit or reaches the complex conclusion it deserves ? although repeated plays do reveal its undoubted charms. It is interesting that Mitchell reveals in the liner notes that the titles largely come from books lined in order on a shelf at his residence ? so my searching for hidden lyrical meaning over the years have been rather wasted!

The two bonus tracks from the original sessions, These Words and When I Fall are pleasant and bouncy enough, but don't particularly add to the album's gravitas ? which is why, no doubt, they were original outtakes. However, any 'new' It Bites material is always worth a listen and they are both steadily growing on me with repeated plays.

For many out there who still treasure the original releases, the question is whether purchasing the reissues is worth doing. I would say undoubtedly yes. The bonus tracks are fun, but it is the sonic upgrading and fresh sparkle and polish the albums exhibit which is the real bonus. Even with these old ears, I can see the benefits of the remastering process and the whole quality of the CD packaging (and vinyl versions), with new linear notes included, make these two reissues more than worthy of your pennies!

John Mitchell maintained the impetus from the It Bites reboot with the four wonderful Lonely Robot releases, but the rumours that another It Bites album could be released in the foreseeable future is an exciting prospect. His stunning musical interplay with John Beck remains clear to see, and hopefully the logistics (and the stars) align to allow the story to continue!

(Extract from The Progressive Aspect)

Is it just me or does Francis Dunnery sound like Peter Gabriel? Anyways, after a bunch of Genesis involvement, Francis Dunnery was originally picked to be the singer for the band. This album was almost a decade before 'Calling All Stations'. Unfortunately for Genesis, this album is much better than 'Calling All Stations'. This album starts with a banger and ends with a banger, Midnight and Once Around The World are both incredible, and staple tracks by the band. Kiss Like Judas is a hit sounding track with a prog spin. Probably the best track on the album, 'Yellow Christian' which has a bunch of odd time signatures, alternating time signatures, and fantastic lyrics. 'Rose Marie' is a Rush type track, fast, catchy, and retro rock influenced. 'Black December' has a great mood, its soft and melodic, less accessible, and much warmer in terms of a writing perspective. 'Old Man and the Angel' is quite long, it's very dynamic, but it's not quite an epic. The song does have its writing changes, and its typical epic structure, but it's more of a Neo-Prog/Crossover Prog typical sound. 'Hunting The Whale' and 'Plastic Dreamer' are both incredible tracks, they are more typical songs by the band but still brilliantly written. However I'm going to go on the record and say that the title track is the best song, it's a brilliant epic. The structure, the lyrics, the songwriting was incredible, the concept, the chord structure, etc, etc. Everything on that song is great, but aside from the songwriting, everyone plays really well and Francis is a great singer.

I'm sorry but this album is just ridiculously amazing, this is a very intriguing, and engaging album. This is It Bites magnum opus, their masterpiece, it's Crossover Prog perfection, and I don't understand why people aren't a fan of this. Either way, It Bites should be more appreciated, this is a very underrated album.

Anyways, the lack of an epic on this concept album will take away from this a bit. Thankfully this album has some of both John Mitchell's best guitar playing and vocals, and John Beck's best solos. The lyrics are very compelling and of course concept based. It is very hard for me to say that this is their best album but it's a very good album overall. This has a hard hitting opener and equally hard hitting outro piece. For a concept album, the themes of the second World War, and the emotion driven songwriting works. This is a very well realized concept album, it is very well written, great effects, great production, and great playing from all musicians. From 'Man In The Photograph' to 'Exit Song', all the pieces are very emotion driven, and I will stand by this album. I'll be honest though, I think this album should've ended off with 'The Last Escape', it's a very solid song with a hard hitting lyrics, the music is very well written and emotional, but again I feel that this album ended twice. 'The Last Escape' and 'Exit Song' end each other off, but even if that's the case, this album is still very good.

Conclusion: This is probably the second best album by the band, it has everything a concept album should have. It Bites has been growing for a long time and I think that this was the best idea for the band, releasing a large concept album to show they are a top notch Neo-Prog band. Good job It Bites, you guys made a very good album indeed, one of the best in 2012.

The three of them were going to produce an almighty success, that's what. I saw the original line-up support Marillion on the Misplaced Childhood tour sometimes a million years ago, and I remember being distinctly unimpressed (although in fairness, all I knew of theirs at the time was "Calling All The Heroes"), but here I was grabbed right from the off and stayed with it all the way through to the end. This reminds me so much of the days in the early Nineties when I seemed to be in a permanent state of wonderment about how many great bands there were in the scene, and how many stunning albums there were to listen to. This has been a constant returnee to my player since it was released in 2008, and I have only just realised that I never wrote anything about it at the time!! This has everything anyone could want from It Bites, with poptastic melodies and harmonies and the synthed layers of the opening "Oh My God" dares the listener to turn it off ? impossible.

John's singing fits the music perfectly, and in many ways it really does sound as if It Bites have never been away. So many styles, so many flavours to savour, and there is even a thirteen-minute epic to close with. If somehow this album has passed you by, then you should seek it out immediately.

The first two tracks are what I had expected from an 80's album. This is 80's rock that is too synthesizer-swamped for the guitars to make it hard rock, but too rockin' to be just 80's pop. Call it 80's pop rock if you like. Not quite my taste and a little embarrassing to have playing on the car stereo. But not bad songs for what they are.

The third track "Yellow Christian" is in the same vein but more synth and less guitars, making it seem closer to bubblegum pop except that in the middle there's a smart section that turns to prog flavour. The first time I heard this my ears pricked right up after having tuned out of the music. Now I knew that this album might have a few surprised before the big 14-minute-plus finale.

"Rose Marie" sounds to me like mid-eighties Uriah Heep or Blue Oyster Cult. The guitar playing is enjoyable but particularly so because in the YouTube video segment I watched, guitarist Francis Dunnery explained about using a guitar where the strings are higher off the fret-board, making the finger work necessarily more precise. My first guitar also had such high strings and it was not easy to learn how to play a lot of hard rock songs at first. Later when I bought a Gibson Epiphone (a Les Paul would have been nice but...) I at last had an easier time of playing. So, I could appreciate Dunnery's skill and the different quality of sound his guitar solos have on the album.

"Black December" is much like most of the album sounds so far. But things are about to get more interesting.

While on the surface "Old Man and the Angel" sounds like another pop rock track, it soon changes and fits in a wonderful prog section in the middle. At first I was thinking that this is what Yes should have been doing on "Big Generator" but then I thought It Bites were pre- saging the prog revival of the 90's, in particular sounding a bit like The Flower Kings. When the song concludes with its pop rock chorus it maintains an odd drum beat. It Bites came to the dinner party in an appropriate jacket but has now taken it off and is showing a prog T-shirt underneath.

"Hunting the Whale" and "Plastic Dreamer" both take us away from the pop rock factory in different ways. At times I felt the vocals sounded a bit theatrical like Peter Gabriel but "Hunting the Whale" really comes off sounding like what Genesis might have been had the classic line-up held together into the late 80's. It's a bit bizarre with a raucous tavern dinner atmosphere at the beginning and the end, whale sounds, some crusty old salt singing from his boat all blended with an 80's synthesizer as the main music. "Plastic Dreamer" tells the story of someone who gets himself locked in the toy store so he can confirm his belief that the toys come alive at night. Darth Vader dressed in drag is one of the many humorous images conjured up in the lyrics. The whimsy of the song sounds like what some otherwise serious pop rock band would have put on their album and have had it criticized as filler or inconsistency. But I find this song and the previous one showing the band's humour and willingness to go out on a limb.

Of course the song that Stephen Lambe praised was the album closer "Once Around the World". Clocking in a just under fifteen minutes, this song begins very smoothly and appropriately where the music of "Plastic Dreamer" ended off, with very beautiful and delicate synthesizer. The song picks up and goes through some interesting changes not unlike "Supper's Ready" by Genesis with odd clips and snippets of what could have been other songs fitted in smartly. As the music graduated through its atmospheres, tempos, and flavours, I felt it could easily have appeared on any Flower Kings album.

My conclusion thus far is that this album introduces itself as a pop rock album but reveals its secret intention to keep symphonic prog alive in the 80's. Considering that the old guard of the 70's were either split up or recording pop music and the neo-prog movement was by 1988 turning towards the mainstream more and more, finding an album like this one is quite a surprise. Once again I must restate my impressions that It Bites sound like a mixture of how classic Genesis might have sounded in the 80's and The Flowers Kings with a hint of what 80's Yes could have been. Pop rock songs aside, I think this was a very bold and intriguing album for the band to make. It is perhaps due to be rated as one of my favourite prog rock albums of the 80's.

Not quite essential to any prog rock collection but certainly essential for an 80's prog collection. For the effort put toward prog on this album I'll give it four stars.

Then, the other day I was watching VH1 and a weird 80's band was playing. A bunch of geeky/nerd guys playing another 80's kind of Pop. But paying close attention they were different from the other 80's guys, so I was curious and waited to know who they were. It was It Bites.

So, I was curious because I didn't know this guys started in late 80's. Went to Spotify and they were there so I give a try on their debut album The Big Lad In The Windmill (1986).

Well, this isn't really Prog, not even Neo Prog. But it's not your everyday 80's Pop act too. In fact they were something in between, that for sure would grow for something more interesting in the near future. Despite the fact that there's few Prog in here I found it very amusing. Including the single 'Calling All The Heroes' that is unusual for a single in those days.

The Big Lad In The Windmill (1986) is an album that should be checked to understand the band later on Once Around The World (1988).

Still, when I listen to their first release, I can hardly find anything prog in here. The worst being achieved with a soul type of song à la Motown: "Whole New World". Press next is the best attitude you can handle here.

The next "Wanna Shout" reminds me more of "Duran Duran" than anything prog at all. I can't say that the following "Turn Me Loose" is of great inspiration. Some flat pop song with no emotion at all. I am afraid that the press next exercise needs to be implemented here as well (but that's valid from track one unfortunately). This one is a real bad song indeed.

To find a great track here is like the search of the Holy Graal: impossible. Not even talking about prog of course. "Cold, Tired and Hungry" belongs to these even if a great guitar break is a kind of a highlight ion the midst of misery.

The disco and unbearable to my ears "Calling All The Heroes" just confirm my feeling. As far as I am concerned, this is a complete waste of an album. The type of "press next" all the way. When you reach "You''ll Never Go To Heaven", you might think that at last, a good prog moment is reached. But the feeling only lasts for 90 seconds. Even if to be honest, the closing guitar section is rather pleasant.

One star is my intimate and honest feel.