ONCE AROUND THE WORLD

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.

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