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Among the key players in the British revival of the progressive genre during the eighties, It Bites stood out for their rather mild approach to this musical genre, mixing and complicating it with many other things: pop, new wave, glam, fusion, funk, and even metal at some point; little or nothing to do, therefore, with the conceptual suites of contemporary genre colleagues like Marillion, IQ, Pendragon, Pallas, etc.
In my opinion, they lacked a voice that was up to par, as that of guitarist Francis Dunnery was not very pleasant nor particularly moving, though reliable and inventive; instrumentally, the quartet was brilliant from every point of view and in some way original in its mix of Queen, Yes, Prince, and other influences. The four musicians tended to assemble songs of normal length, while containing the present instrumental excursions to relatively few bars.
This debut album (1986) is no exception, where some substantial episodes, around six minutes in length, are balanced by as many tracks clocking in at just over three minutes. With this, the group made a splash, managing to also enter the UK singles chart with an edited version (a couple of minutes chopped off) of "Calling All The Heroes," a strong track from the album with a decent Yes aftertaste, the not-too-brainy kind (a bit, but still), thanks to the layered choruses that come as almost a relief after a rather skewed verse melody. The varied synthesizer pads by inspired keyboardist John Beck fill the central section (the one omitted to create the single hit), piloting the numerous changes in tempo and atmosphere and demonstrating how well this band can truly play, pyrotechnic but neither long-winded nor pompous.
Even the opening track "I Got You Eating Out Of My Hand" carries a scent of Yes...tough rhythm and that certain way of using the choruses, but with more light-hearted tones and less mysticism. The following "All in Red" was the first released single, but the second mentioned above enjoyed much more success. The group focused heavily on its choral refrain, not for nothing placed "a cappella" right at the start, but it is repeated so insistently that it becomes tiresome in the end.
For "Whole New World", an entire horn section was enlisted, resulting in a rhythm and blues pop number somewhat reminiscent of Chicago, elegant and Americanized. "Screaming on the Beaches", on the other hand, is a funky rock piece with great guitar work (Dunnery is quite the shredder; even Robert Plant took him into his backing band for a while...) that in the final instrumental section spectacularly duels with the synthesizers.
"Wanna Shout" starts off excellently with a sensational staccato synth riff, but shortly after, it settles into a more subdued rhythm and blues style akin to Hall and Oates. Fortunately, the big riff returns occasionally to inject vigor into the piece, which also benefits from great production on the vocals, as always engaged in harmonies and choral work: there is fine noise gate work that clips the reverberating tails of the various vocals, making the overall rendering more dynamic and rhythmic. Credit is due to producer Alan Schaclock, a musician I have always admired (he is the guitarist, composer, and producer of Babe Ruth, do you know them?).
"Turn Me Loose" starts and ends in the style of the Doobie Brothers, settling into almost Californian blues funk, only betrayed by the virtuoso guitar score culminating in a blazing legato solo, at the center of a distinctly prog instrumental section with changes in tempo, atmosphere, intensity, sounds, everything.
"Cold, Tired and Hungry" is the first ballad, rhythmic and enveloping with somewhat lascivious Queen-like singing, while the other slow song "You’ll Never Go To Heaven" ranks among the most progressive moments of the album with its seven-minute duration, in the middle of which Dunnery's precious and agile solo takes charge in a fusion style over an arpeggiated keyboard carpet that instead recalls the Canadian band Saga. The rich expanse of synthesizers, choruses, and counter-choruses of the sung portions further evokes the sublime art rock of 10cc, more specifically their iconic immortal song "I’m Not in Love."
The brief instrumental that closes and titles the album is an acoustic guitar essay in blues style but significantly and skillfully treated with creative reverberations by Francis Dunnery.
Great band It Bites, they deserved more. Three albums in the eighties in their history, plus two more recently after reuniting (no longer with Dunnery, who had meanwhile become a solo artist). I recommend bringing them back if you're not familiar with them.
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