It Bites - Live In Tokyo DVD

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It Bites - Live In Tokyo DVD

Artist:	It Bites
Title:	Live In Tokyo DVD
Label:	Independent
Length(s):	81 minutes
Year(s) of release:	2003
Month of review:	[12/2003]

Line up

Francis Dunnery - vocals, guitar
Richard Nolan - bass, backing vocals
Robert Dalton - drums, backing vocals
John Beck - keys, guitar on 11, backing vocals

Tracks

1)	Kiss Like Judas
2)	Positively Animal
3)	All In Red
4)	Old Man And The Angel
5)	Ice Melts Into Water
6)	Leaving Without You
7)	Let Us All Go/Murder
8)	Yellow Christian
9)	Screaming On The Beaches
10)	Calling All The Heroes
11)	Still Too Young To Remember

Summary

Thirteen years after the band split up, its former drummer was rummaging through the band's lock-up, coming across this, a video recording from one of the two shows the band played in Japan in 1989.

The music

From all the bands from the eighties that were neo prog, It Bites was probably the best at hiding that from the public eye. For all the general public knew, they were a poprock band. Although for that reason their music might be despised by all too many prog lovers, it did have its upsides: the band had to be able to Perform. Not stand on a stage, play a bit and look like a bunch of stiffs, the way most progressive acts seem to do, but Perform. So, you probably won't be shocked now when I write of poppy boys, and flashy moves. That's good. After some hard work the boys managed to polish up the recording to look pretty fine, razor sharp as you might expect. The sound lacks the body of modern recordings, but if you consider the origin of the material, the result is very satisfying. The multiple camera stand points make up for this a bit. On with the music. The opener Kiss Like Judas is one of the better known singles, and sounds as such. Positively Animal is a pretty rocky track as well. Performed well, but not top notch material. All In Red has a bit of a familiar ring to it too, and is a little more full in the instruments, less guitars and more filled out synths. Dunnery shows that he doesn't simply vocalize, he also uses the different tones of voice, whispers, inclinations, whatever he may deem necessary to present the massage as well as possible. Old Man And The Angel drops eve more of the poprocky effects, with its extra length and sectioned build up, with that being the perfect build up to what in my mind is the band's magnum opus: Ice Melt Into Water. This track has the make of the perfect progressive song, speed changes, emotional vocal harmonies, keys, guitars. Even at only a little over seven minutes and most often at leisurely speed, it blows (ever heard of a leisurely blow before?) its predecessor out of the water, let alone the band's other songs. Leaving Without You has stronger guitar, throbbing bass and backing vocals a bit more poppy, but remains on the prog side of the road, picking up gently after the height of Ice. Let Us All Go after a strong guitar opening resorts to the dreaded crowd participance section. Yeck! Fortunately it's brief, and the guitar quickly drowns out the memory. At the have synths set in the instrumental is completed, leading into Murder as spunky as Murder can get. The Yellow Christian presents itself in multiple forms, often with bobbing bass, sometimes with near Cardiacs vocal lines, but at a lower speed than most material. The eclectic climax is pretty great. God, these guys enjoyed themselves playing. Screaming On The Beaches is pretty flashy, contains some mild attempts at audience participation, but in its sound construction completes the job. Calling All The Heroes is the second well known single, poppy as can be expected. Well played, including a flashy synth solo. Encore Still Too Young To Remember is guitar driven, even seeing Beck replace his synths for a string driven thing. This track reminds me a bit of Dunnery's later solo work, for some reason.

Conclusion

A lot of the band's studio material is a tad on the popppy side, even though always constructed soundly. They do perform the material with gusto, though, and the live play brings out the best. Just like their goodbye live album Thank You And Goodnight this DVD completely convinces of the band's live prowess. If you're going to buy just one disc by these dudes, let it be a live one. This DVD includes the pretty boy option, not present on the regular disc of the It Bites 1987 Montreux show released at the same time or the aforementioned older live album.