Albums In My Collection

– The Big Lad In The Windmill
– Eat Me In St. Louis
– It Happened One Night
– Map Of The Past
– Once Around The World
– The Tall Ships

An Overview

Another band, this one wonderfully quirky in its early years, that often straddles the line between Progressive Rock and AOR. Since they seem to fall mostly into the Progressive Rock genre, especially these days, I’ve included them on this list.

The earlier releases, featuring the talented Francis Dunnery on lead vocals and guitar, provided the most “quirky” aspect of this band. The material on the early releases was a mixture of Pop Rock/Hard Rock/AOR Rock and Progressive Rock, a unique-sounding blend to be certain, and these albums grabbed me instantly. They had a unique flavor that no other band has yet to duplicate.

Then the band disappeared for many years…until…

It Bites blasted back onto the scene in the new decade—but when Francis left the band to go solo and John Mitchell joined as his replacement. Since then, the band got rid of the more “quirkier” aspects in favor of more straight-forward Prog-Rock (in the Neo-Prog variety) approach, and the subsequent albums are also terrific, yet completely different from the band’s original releases.

So, for fans of Prog-Rock, be warned of the two different versions of this band. Both are extremely talented and enjoyable, but whichever style you might prefer depends on your personal preference when it comes to “what’s enjoyable” within the Prog-Rock universe.

Personally, I love both versions of the band, and hope that this newest incarnation continues for many years to come!