CALLING ALL THE HEROES : THE BEST OF IT BITES

It was 1987 when I first heard It Bites last studio album, Eat Me in St.Louis. The punchy feeling reminds me of Asia, and I wonder how could this band be ignored and folded after three albums being released. I suppose it's due to the fact all progressive bands are coming to an extinction after '80s. The Neo-Progressive never came into realm when the record companies losing faith in sophisticated kind of music. Although the first two albums were out of print now, this compilation should aptly cover the spirit of this superb quartet.

I got this best of compilation after hearing the band's first two studio releases and still feeling a lot of enthusiasm about pursuing more of their material. Back in the '90s, it was difficult to know the discography order of any lesser know band and since I did not know how much of It Bites I had left to pursue, this felt like a way to get more of where the two others came from. It's only many years later that I find out that what I actually needed was their third studio album titled Eat Me In St Louis.

Calling All The Heroes : The Best Of It Bites may seem like another one of those one-hit-wonders compilation albums that concentrates all of its energy of the hit single Calling All The Heroes, but those who listen further will soon realize how versatile It Bites could actually be. It's true that the music here is not put into its chronological order, which might make things seem even less structured, but the fact is, It Bites just wasn't much of an album-oriented band. This is why I can't stand when people compare them with the magnificent Swedish collective called A.C.T; the two bands had completely different agendas with their music!

Besides the band's biggest hit, we also get two great tracks off Eat Me In St Louis, Still Too Young To Remember and Underneath Your Pillow, plus Midnight off Once Around The World. Still, everything is not as it should be with this compilation due to a vast amount of second-rate material that has no place on a compilation album of this sort. Besides, it really makes no sense to only include one live track when It Bites clearly showed that they were a great live band on the live release Thank You And Goodnight.

Overall, I'd say that this album is not a compilation that I can stand by. These 16 tracks do create a fair image of the band but I just lack the great atmosphere that existed on their studio albums. Those albums might not have been created as complete album experiences, but they surely worked a bit better than this.

***** star songs: Still Too Young To Remember (3:58) Calling All The Heroes (4:03) Midnight (4:03) Underneath Your Pillow (4:25)

**** star songs: Strange But True (4:06) All In Red (3:32) Kiss Like Judas (4:08) The Old Man And The Angel (3:46) Whole New World (3:55) Yellow Christian (6:30) You'll Never Go To Heaven (live) (7:13) Vampires (4:42) Black December (3:50)

*** star songs: Murder Of The Planet Earth (3:47) Sister Sarah (4:17) Screaming On The Beaches (3:46)