Track Listing

1. Still Too Young To Remember
2. Calling All The Heroes
3. Strange But True
4. All In Red
5. Kiss Like Judas
6. Murder Of The Planet Earth
7. Midnight
8. Sister Sarah
9. The Old Man And The Angel
10. Underneath Your Pillow (7" Version)
11. Screaming On The Beaches
12. Whole New World
13. Yellow Christian
14. You'll Never Get To Heaven (Live Version)
15. Vampires
16. Black December

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21948 in Music
• Released on: 2003-12-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Customer Reviews

A lazy compilation
It Bites were a progressive rock band from an age when the genre was in the doldrums.

In the late 80s, Virgin Records seemed to know only one way to market a new band of 20-something males, which was as a pop group, and, as the liner notes of this album state, this conflicted with It Bites' desire to be a serious rock band, which led to the bands eventual downfall. They have, however, remained a cult favourite with rock fans, and still have a following some 15 years after the release of their final album.

Like most "Best Of" compilations, this album concentrates on the singles and the best of the album tracks, and is presented in no particular order. As befits Virgin's marketing of the band, the singles were generally edited down versions of the album tracks, with the full length versions being left for the 12-inches. Thus we get 7" edits of "Calling All The Heroes", "Old Man And The Angel" and so on, instead of the longer rambling album versions.

As It Bites were one of those bands who released non-album tracks as B-sides as a matter of course, it's a pity that so few of them made the tracklisting here - the only exceptions being "Strange But True", presumably as it was the B-side to "Calling All The Heroes", their biggest hit, and "Vampires" which was on the flip of "Still Too Young". The live version of "Never Go To Heaven" was the B-Side of "Midnight", and it is a superb performance - however, it is the original album version that is included here, despite the tracklisting. Also included is the album version of "Black December" rather than the earlier alternative version from the "Whole New World" single of two years previously.

Overall then, this is an excellent anthology of an excellent band, but lazily put together

It Bites-The best of
Why this 1980's,4 piece rock band didn't enjoy more commercial success is a real shame.
Their one and only hit single 'Calling all the heroes' was more of a 'pop' tune and their record company 'virgin' wanted the band to take this route but their musical roots lay more in blues,metal and rock.
Ultimately their other work was lost on teenage ears and they failed to build on their initial success.
After 3 studio albums between 1989 and 1991 sadly the band decided to split up.
2003 saw this 'best of' appear featuring the best tracks from each studio album.
Their small but loyal band of fans will no doubt already have this material but for any other fans of rock music i'd urge to take a chance on this compilation,believe me,you will be pleasantly suprised.

Undeservedly forgotten
That says it all, really. Apart from the title track, most people have never even heard of this group. Unlike REO Speedwagon, Toto, Starship etc. who kind of disappeared up their own arses, this lot, for whatever reason, quit whilst they were ahead. If you're looking for "feel-good", driving tracks then you can't go wrong. With a couple of exceptions, all the tracks on this album will have you rockin' on the highways! (There's even a Christmas one!)