It Bites - Old Men And The Angel (Live) Tokyo 1989

[geffel]

Jesus shit blood, this is so great. The most overlooked and under rated band of the 1980s.

[wuckle]

This track has special memories - I guess that the Tokyo audience probably don't know the difference between Magic and Shitake mushrooms - lol - But that don't matter - great music will always prevail!!!!

[CundyCha]

Ah, alas. It isn't dude. Torrent sites have it, but no seeders.

[CundyCha]

Any chance of this being on a bootleg somewhere, I mean the audio?

Cha!

[geffel]

@CundyCha

I believe you can buy the DVD and/or CD from Francis Dunnery's website.

[MrDreamtheaterdave]

One of my favourite songs of all time! So hugely underated this band, both then and now.

[calumduell]

cant put into words how awesome this band were!! :DDDDD K.O.R. It Bites!!! :D

[geffel]

@mizunomp100irons1 I've only been in the USA for oh, 17 years. I grew up in the UK, saw It Bites five times in the 1980s, saw Dunnery over here a few times, almost had a Dunnery house concert here but my better half talked me out of it...

[midlander4]

Is John Beck the coolest dude or what? Saw him in Birmingham a couple of months ago and he's still the man. Love the way this band are totally misunderstood / ignored - though they probably wouldn't be keen to agree with me...

[j2112c]

Unreal thanks so much for posting some of this concert... off to practice guitar again....inspired by a master player.

[IngialV]

my dear nilberson...

[Nananananathaliedje]

Ow yeah!

[geffel]

Wow, thanks for posting this. I saw the It Bites with Dunnery 5 times back in the late 80s.

I love the studio recordings, but this really brings back how incredibly exciting they were live.

John Beck standing up for applause at 8:00 is hilarious!

This is a beautifully structured song. It starts off as a light rock song, albeit embroidered with those deft keyboard & guitar licks, but becomes a massive prog anthem. And who else , other than the Catholic church, writes Latin lyrics..!?

[forkielifter]

unfortunately talent and genius are not enough ....

[geffel]

@forkielifter

Aye to that. They should have been the biggest band in the world. Dunnery should appear in all the top 100 best guitarist lists as a matter of course, alongside the Hendrixes & Jeff Becks of this world.

Here in the US it's almost impossible to mention the name of the band without a scowling response. For Yanks the name of the band might as well be "we're shit & you'd be an idiot to listen to us".

The name colours the music for them so they don't listen to it properly.

[steveevh1]

His brother Barry taught him all he knows

[TOKYOJOE]

was wondering how he could sing with tha comlicated guitar.

[raeljjd1966]

Watch Frans left hand & how gentle his cords are played....Women must love him 

[raeljjd1966]

KaitainCPS So very, very true

[gsc1ugs]

truley awesome

[papalazerus22]

cant believe this was 21 years ago !!! i followed these guys from the first album ....they are still amazing x

[oofoof49]

Classic - simply brilliant.

[bobbyclonk]

IB at their peak I think...One of my favourite songs of theirs - I was lucky enough to hear original demos of this song as they were writing it when I moved in next door to them many moons ago...John's keyboard solo at 7.38 still sends shivers down my spine...BTW Kurt Cobain was, for me, one of rock music's true greats...

[SoloParaDosOficial]

bueno

[Tedgrantite]

Truely unbelievable! A beautiful piece of music this! It Bites!....The band Yes and Genesis were trying to be! The whole Once around the world album, surely rates as one of the greatest rock albums of all time! And sadly little known nor recognised!

[wuckle]

@Tedgrantite This track (in particular) can really be compared to Yes and Genesis...and It really is what both of those bands could have been (Not taking anything away from either band) Effortless playing of complex time sigs and being effortlessly catchy and musical at the same time - That is really something - Incredible playing - why they never made it it one of the biggest mysteries of modern music.

[papalazerus22]

@wuckle totally agree x

[KaitainCPS]

@wuckle

Not that much of a mystery. Not to mince words, most people do not have a sufficiently musical brain to "get" It Bites. It's like wondering why Finnegans Wake wasn't a big seller. If you like IB you probably have an above-average capacity for music and/or maths, pattern analysis etc. This is high IQ pop music.

[twotails1967]

the best feel-good intro ever !

[kidfromzon]

Amazingly talented guys in an amazing band. I love this song.

[helgajohn]

I live for the music of It Bites!!!!

[ToujoursLAmour]

Wow. It is truly a shame that these guys never got huge. Some of the best music of the 80s right there.

[Mafiawl]

I think to say that good bands do not exist anymore is a bit silly. Like many others I saw It Bites live on a number of occasions and they were always excellent - it was a shame they broke up but that is life. Another band always comes along to fill a void and in my case it was Muse. One day Muse will disband and then another group will come along. Music never ends unless you close your ears. Best concert I ever went to was Buddy Rich at Ronnie Scott's but jazz still carries on without him. RIP.

[michael269]

Great band AOR/Hi Tech

[charlie2112yyz]

bands like this do not or never will exist again !

[TheLickMachine]

I beg to differ my friend!

[charlie2112yyz]

thing is mate i have worked with a lot of the so called bands around today ..F F...K C...Artics...loads to many to mention thing is they can barely hold their instruments never mind play and absolutely no solo so you can beg all you want .

[lukemachin37]

I am in a few Progressive Rock bands myself, and I have just recently been on tour with francis as a guest on his new progressives tour "there's a whole new world", all i was saying is that if you'd open your eyes other than the popular scene there are many bands including my own which are of a high quality! e.g Pain of Salvation, Porcupine Tree, Dream Theater, Mars Volta I could go on and on...

[charlie2112yyz]

not into popular scene mate done all the rock stuff including prog. mars volta are a mansun rip off dream theatre good as they are are still queesryche in disguise . and i do listen to both those bands . I have played git for thirty odd years and its mainly classical now mainly Bach , My eyes have been open for a longt time mate . Rush fan since twelve so i do get it

[twotails1967]

i wonder why it is that i still keep coming back to this band once in a while, after long periods of time that is, and keep faliing in love with this music and preformance. the feeling hurts !

so brilliant, i wish time could stop.

this is so much more that just music for me ..42 and still butterflies

[Rikk303]

Always a bit difficult as to what to listen to....that driving force of bass and drums..both awesome or the tune itself. Years worth of study there. Thanks guys x

[RobbyM1]

Ive always thought very highly of this band ... since .. well .. a long time .. just loved their prog rock always ... me being the biggest Rush fan ... i will always wonder what happened to It Bites ??? !!!

[dropehe]

no other band could ever dream to emulate this so awesome track.pure genius such a fantastic band always remembered....dunnery is a prodigy x

[tomyg2]

One of my favourites. Although 20 years old its still as fresh and as relevent as ever. Just great.

[jameyinegypt]

Francis Dunnery Look's like Kurt Cobain!!

[donkeysaregreat]

and is much more talented than Kurt Cobain, not even worth mentioning Kurt's name here :P

[LedgeUK]

@donkeysaregreat - hmmmm - I think that Mr Cobain had a significantly greater impact on music than Mr D (don't get me wrong - I'm a fan of Frank and spent many a gig standing feet from him marvelling, and a great many years during the early 90's wrangling with my love for It Bites - which now remains resolute!!)

[M13FKU]

@LedgeUK - I agree about Nirvana they were brilliant and changed the perception of rock music. But you have to understand dude that these guys arrived in the mid 80's full of big hair and big trousers and were doing prog rock!!! It is about sodding the competition and saying that this is me and fuck you!

[jameyinegypt]

Francis Dunnery gave Kurt Cobain his look!

[fireandrain1]

@jameyinegypt ...lol.. Sir Dunnery mentioned in the same breath as fucken Kurt Cobain...If you wait long enough you'll see everything..

[dje2671]

Look at the date you moron! 1989! 1989!

[jameyinegypt]

I know i know! there is a similarity a little. Music wise nothing whatsoever like Nirvana though. Good song . 7/10

[Gazamonk]

Em! Kurt Cobain Looked like Francis Dunnery. lol

[jameyinegypt]

I think Kurt asked Francis if he could borrow his look for most of his life!!

[drumstud4u]

Except that Frank was better looking and infinitely more talented! He should have been a household word! It's like I've always said "true brilliance eludes the masses" ...most people wouldn't recognize great music if they tripped over it...

[thekingofantarctica]

Yes absolutely brilliant, there is such a thing though of being to clever for your own good, i think that was It Bites's problem, they fell inbetween about 3 different genres. That's one of the disappointing things about music, that people seem to have to categorise everything. I was a big fan back in the late 80s, what i really like about them is that they're not like Asia's kind of pop- prog crossover - american AOR sounding, they always sounded very british, quirky & almost camp at times.

[donkeysaregreat]

I dont think they were too clever for their own good, all their songs are perfectly structured. They keep the prog back just enough, but let it loose to make it way more interesting.

Their problem was that they only did 3 albums!

[entangled1]

My 3 fave bands ever , Genesis, Marillion and It bites !

[twentyoutoftwenty]

Genesis and Kurt Cobain had a baby.

[Gazamonk]

"the guitarist bloke and that chap on keys with the hat. "

FYI

Guitarist = Francis Dunnery

Keys = John Beck

[Rikk303]

This is where bass and drums become what they are....well done you two. Brilliant empathy. Not sure I've ever heard a pair so right on the night..you did quite well too you other members...the guitarist bloke and that chap on keys with the hat. xxxxxxxxx

[Leetav]

that run around 4:40 is wicked

[jazza42uk]

5:17 is even better. :-)

My favourite live band ever. Just brilliant.

[bassthing26]

thanks for sharing. a great band. X

[ifly65]

This reminds me of World Trade...Billy Sherwoods awesome band from the 80's.

[ifly65]

Awesome!

[Culpano]

An truly epic band.

[69Harmony69]

this is soooo amazing! fantastic stuff :)