With the well-received live double album, Live From The Black Country, It Bites (IB) was revived in 2023 by founder Francis Dunnery. The announcement that new studio material was on the way created enthusiasm and high expectations among music fans. This new album, entitled Return to Natural, has now been released. It was recorded in five days, completely analogue, direct to tape instead of computer, hence the title. It is also a true group recording, with only a few overdubs, perhaps a few guitar and vocal parts.
This makes it all sound a bit more loose, a bit more relaxed too, it can rightly be called a real group album. No electronic parts sent back and forth that are put together somewhere in a computer, refreshing. Dunnery has always been a good songsmith, once again he’s responsible for a strong collection of pop/rock songs with a jazzy and occasionally proggy twist. A total of eight songs with a running time of almost fifty minutes. This time no Luke Machin (Maschine, Cyan, The Tangent) or Peter Jones (Tiger Moth Tales, Cyan), but a good, solid band, in which top drummer Chad Wackerman in particular is in excellent form. How Dunnery got the famous American session drummer to participate is not revealed, but this was truly an inspired move, proven by Wackerman’s contribution to Return To Natural.
Dunnery’s guitar playing occasionally resembles that of Nils Lofgren (E-Street Band), especially in Magdalena, but also Joe Walsh seems to be an inspiration (Out of Order). What has remained is Dunnery’s characteristic singing voice, instantly recognizable. The lyrics are those of a modern-day do-gooder, society engaged with the environment (We’re Going to Clean the Sea, Magdalena) and the way we treat each other (Return to Natural).
In the title track Return to Natural (put your phone down) here and there some fragments of the old IB can be heard, otherwise mainly a pleasant rock song. ‘Just act normal’ seems to be what the former 80’s rock star wants to say, which he does very eloquently, both lyrically and musically. There is plenty to enjoy on Return to Natural; Wackerman’s relaxed jazzy shuffle and Dunnery’s guitar solo in While We Were Sleeping. The same goes for Hot Spring Water, while the ten-minute We’re Going to Clean the Sea, as mentioned, is Dunnery’s indictment of environmental pollution.
There is little left of the original It Bites sound, at most a few fragments here and there (Return to Natural, Out of Order, We’re Going to Clean the Sea). The album sounds more like recent solo work by Dunnery than the original It Bites: more Francis Dunnery IB than It Bites FD. In itself not that strange, the heyday of said band lies already forty years behind us. And Dunnery has clearly evolved with it. It could have had a bit more ‘bite’ for me, but in the end it is exactly as the title says: a return to ‘natural’. I have some mixed feelings: on the one hand happy that there is new material and at the same time some unfulfilled expectations. Maybe I should try and shake off this 80s fascination.
What remains is an extremely enjoyable album, full of good songwriting, by an extremely competent group of musicians and topped off with Francis Dunnery’s distinctive voice and guitar playing. Only a bit less progressive by nature, nothing wrong with that.
TRACK LISTING
01. Turning The Sky Into Fire (6:01)
02. Return To Natural (5:09)
03. Magdalena (7:44)
04. Man Overboard (4:02)
05. While We Were Sleeping (5:48)
06. Out Of Order (3:58)
07. Hot Spring Water (4:53)
08. We’re Going To Clean The Sea (9:55)
Total Time – 47:30
MUSICIANS
Francis Dunnery – Vocals, Electric & Acoustic Guitars
Tony Turrell – Keyboards
Paul Brown – Bass
Chad Wackerman – Drums
Dave McCracken – Ambience
ADDITIONAL INFO
Record Label: Independent
Country of Origin: U.K.
Date of Release: 6th February 2024
DISCOGRAPHY
Francis Dunnery’s It Bites
Return to Natural (2024)
Live From The Black Country (2023)
Francis Dunnery
Raw EP (2023)
The Blues of Tombstone Dunnery (2023)
The Big Purple Castle (2021)
Return to the Wild Country (2016)
Vampires (2016)
Frankenstein Monster (2013)
Made in Space (2011)
There’s a Whole New World Out There (2009)
The Gulley Flats Boys (2005)
Man (2001)
Let’s Go Do What Happens (1998)
Tall Blonde Helicopter (1995)
Fearless (1994)
Welcome to the Wild Country (1991)
It Bites
Map Of The Past (2012)
The Tall Ships (2008)
When The Lights Go Down (2007)
Live In Montreux 1987 (2003)
Thank You & Goodnight (1991)
Eat Me In St. Louis (1989)
Once Around The World (1988)
The Big Lad In The Windmill (1986)
LINKS
Francis Dunnery’s It Bites – Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | YouTube | X | Instagram