It Bites-Once Around The World (1988)

This is one of the bands that best knew how to fuse a wide variety of styles such as pop, neo-progressive, hard rock, and even the new age sounds so prevalent in the 1980s. It Bites was formed in the early 1980s in the town of Egremont, UK, by vocalist and guitarist Francis Dunnery, bassist Dick Nolan, drummer Bob Dalton, and keyboardist John Beck. In 1986, under the Virgin label, they released their debut album, "The Big Lad In The Windmill", which showcased their nascent style of refined art-pop with elaborate keyboard arrangements and a touch of symphonic rock, as demonstrated in tracks like "I Got You Eating Out Of My Hand". Two years later, their progressive approach was further strengthened with their second album, and ultimately their most acclaimed work among fans of the genre, "Once Around The World", a more mature and balanced effort with melodic rock, moments of crystalline pop, and neo-progressive elements. The superb keyboard and guitar instrumentations, although far removed from the complexities of their contemporaries Marillion, IQ or Pendragon, are elegantly structured especially in the suite "Once Around The World".