''Bite'' is the third studio album by Scottish new wave band

Altered Images Altered Images are a Scottish new wave/post-punk band who found success in the early 1980s. Fronted by singer Clare Grogan, the group branched into mainstream pop music, having six UK top-40 hit singles and three top-30 albums from 1981 to 1 ...

, released on 17 June 1983 by Epic Records in the UK, and Portrait Records in the US. Produced by

Mike Chapman Michael Donald Chapman (born 13 April 1947) is an Australian-American record producer and songwriter who was a major force in the British pop music industry in the 1970s. He created a string of hit singles for artists including The Sweet, Suz ...

and

Tony Visconti Anthony Edward Visconti (born April 24, 1944) is an American record producer, musician and singer. Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of performers. His first hit single was T. Rex's " Ride a White Swan" in 1970, the first of man ...

, it features the UK top ten single " Don't Talk to Me About Love" as well as other singles: "Bring Me Closer", "Love to Stay" and "Change of Heart". It would be the band's last album for almost 40 years.

Overview

This album followed the success of their previous two albums as well as a number of hit singles in the UK. For this album, the group recorded with producer Mike Chapman between October and December 1982 and then with Tony Visconti in March 1983. The resulting album was a change in direction from the group's earlier

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad music genre, genre of Punk Music, punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde s ...

route, becoming a more polished pure pop sound. This direction was controversial with the group's fanbase, and although the album peaked in the UK top 20 (#16), it sold less than the group's previous two albums, both of which had been certified silver by the BPI. Some countries released the album with the single edit of "Don't Talk to Me About Love" in place of the longer UK LP version. The first single, " Don't Talk to Me About Love", reached #7 in the UK, becoming one of the group's biggest hits, although further releases became less and less popular ("Bring Me Closer" UK #29, "Love to Stay" #46, "Change of Heart" #83). Soon after the final single and the group completed a UK tour, they disbanded. Originally released on vinyl album and cassette, the album was later re-issued on

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Oc ...

in 2004 with several bonus tracks as ''Bite...Plus''. This version substituted a 'live' version of "Another Lost Look", which had been featured originally on the B-side to "Love to Stay", and failed to include the original album version. Also, it included the single versions of "Don't Talk to Me About Love" and "Change of Heart" in place of the full-length LP versions, as well as single version of "Love to Stay" where originally an extended version of the track had appeared on the vinyl album, although the extended version does appear at the end of the CD issue. The album was newly remastered and re-issued again in March 2017 on 180 gram black vinyl LP, which included all the correct versions of the songs, and also included a bonus 7" on white vinyl. It was then reissued again by the same label (Vinyl 180) in July 2017 as a 2-LP set containing other period rarities, though not the songs from the bonus 7" of the previous edition.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Altered Images ;Side One # "Bring Me Closer" – 3:17 # "Another Lost Look" – 3:26 # "Love to Stay" – 5:36 (3:23 on ''Bite...Plus'') # "Now That You're Here" – 4:43 ;Side Two # " Don't Talk to Me About Love" – 4:50 (3:48 on ''Bite...Plus'') # "Stand So Quiet" – 4:23 # "Change of Heart" – 3:43 (3:35 on ''Bite...Plus'') # "Thinking About You" – 5:02 ;CD bonus tracks # "Surprise Me" – 3:04 # "I Don't Want to Know" – 3:48 # "Last Goodbye" – 3:20 # "Bring Me Closer" (Dance Mix) – 6:14 # "Don't Talk to Me About Love" (Extended Version) – 7:01 # "Love to Stay" (Dance Mix) – 5:40 ;Bonus 7" on colored vinyl (2017) # "Don't Talk to Me About Love" (Single Edit) # "Love to Stay" (Single Edit) ;Bonus LP (2017) ;Side One # "Don't Talk to Me About Love" (Extended Mix) # "Another Lost Look" (Live Studio Version) ;Side Two # "Bring Me Closer" (Extended Mix) # "Surprise Me" # "I Don't Want to Know" # "Last Goodbye"

Personnel

;Altered Images *

Clare Grogan Claire Patricia Grogan (born 17 March 1962), known professionally as Clare Grogan or sometimes as C. P. Grogan, is a Scottish actress and singer. She is best known as the lead singer of the 1980s new wave music group Altered Images, as well as ...

- lead vocals *

Johnny McElhone John Francis McElhone (born 21 April 1963 in Glasgow, Scotland) is a Scottish guitarist and songwriter. He has played with three bands who have enjoyed a top-20 presence in the UK Singles Chart; the new wave bands Altered Images and Hipsway, ...

- bass * Stephen Lironi - drums * Tony McDaid - guitar with: *

Peter Vettese Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

- keyboards * Holly Beth Vincent - Farfisa organ on "Change of Heart" *

Andy Hamilton Andrew Neil Hamilton (born 28 May 1954) is a British comedian, game show panellist, television director, comedy screenwriter, radio dramatist, novelist and actor. Early life and education Hamilton was born in Fulham, southwest London. He ...

- saxophone * Bernie Michael, Leroy Osbourne, Morris Michael, Annie, Mark, Mo - backing vocals ;Technical * Bryan Evans - engineer (tracks 1, 4, 6, 8) * Robin Black - engineer (tracks 2, 3, 5, 7) *

- producer and string arrangements (tracks 1, 4, 6, 8) *

- producer (tracks 2, 3, 5, 7) * Altered Images / Martyn Atkins - artwork and design * Neil Kirk - cover photography

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 1983 albums Altered Images albums Albums arranged by Tony Visconti Albums produced by Mike Chapman Albums produced by Tony Visconti Epic Records albums Portrait Records albums