Back Door

When I heard Back Door "In Session" on John Peel's radio program in November 1972, I was hooked. Back Door mixed rock, jazz and blues to produce a truly original sound that is still fresh today.

Originating in the age of extended guitar, keyboard and drum solos these short, stripped down tunes possess an energy that never fails to raise the hairs on the back of the neck. The incredible bass and drum playing of Colin Hodgkinson and Tony Hicks dynamically underpins Ron Aspery's mesmerising saxophone and flute lead lines. The demeanour of the tracks ranges from sedate and tuneful to upbeat and challenging with the quality of playing always impressive. The twelve tracks here are Hodgkinson/Aspery instrumentals, you will have to sample "8th Street Nites" to hear Colin Hodgkinson's dazzling vocal talents as Back Door pay homage to some classic blues songs.

For those out there who have cherished the music of Back Door this CD will come as a welcome relief to long over-stressed vinyl, those who have never sampled Back Door but appreciate music should buy this CD immediately.

Sorry to be pedantic but: Track titles are wrong with respect to the original album, tracks 7 to12 on the CD are side 1 of the album and CD tracks 1 to 6 are side 2 of the original. "Askin' the way" is titled "Askin' The Way (blues)" and the stunning bass solo "Catcote" is called "Catcote Rag" on vinyl.

Ron Aspery was a brilliant saxplayer, but if anything the lead instrument was Colin Hodgkinson's electric bass, played fast and chorded like a guitar. Amazing then, much copied since, but rarely equalled. Drummer Tony Hicks was at least equal to the others, playing in the front line of the sound definately, but with a degree of taste, restraint, and delicacy that is unusual in either jazz or rock drummers, to whom more and louder is generally mistakenly believed to be better.

All twelve pieces on the lp are original instrumentals, all deeply melodic, perhaps more bluesey in feel than jazz, but without a standard blues lick between the lot of them. It's endlessly surprising to me how these cuts sound and feel both dense and open and spacey at the same time - the only image that comes to mind is the three musicians bunched closely together playing in the centre of an open plain. Quite apt, considering their Yorkshire Moors debut, perhaps. Each piece is short and to the point (was this jazz-blues punk? - no perhaps not...), long enough to impress and surprise, and stick in the mind, but short enough to have deep impact and be as surprisingly groovy and stimulating as the best rock and pop always is. It's also astonishingly optimistic and cheerful-sounding in the best possible way.

I've had enormous pleasure from this lp ever since I first bought a vinyl copy in 1973, and I'm absolutely thrilled it's now out on cd - and I strongly urge everyone to try it - you'll like it!

The music, bass, drums and tenor sax, is jazz for people who don't necessarily like jazz.

Whoever is responsible for the cd pressed the original side two first, rendering the track listing redundant, but the album still stuns with it's staccato bursts of sax and impossible bass playing.

From the opening VIENNA BREAKDOWN to the closing rumble of BACK DOOR, this album is a gem.