Back Door first came together in 1971 as a trio featuring Colin Hodkinson (bass, guitar, vocals), Ron Aspery (saxes, flute, electric piano) and Tony Hicks (drums) and recorded their first album in 1972.

This self-financed and independently released record came to the attention of the London music press and after enthusiastic reviews and a short residency at Ronnie Scott’s club in Soho, the band secured a wider release of their album with Warner Bros. Around this time Back Door also began to record sessions for BBC Radio 1 and had a supporter in legendary DJ John Peel.

Over the next few years they recorded a further three albums, ‘8th Street Nights’, ‘Another Fine Mess’ (which saw keyboard player Dave McRae added to their ranks) and ‘Activate’ (which featured new drummer Adrian Tilbrook). The band also undertook a tour of the USA supporting Emerson, Lake & Palmer with Carl Palmer produced Back Door’s final album ‘Activate’ in 1976.

Disc One: Back Door
1. Vienna Breakdown
2. Plantagenet
3. Lieutenant Loose
4. Askin’ the Way
5. Turning Point
6. Slivadiv
7. Jive Grind
8. Human Bed
9. Catoce Rag
10. Waltz for a Wollum
11. Folksong
12. Back Door
Bonus tracks - Recorded at Impulse, Newcastle in 1971
13. Jive Grind 14. Plantagenet 15. Folksong 16. Human Bed 17. Back Door 18. Sweet Home Chicago 19. Forget Me Daisy 20. Waltz for a Wollum 21. Idle Pig Farm 22. Three in a Bag 23. Slivadiv 24. Turning Point 25. Modern America 26. Bobby’s Song

The totally instrumental 12 compositions are all fairly short in length and the diversity of the material ranging from the frantic Catcote Rag to its preceding track, the more mellow Human Bed where Aspery switches to flute show a range and scope many would think not possible with such limited use of instrumentation.

The standard of playing is excellent. They’re all primarily jazz musicians but play with a rock sensibility giving their music plenty of fire and each is given a turn to shine. Often the main theme of the tune will feature unison bass and sax until Aspery goes off on some wild excursion.

Not surprisingly Aspery takes most of the lead on sax throughout but Hicks, who is never less than stunning gets his turn with a fantastic performance on closing track Back Door. Hodgkinson, who incidentally played with Whitesnake for a while in the early eighties, gets his turn with the solo bass piece of Lieutenant Loose but his lively style of mixing individual notes with chords always puts him upfront anyway.

Disc Two: 8th Street Nights
1. Linin’ Track
2. Forget Me Daisy
3. His Old Boots (Sein Alter Stiefel)
4. Blue Country Blues
5. Dancin’ in the Van
6. 32-20 Blues
7. Roberta
8. It’s Nice When It’s Up
9. One day You’re Down, the Next Day You’re Down
10. Walkin’ Blues
11. The Bed Creacks Louder
12. Adolphus Beal

This quite stunning album contains twelve very short tracks, and for the first time some of them feature the vocals of Colin Hodgkinson, while three of them are cover songs by early Afro-American Blues guitarists Robert Johnson and Huddie Ledbetter.

Furthermore, all three of these cuts are extremely flash-backed with a 50’s style and a sound between Blues and Soul, totally outside of the trio’s usual repertoire. The majority of the album walks on Jazz and Jazz Rock paths with touches of Orchestral Music, led by the desire of Aspery to deliver either smooth or frenetic sax parts, the full-chord performance of Hodgkinson on bass and the jazzy drumming of Tony Hicks.

Only a few tracks offer the lovely performance of Aspery on flutes, which is a shame, as these seem to be the more interesting ones, like the melodic and calm Forget Me Daisy or the bluesy but innovative It’s Nice When It’s Up with its diverse instrumental sound.

In truth, the music lacks energy for most of its length, with a lot of stretched out, low tempo passages, but when it isn’t following that mold there are a few more upbeat tracks which shows Back Door at their best with extremely tight solos and grooves. Oh, and the improvised moments are exceptional to listen to and help the listener to follow the album’s overall concept.

Disc Three: Back Door BBC Radio Sessions
BBC session January 1973
1. Vienna Breakdown
2. Blue Country Blues
3. Captain Crack Up
4. When You’ve Got a Good Friend
5. Adolphus Beal
BBC In Concert 1973
6. Folksong
7. Roberta
8. Linin’ Track
9. Forget Me Daisy
10. Country Blues No. 1
11. His Old Boots
12. Walkin’ Blues
BBC session December 1973
13. Human Bed
14. Fanny Wiggins
15. Walkin’ Blues
16. Louisiana Blues
BBC session September 1974
17. Slivadiv
18. The Spoiler
19. TB Blues
20. Blakey Jones
21. The Dashing White Sergeant

In 1968 bassist Colin Hodgkinson and saxophonist Ron Aspery met at the Starlite Club in Redcar. A summer season followed, in Bournemouth on the south coast, after which Aspery played sessions around London and Hodgkinson joined Alexis Korner’s group. Korner’s role in promoting and developing the British blues scene, as a performer and broadcaster, was fundamental. He was the compere of the broadcast from which this recording was taken, but although he’s credited as such on the album art (along with vocals and guitar), none of his compering activity seems to have made it onto the record.

A return to the Starlite Club brought drummer Tony Hicks into the frame and Back Door was born. The band gained support from the New Musical Express, drew the attention of major labels such as Warner Brothers (which signed the band) and supported Chick Corea at Ronnie Scott’s club. By the time the trio recorded this set of tunes for the BBC, on July 5th, 1973, it had already recorded two albums — the second at New York’s Electric Lady studio.

Two instrumentals show another side to Back Door’s style. Folksong is, despite its title, the jazziest of the seven tunes, featuring some raucous sax from Aspery. Forget Me Daisy is a calming, whimsical, tune—folkier than Folksong, Asprey’s flute reminiscent of Didier Malherbe’s work with Kevin Ayers.

Disc Four: Another Fine Mess
1. I’m Gonna Stay a Long, Long Time
2. Blakey Jones
3. T.B. Blues
4. Candles Round Your Hat
5. Detroit Blues
6. The Spoiler
7. Shaken by Love
8. Streamline Guitar
9. Manager’s Shirt
10. The Dashing White Sergeant

After touring in Germany, UK and the States (next to Emerson, Lake & Palmer) Back Door added veteran New Zealander pianist Dave MacRae (known for his work alongside several Canterbury bands) in the line-up and recorded this third work; which although sounding inconsistent, elegantly still managed to mix Jazz, Fusion, Blues and some so-called child tunes (on par with the front cover of the album).

All that said, Another Fine Mess does happen to contain some of the band’s finest moments, like the very good Blakey Jones or the almost dramatic Shaken by love. On the whole this is somewhere between Jazz and Blues Rock with interesting sax and bass work, the mood is always happy, but the arrangements are rather conventional with no particular surprises, in my humble opinion.

Disc Five: Activate
1. You Got Evil
2. Thru the Zig Zag Gate
3. Train Won’t Blow
4. Dragonfly
5. Eliminate
6. Speedwalker
7. Roll On
8. Moon Mad Woman
9. Cryin’ Inside

Activate was the fourth studio album by Back Door, released in 1976 by Warner Bros. Records and was brilliantly produced by Carl Palmer, known for his drumming in the bands Atomic Rooster and ELP. Original member Tony Hicks had left the band before recording the album and had been replaced by Adrian Tilbrook on drums, but to be fair the sound, overall, did not shift too much due to that change.

In short, this recording very nearly captures the magic of being one of the greatest albums of all time, in my humble opinion, of course. It’s the next best thing to seeing them live, now impossible of course, so therefore if you like great music, solid bass playing, drumming, woodwinds and brass; and if you like great jazz toboot, then this album is the best way to culminate a box-set from the underrated Back Door group.

Sadly, after the release of Activate, the band played less and less together and eventually broke up around 1977.

• REMASTERED LIMITED EDITION 5CD CLAMSHELL BOX SET OF THE ALBUMS & RECORDINGS BY JAZZ-ROCK GROUP BACK DOOR MADE BETWEEN 1971-1976.

• INCLUDES THE ALBUMS ‘BACK DOOR’, ‘8th STREET NIGHTS’, ‘ANOTHER FINE MESS’ & ‘ACTIVATE’, A DISC OF THE BAND’S BBC SESSIONS & THE COMPLETE IMPULSE STUDIOS SESSIONS FROM 1971.

• BOOKLET INCLUDES A NEW ESSAY & PHOTOGRAPHS.

Official Purchase Link