BACK DOOR – VIENNA BACKGROUND – THE RECORDINGS 1971-1976 (RM 5 x CD) (Cherry Red) (2025)

Back Door seemed to excel more as a live band than a studio band; their numbers tended to be fairly short, Ron Aspery’s flurry of sax (with some flute on the gentle track ‘Human Bed’ to provide some differentiation) and nimble fretwork on the bass (Tim Hodgkinson) on tracks like ‘Askin’ the Way’ typifying their approach; Tony Hicks on drums was no slouch either, pushing the boat out on ‘Lieutenant Loose’, also from their first eponymous album. A tight funky band (witness the über funk of ‘Jive Grind’), Back Door was not in the main vanguard of British jazz rock perhaps, although well worth a listen.

Starting in 1973 (Their big break came when asked to open for Return to Forever at Ronnie Scott’s club), four studio albums were released, all of which are included here. With no keyboards or guitar on their first two albums apart from the occasional electric piano from Asperey (Dave MacRae entered on keys and Bernie Holland as an occasional guitarist on their third album “Another Fine Mess”) before reverting to a trio on their final album ‘Activate’ on which Adrian Tilbrook came in on drums. It was hard for Back Door to push their jazz rock credentials in a fairly buoyant British jazz rock scene and their material drifted towards blues on sophomore album “8th Street Nites” (which had some vocals by Hodgkinson and relied more on improvisation than their debut)) implying a paucity of material. However, there are still many moments to savour such as ‘Slivadiv’ from their first album with the sax squeals showing an occasional proclivity towards the avant-garde, the bass playing high register to accommodate a nifty riff proving what an excellent bassist Hodgkinson was, doubling as lead instrument at times. The lavish box set named after one of their most famous pieces also includes a CD of the band’s BBC sessions from 1973 to 1974 (as with many others at the time they received the support of DJ John Peel) and the complete Impulse (Wallsend) sessions from 1971.