Back Door - Back Door 1972

Released by the band on the Blakey label in 1972 and then re-released by Warner in 1973, this instrumental album is impressive from start to finish, and a veritable catalog of bass guitar technique. Aspery's funky sax and flute work leaves the bottom end completely open to the bass guitar, and Hodgkinson's use of strummed chords is ably backed by his bandmates on the squalling opener "Vienna Breakdown." The mel-low fon-kay bass solo, "Lieutenant Loose," makes effective use of ringing open strings, while "Slivadiv" is a fret-hammering delight. If you're a bassist, be forewarned: listening to this album is a deeply humbling experience. AMG.

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Back Door - 8th Street Nites 1973

More bass-driven brilliance, produced by the late Felix Pappalardi, former producer of Cream. Though the album is less cohesive than their debut, it soars to even greater heights with its stand-out covers of Leadbelly and Robert Johnson. These blues numbers are largely played as unaccompanied bass and vocal pieces. There's something to this unadorned combination -- the inherent grittiness of the bass matched against his voice hearkens back to the raw power of Delta blues, where it's just a guy and his crappy old guitar. On "32-20 Blues," Hodgkinson sings an old Robert Johnson number while throttling away at the bass; on the opening "Laying Track," the whole band takes on Leadbelly in a sort of restrained funkiness, with the constant thrashing of a tambourine underlining the rhythm section's punches on the downbeat. AMG.

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