Like a wintry blast from their Yorkshire moors lair where much of their music coalesced, Back Door arrived in 1972, fresh and invigorating with their extraordinary and still much-loved debut. With virtually no overdubs, keyboard and guitar free, it was Hodgkinson's spectacular bass that grabbed the attention, whether laying down a driving riff as on the eponymous title track or soloing to his own chordal chorus on ‘Catcote Rag’. Of no obvious commercial potential, as the corporates would have it, the guys just play with an attack and enthusiasm that 40 years on still stirs the soul. The rest as they say is history and for the second album the trio found themselves in New York's Electric Ladyland Studios and with Cream's producer Papplardi twiddling knobs. Some cuts were delicately impressive, ‘Forget Me Daisy’ revealing the band's unexpected lyrical side, but the band's love of blues still underwrites classic grooves like ‘Blue Country Blues’. Ironically, Another Fine Mess is the band's most ambitious yet least successful outing. More vocals, fine, but intrusive guitar and Macrae's stellar but diverting keys dilute the very intensity that made the band special. That said, Mike Gibbs' arrangement of ‘Detroit Blues’ remains a highlight if light years from Back Door's in-your-face attitude. A trio of albums to treasure: and, hey, play!