8TH STREET NITES

A copy of ''Back door'' reached the headquarters of the NME newspaper, reviewed by Charles Shaar Murray, eventually increasing the fame of the group.A three-week event, opening for Chick Corea at Ronnie Scott's club in London, was another step towards popularity for Back Door, who were reeached then by several labels, eventually securing a contract with Warner Bros.They recorded their sophomore work ''8th street nites'' at Electric Lady Sound Studios in New York during June of 73', helped in a few tracks by former Cream producer Felix Pappalardi, and the album was released the same year.

It contains twelve very short tracks, 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Afro-American Blues guitarists Robert Johnson and Huddie Ledbetter.Definitely all three of these cuts are extremely outdated with a 50's style and a sound between Blues and Soul, totally out of the trio's repertoire.The majority of the album walks on Jazz and Jazz Rock paths with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.Sadly few tracks offer the nice performance of Aspery on flutes, 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.The music lacks energy for the most of its length with too stretched low tempo passages, while the few more upbeat tracks show Back Door at their best with extremely tight solos and grooves.The improvised moments are also quite many, not helping the average listener to follow the album's concept.

Yet another album by Back Door that today sounds a bit out of fashion.A slight improvement over their debut, but their overall uneven sound makes ''8th street nites'' a recommended work only for Jazz and Jazz Rock maniacs...2.5 stars.