Innovations

Though it was issued in the early '70s, the Innovations album, confusingly, actually consisted of 1965-1967 demos that didn't see the light of day until they surfaced on this LP. Inevitably, this meant that the music was more overlooked than it would have been had Duffy Power managed to release the material shortly after it was recorded. For these are his best recordings, as noteworthy for the players on the album as Power himself. Power (who sings and plays occasional guitar and harp) is backed here by a rotating ensemble including, at various points, John McLaughlin and Jack Bruce (before they gained fame), as well as future Pentangle members Danny Thompson and Terry Cox. Neither as rock-oriented as the Rolling Stones nor as strictly revivalist as Alexis Korner (with whom Power played for a time), this is one of the best British blues recordings, cutting straight down the middle between gutbucket blues and soulful R&B. Divided equally between Power originals and R&B blues covers, the material and performances are spare, powerful, and as consistent as any '60s British blues album. Adding to the confusion surrounding this record, it was reissued under entirely different titles in the 1980s (as Mary Open the Door) and the 1990s (as Little Boy Blue. A 2006 two-CD compilation, Vampers & Champers, is something of an expanded edition of the record, including all 14 tracks from the original Innovations LP, two quality previously unreleased cuts recorded around the same time, and an assortment of material (some likewise previously unissued) spanning 1969 to 2002. In whatever way you locate the tracks on Innovations, however, the music should not be missed by fans of '60s British R&B. ~ Richie Unterberger