01. Iceman
02. If Trouble Was Money
03. When The Welfare Turns Its Back On You
04. I Got That Feeling
05. Put Your Shoe On The Wrong Foot
06. Cold, Cold Feeling
07. Too Tired
08. Do What You Wanna Do
09. Head Rag
10. Cold Cuts
11. Conversation With Collins
12. Snatchin' It Back
13. The Hawk
14. Blues For Gabe
15. If You Love Me Like You Say 
16. Shiver 'n Shake
17. Watermelon Man
18. Mr. Collins, Mr. Collins
19. Cleo's Thing
20. Hideaway
21. Have Mercy
22. Bending Like A Willow Tree
23. Lights Are On But Nobody's Home
24. Albert's Entrance (Albert Collins, Stevie Ray Vaughan & Jeff Healey)
25. The Highway Is Like A Woman
26. Put The Shoe On The Other Foot
27. The Things That I Used To Do
28. Give Me My Blues
29. Same Old Thing
30. Snowed In 

There has never been and may never be again a bluesman quite like Albert Collins. "The Master Of The Telecaster" was born on October 1, 1932, in Leona, Texas. A cousin of the legendary Lightnin' Hopkins, Collins emerged with a blues sound and style all his own, featuring a combination of icy echo, shattering, ringing, sustained high notes, an ultra-percussive right-hand attack, and an unheard-of minor key guitar tuning (taught to him by his cousin Willow Young). Deeply influenced by T-Bone Walker, John Lee Hooker and Gatemouth Brown, Collins absorbed the sounds of Mississippi, Chicago, and especially Texas. He formed his own band in 1952, packing clubs around Houston. In the early 1960s, Collins' "cool sound" instrumentals like the million-seller Frosty (recorded with a young Johnny Winter and Janis Joplin in attendance at the studio) and follow-ups Sno Cone and Thaw Out were all over R&B radio. Soon he was sharing stages with his idols Gatemouth Brown and T-Bone Walker.

Then, in the mid-'60s (following a move from Texas to Kansas City to California), Collins broke into the rock 'n' roll world, releasing three albums produced by members of Canned Heat, and began playing the San Francisco psychedelic circuit. But Albert's greatest success came after he signed with Alligator in 1978 and cut Ice Pickin'. It won the Best Blues Album of the Year Award from the Montreux Jazz Festival, and was nominated for a Grammy. His following Alligator albums helped earn Collins every award the blues world had to offer. And, along with Johnny Copeland and Robert Cray (who decided on a career as a bluesman after seeing Collins play his high school prom) Collins cut the Grammy-winning Showdown!.

Even after he was firmly established as a major modern bluesman, Collins never got too big for his fans and friends, and never took things easy. And he never relinquished the wheel of his battered tour bus that he loved to drive so much. Along with his band, The Icebreakers, Collins' live shows -- driven by his kinetic stage presence -- were legendary testaments to the power of the blues. With his untimely death in 1993, Albert Collins left behind a blues legacy that continues to amaze and delight blues fans all over the world. ---alligator.com

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01 – Sweet Home Chicago 04:13
02 – Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay 05:03
03 – Talk To Your Daughter 04:04
04 – Howlin' 04:59
05 – Master Of The Telecaster 06:00
06 – I've Got A Mind To Travel 10:10
07 – Frosty 05:24
08 – Cold, Cold Feeling 08:37
09 – Ice Pickin' 03:30
10 – Stand By Me 08:15
11 – Got My Mojo Workin' 12:12
12 – She's Fine 05:24
13 – Thaw Out 07:54
14 – The Things I Used To Do 05:16
15 – Caledonia 06:15
16 – Master Charge 06:20
17 – Conversation With Collins 09:12
18 – Cold Cuts 18:43

Albert Collins - Guitar / Vocals 
Debbie Davies - Guitar / Vocals 
Chuck Williams - Saxophone (2 at a time!) 
Sam Franklin - Tenor Saxophone

There has never been and may never be again a bluesman quite like Albert Collins. "The Master Of The Telecaster" was born on October 1, 1932, in Leona, Texas. A cousin of the legendary Lightnin' Hopkins, Collins emerged with a blues sound and style all his own, featuring a combination of icy echo, shattering, ringing, sustained high notes, an ultra-percussive right-hand attack, and an unheard-of minor key guitar tuning (taught to him by his cousin Willow Young). Deeply influenced by T-Bone Walker, John Lee Hooker and Gatemouth Brown, Collins absorbed the sounds of Mississippi, Chicago, and especially Texas. He formed his own band in 1952, packing clubs around Houston. In the early 1960s, Collins' "cool sound" instrumentals like the million-seller Frosty (recorded with a young Johnny Winter and Janis Joplin in attendance at the studio) and follow-ups Sno Cone and Thaw Out were all over R&B radio. Soon he was sharing stages with his idols Gatemouth Brown and T-Bone Walker.

Then, in the mid-'60s (following a move from Texas to Kansas City to California), Collins broke into the rock 'n' roll world, releasing three albums produced by members of Canned Heat, and began playing the San Francisco psychedelic circuit. But Albert's greatest success came after he signed with Alligator in 1978 and cut Ice Pickin'. It won the Best Blues Album of the Year Award from the Montreux Jazz Festival, and was nominated for a Grammy. His following Alligator albums helped earn Collins every award the blues world had to offer. And, along with Johnny Copeland and Robert Cray (who decided on a career as a bluesman after seeing Collins play his high school prom) Collins cut the Grammy-winning Showdown!.

Even after he was firmly established as a major modern bluesman, Collins never got too big for his fans and friends, and never took things easy. And he never relinquished the wheel of his battered tour bus that he loved to drive so much. Along with his band, The Icebreakers, Collins' live shows -- driven by his kinetic stage presence -- were legendary testaments to the power of the blues. With his untimely death in 1993, Albert Collins left behind a blues legacy that continues to amaze and delight blues fans all over the world. --- alligator.com

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1. T-Bone Shuffle
2. Moon Is Full, The
3. Lion's Den			play
4. She's Into Something		play
5. Bring Your Fine Self Home
6. Black Cat Bone
7. Dream, The	
8. Albert's Alley
9. Blackjack

Personnel:
Albert Collins: Guitar, harmonica and vocals
Robert Cray: Guitar and vocals
Johnny Copeland: Guitar and vocals
Allen Batts: Organ
Johnny B. Gayden: Bass
Casey Jones: Drums

Call it three for the price of one. Far from engaging in a guitar-playing shootout, Albert Collins, Robert Cray, and Johnny Copeland work together incredibly well, achieving a kind of musical synergy that's rarely heard. Copeland and Cray handle most of the vocal duties, and Cray's smooth, soul-tinged voice (positively shiver-eliciting on "The Dream," as is Collins's lead guitar work) complements Copeland's growl perfectly. Collins doesn't get to sing as much, but he more than makes up for it with his harmonica on the slow blues "Bring Your Fine Self Home." And of course, all three turn in stellar guitar work, trading solos and rhythm parts with the greatest of ease; Cray was a relative newcomer at the time of this recording, but he more than holds his own. One would be hard pressed to find a better blues collaboration anywhere. --Genevieve Williams

This album has been almost thirty years in the making. You could say it began back in the late 1950s in the rowdy blues bars of Houston. A young guitarist named Albert Collins, who was just learning how to coax a unique icy sound out of his Fender Telecaster, took an aspiring teenage vocalist and songwriter named Johnny Copeland under his wing. In those days, Albert wasn't yet the "Master of the Telecaster," the inventor of "The Cool Sound." And Johnny wasn't yet "The Texas Twister," an international ambassador of the blues carrying the sound of those Houston bars to Europe, Africa and the far side of the Iron Curtain. They were just two wild young men who loved to make music and party together. Johnny learned his first few guitar licks from Albert, and a friendship grew that has lasted all these years.

Skip ahead fifteen years. A rock and roll guitar player named Robert Cray attends his high school graduation in Tacoma, Washington. Instead of being bored by the usual Top 40 cover band, he's floored by a blues power house -- Albert Collins. Robert decided that night that he was destined to be a bluesman. And Albert took young Robert as his spiritual son, coaching and teaching him in the ways of Texas blues guitar, just as he had done with Johnny years before. For five years, The Robert Cray Band was the hottest blues show in the Pacific Northwest, often featuring special guest appearances by Albert Collins. Now, Robert plays over 200 nights a year, all over the U. S., Europe and Japan, and The Robert Cray Band is one of the hottest blues shows anywhere.

Albert lives in Los Angeles now, when he's not burning up the highway with his killer band, The Icebreakers. He's cut twelve albums since those Houston days, earning four Grammy nominations, three W. C. Handy Awards, headlining every major blues festival, club and concert in the world. In 1985, Albert became the most visible bluesman ever, jamming with George Thorogood on the "Live Aid" spectacular. Johnny's based in New York these days. His national career got off to a later start than Albert's, but he's been making up for lost time. During the '60s and '70s, he cut a series of fine but obscure blues and soul 45s, proving himself a roaring lion of a singer, a high-octane guitarist and an accomplished songwriter. In the last few years, he cut four blistering albums for the Rounder label, won a Grand Prize from the Montreux Jazz Festival and carried Texas blues literally around the world (his latest album was recorded in Africa!).

If any blues musician has won as much acclaim in the last couple of years as Johnny Copeland, it's Robert Cray. He's become a one-man Wave of the Blues Future. He won an unprecedented four W.C. Handy awards in 1984, both his Hightone albums have landed in the pop charts in England, and he's written songs that will become the blues standards of the 1990s. His monster guitar talent tempers the raw power of Texas blues with an exquisite subtlety. Whenever Albert or Johnny or Robert cross paths on the road, it's an occasion for monumental jamming. Whether at the Chicago Blues Festival in front of a crowd of 40,000 or late at night in a motel room, they make music with the kind of ESP that can only come from years of friendship and an infinite quantity of mutual respect.

Who but Johnny Copeland could have inspired Albert with recollections of Houston blues legend Hop Wilson, evoking their wonderful updating of Hop's Black Cat Bone? Who but Albert Collins could have sparked Robert's impassioned vocal on The Dream with an equally passionate icy-Collins guitar solo? And who but Robert Cray could have provided the swinging arrangement of T-Bone Shuffle that gave all three a chance to strut their stuff in a tribute to T-BoneWalker, the spiritual father of every Texas bluesman who ever squeezed a guitar string? Before they come together in Chicago to produce this remarkable record Albert Collins, Robert Cray and Johnny Copeland could have filled a house with their awards from the last decade and papered the walls with their critical raves. Now these three great blues talents have dug deep down, laid a foundation with their years of friendship, and then built a joyous blues album that will stand for years to come.--- Bruce Iglauer and Dick Shurman

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1 Iceman
2 Lights Are on But Nobody's Home
3 If You Love Me Like You Say
4 Put the Shoe on the Other Foot
5 Frosty
6 Travelin' South
7 Talkin' Woman
8 My Woman Has a Black Cat Bone
9 I Ain't Drunk                   play
10 T-Bone Shuffle                 play

Personnel: 
Albert Collins (vocals, guitar); 
Jeff Robbins, Jon Smith (tenor saxophone); 
Steve Howard (trumpet); 
Bobby Alexis (organ); 
Marty Binder (drums).

Albert Collins, "The Master of the Telecaster," "The Iceman," and "The Razor Blade" was robbed of his best years as a blues performer by a bout with liver cancer that ended with his premature death on November 24, 1993. He was just 61 years old. The highly influential, totally original Collins, like the late John Campbell, was on the cusp of a much wider worldwide following via his deal with Virgin Records' Pointblank subsidiary. However, unlike Campbell, Collins had performed for many more years, in obscurity, before finally finding a following in the mid-'80s.

Collins was born October 1, 1932, in Leona, TX. His family moved to Houston when he was seven. Growing up in the city's Third Ward area with the likes of Johnny "Guitar" Watson and Johnny "Clyde" Copeland, Collins started out taking keyboard lessons. His idol when he was a teen was Hammond B-3 organist Jimmy McGriff. But by the time he was 18 years old, he switched to guitar, and hung out and heard his heroes, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, John Lee Hooker, T-Bone Walker and Lightnin' Hopkins (his cousin) in Houston-area nightclubs. Collins began performing in these same clubs, going after his own style, characterized by his use of minor tunings and a capo, by the mid-'50s. It was also at this point that he began his "guitar walks" through the audience, which made him wildly popular with the younger white audiences he played for years later in the 1980s. He led a ten-piece band, the Rhythm Rockers, and cut his first single in 1958 for the Houston-based Kangaroo label, "The Freeze." The single was followed by a slew of other instrumental singles with catchy titles, including "Sno-Cone," "Icy Blue" and "Don't Lose Your Cool." All of these singles brought Collins a regional following. After recording "De-Frost" b/w "Albert's Alley" for Hall-Way Records of Beaumont, TX, he hit it big in 1962 with "Frosty," a million-selling single. Teenagers Janis Joplin and Johnny Winter, both raised in Beaumont, were in the studio when he recorded the song. According to Collins, Joplin correctly predicted that the single would become a hit. The tune quickly became part of his ongoing repertoire, and was still part of his live shows more than 30 years later, in the mid-'80s. Collins' percussive, ringing guitar style became his trademark, as he would use his right hand to pluck the strings. Blues-rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix cited Collins as an influence in any number of interviews he gave. --- Richard Skelly

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A1. If You Love Me Like You Say 4:07  
A2. Blue Monday Hangover 5:35  
A3. I Got A Problem 4:34  
A4. The Highway Is Like A Woman 5:04  
B1. Brick 4:35  
B2. Don't Go Reaching Across My Plate 3:44  
B3. Give Me My Blues 4:13  
B4. Snowed In 9:12  

Albert Collins- Guitar and Vocals
Marvin Jackson- Guitar
A.C. Reed- Sax
Allen Batts- Keyboards
Johnny "B. Goode" Gayden- Bass
Casey Jones- Drums
Paul Howard- Trumpet
Jerry Wilson- Tenor Sax
Bill MacFarland- Trombone
Henri Ford- Baritone Sax

Frostbite was the first indication that Albert Collins' Alligator albums were going to follow something of a formula. The album replicated all of the styles and sounds of Ice Pickin', but the music lacked the power of its predecessor. Nevertheless, there was a wealth of fine playing on the album, even if the quality of the songs themselves is uneven. ---Thom Owens, Rovi

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1. Brick 
2. Ego Trip 
3. Lights Are On, But Nobody S Home 
4. Too Tired 
5. Don T Loose Your Cool 
6. Give Me My Blues 
7. Highway Is Like a Woman 
8. Frosty (Live) 
9. Things I Used to Do (Live) 
10.Tired Man (Live) 
11.Master Charge 
12.When a Guitar Plays the Blues 
13.Hooked on Sou

There has never been and may never be again a bluesman quite like Albert Collins. "The Master Of The Telecaster" was born on October 1, 1932, in Leona, Texas. A cousin of the legendary Lightnin' Hopkins, Collins emerged with a blues sound and style all his own, featuring a combination of icy echo, shattering, ringing, sustained high notes, an ultra-percussive right-hand attack, and an unheard-of minor key guitar tuning (taught to him by his cousin Willow Young). Deeply influenced by T-Bone Walker, John Lee Hooker and Gatemouth Brown, Collins absorbed the sounds of Mississippi, Chicago, and especially Texas. He formed his own band in 1952, packing clubs around Houston. In the early 1960s, Collins' "cool sound" instrumentals like the million-seller Frosty (recorded with a young Johnny Winter and Janis Joplin in attendance at the studio) and follow-ups Sno Cone and Thaw Out were all over R&B radio. Soon he was sharing stages with his idols Gatemouth Brown and T-Bone Walker.

Then, in the mid-'60s (following a move from Texas to Kansas City to California), Collins broke into the rock 'n' roll world, releasing three albums produced by members of Canned Heat, and began playing the San Francisco psychedelic circuit. But Albert's greatest success came after he signed with Alligator in 1978 and cut ICE PICKIN''. It won the Best Blues Album of the Year Award from the Montreux Jazz Festival, and was nominated for a Grammy. His following Alligator albums helped earn Collins every award the blues world had to offer. And, along with Johnny Copeland and Robert Cray (who decided on a career as a bluesman after seeing Collins play his high school prom) Collins cut the Grammy-winning SHOWDOWN!.

Even after he was firmly established as a major modern bluesman, Collins never got too big for his fans and friends, and never took things easy. And he never relinquished the wheel of his battered tour bus that he loved to drive so much. Along with his band, The Icebreakers, Collins' live shows -- driven by his kinetic stage presence -- were legendary testaments to the power of the blues. With his untimely death in 1993, Albert Collins left behind a blues legacy that continues to amaze and delight blues fans all over the world. ---amazon.com

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01. Trying to Work my way back home- 4:18 
02. If Trouble Was Money- 9:22 
03. Put Your Shoe On The Wrong Foot- 5:47 
04. Same Old Thing- 7:03 
05. Things I Used To Do- 6:09 
06. Head Rag- 9:58 
07. I Ain't Drunk- 5:48 
08. You Talk Too Much- 3:47

Albert Collins- Vocals, Guitar 
Pete Thoennes- Guitar 
Jon Smith- Tenor Sax 
Jeff Robbins- Tenor Sax 
Steve Howard- Trumpet 
Bobby Alexis- Organ 
Johnny B. Gayden- Bass 
Marty Binder- Drums

First part of two shows at the Warner Theatre, Washington DC on the night of 9th of April 1993. This is the set with Albert "The Iceman" Collins and band, featuring brass, wonderful guitar work on a funk and soul styled based blues.

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01 - Iceman
02 - Put the shoe on the other foot
03 - Light's are on but nobody's home
04 - If you love me like you say
05 - Same old thing
06 - Travelin' south
07 - Iceman [Extended Jam][Version]
08 - Put the shoe on the other foot [Version]
09 - Light's are on but nobody's home [Version]
10 - Honey hush
11 - Same old thing [Version]
12 - Frosty 
 
Line-up:
Bobby Alexis  - Organ
Marty Binder  -	Drums
Albert Collins -	Guitar, Vocals
Johnny B. Gayden  - Bass, Guitar (Bass)
James Genus  -	Bass, Guitar (Bass)
Steve Howard - Trumpet
Joe Smith - Sax (Tenor)
Jon Smith - Sax (Tenor)
Pete Thoenes - Guitar

The Iceman at Mount Fuji is a live recording from the 1992 Mt. Fuji Jazz Festival, capturing Albert Collins at the height of his powers in the year before his death. Collins was always an electrifying performer whether at a large festival or a small club, and this recording has his guitar way out front, as it should be. In fact, at many points during the set you can hear the ringing of his guitar on the verge of feedback. And his playing is fantastic; there is no holding back or playing it safe. He hits some clams here and there, but is just ripping through the entire set. The bandmembers are polished and professional (almost too much so), but when it comes time for solos, they acquit themselves admirably. There's just one problem with this album: in presenting both of Collins' sets that day, four songs are given two performances each and two of those songs (four of the 12 tracks total) account for more than half the playing time of the entire album! Both sets are excellent, but hearing virtually the same program twice is a bit much. Although the liner notes give a good history of Collins' career, the packaging really obscures the fact that this is two nearly identical sets, so let the consumer beware. Serious fans of Albert Collins' guitar playing will find a lot to enjoy here: the Iceman was on fire for this performance, but the duplication of tracks may prove to be a disappointment to more casual fans. --- Sean Westergaard, allmusic.com

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1. Frosty
2. Hot 'N Cold
3. Frostbite
4. Tremble
5. Thaw Out
6. Dyin' Flu
7. Don't Lose Your Cool
8. Backstroke
9. Kool Aide
10. Shiver 'N Shake
11. Icy Blue
12. Snow-Cone II

Musicians:
Big Tiny - Sax (Tenor)
Albert Collins -	Composer, Guitar, Vocals
Henry Hayes - Sax (Alto)
Herbert Henderson - Drums
Bill Johnson - Bass
Walter McNeil - Organ
Frank Mitchell - Trumpet

Truckin' with Albert Collins is a 1969 Blue Thumb reissue of The Cool Sound of Albert Collins, which was originally released on TCF Hall Records in 1965. These are the earliest recordings that Collins made, and already his trademark sound is in place -- his leads are stinging, piercing and direct. The album features a set of blistering instrumentals (with the exception of the vocal "Dyin' Flu") that would eventually become his signature tunes, including "Frosty" and "Frostbite." Collins doesn't just stick to blues, he adds elements of surf, rock, jazz, and R&B. These songs may not have been hits at the time, but they helped establish his reputation as the Master of the Telecaster. --- Thom Owens, allmusic.com

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