ALBERT COLLINS WAS FED UP WITH HIS WOMAN USING MASTERCHARGE

ALBERT COLLINS had something very much in common with someone very much whiter than him named ROY BUCHANAN, he had the ability to make a Telecaster guitar sound like anything he wanted it to, and like the Arkansas blues legend, Collins was one of the very few blues players to dispense with a guitar pick, which most of the time resulted in a very raw and dense sound in comparison to most other texas blues.

Although he started out back during the west coast blues boom of the late 1960's when blues was all the go in and around San Franscisco, Collins' career was already in freefall as early as 1971 when stadium rock started to wipe blues off the commercial and concert map, you can thank the likes of LED ZEPPELIN and DEEP PURPLE for that.

After trying his hand at painting houses and driving buses after his music fortunes of the 70's waned Collins was given a lifeline by Chicago based record company ALLIGATOR, and what must be seen as his first great recording, he and a crack backing band he assembled called THE ICEBREAKERS released the album ICE PICKIN' in 1978.

The album is characterised by Albert's typically screaching and freewheeling style of pyrotechnic like texas blues, but the best song on the album is perhaps what you might regard as a bit of a sellout to the then highly popular funk rock fad, the sort of workmanlike riffing you would associate with BONEY M or even the more metallic and obscure MOTHERS FINEST from Atlanta.

That song is called MASTERCHARGE, which is quite a witty parody from Albert at the expense of his spendthrift missus. This is a good introduction to ALBERT COLLINS, i rate this as his second best album below his 1989 gem COLD SNAP.