Albert Collins: Truckin’ with Albert Collins (1969)
What’s cooler than being cool? ICE COLD!!!
I spied and then snagged this copy of Truckin’ with Albert Collins at Antone’s Record Shop in Austin, TX, and yes, it’s affiliated with the famous blues club by the same name, where not only Collins, but one of his best known disciples, Stevie Ray Vaughan, played many times.
I love when history and music intertwine like that ...
Now, I thought I’d found a primer for the Master of the Telecaster, including signature songs like “Frosty,” “Thaw-Out” and “Don’t Lose Your Cool,” but then I spun the record and asked, “Hey, where are all the vocals”?
Turns out these recordings from 1962 and ‘63 are all instrumental predecessors to some of the latter-day re-recordings I already knew (presumably cut after Albert had honed his vocal chops), and Truckin’... was actually a ‘69 reissue of his ‘65 debut album, The Cool Sounds of Albert Collins.
No matter: the album is indeed frozen solid with chilly titular wordplay (e.g. “Frostbite,” “Tremble,” “Kool Aide,” etc.), Collins’ icy leads often sting even harder without singing distractions, and he does belt out a fine vocal for the excellent “Dyin’ Flu.”
The infectious “Icy Blue” also boasts some latin horns, and on several organ-filled R&B workouts like “Hot ‘n Cold,” “Backstroke” and “Sno-Cone II,” Albert and his band could pass for Booker T. & the M.G.’s!
So while I’m not sure I’d recommend this platter to casual blues fans, interested only in the style’s condensed, essential discography, it’s well worth investigating for more curious, serious music lovers.
More Blues: Big Bill Broonzy, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, Lightnin' Hopkins, Son House, Howlin’ Wolf, Bullmoose Jackson, Elmore James, Etta James, Skip James, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lonnie Johnson, Robert Johnson, Tommy Johnson, Albert King, B.B. King, Mance Lipscomb, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Muddy Waters, Charley Patton, Nina Simone, Bessie Smith, Taj Mahal, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Fats Waller, Ethel Waters, Peetie Wheatstraw, Johnny Winter.