Ice Pickin' (LP)

Until this album was released in 1978, Albert Collins had been a journeyman Texas bluesman, little known and unrecorded for six years. His guitar playing here won him a new generation of fans, and set the stage for the popularity he enjoyed until his death. His clustered, sustained, choked, and bent notes, played with his thumb and fingers, set a generation of pickers agog. The eight songs on this set include "When the Welfare Turns Its Back on You," and several jaw-dropping instrumentals.

The Cool Sound. Collins's first Alligator recording, in 1978, is impervious to wear, tear, or melting. His fretboard work is amazing: he builds suspense deliberately, letting ideas emerge at their own pace, eventually achieving release at the peak of hard-won excitement. His singing likewise displays interpretive keenness for control of pitch, dynamics, and blues inflections. Support players Casey Jones (drums), Larry Burton (second guitar), and Aaron Burton (bass) have exemplary command of rhythmic shadings.