Albert Collins

This 1978 debut on Alligator Records is the one you want to buy. Collins' guitar playing is absolutely stunning and he keeps his singing down to a minimum.

Like Otis Rush, Collins has always been one of those well-respected bluesmen whose records left agnostics unconvinced. But this is the most exciting blues album of 1978. Collins's guitar is clean, percussive, vehement, breaking into unlikely rivulets on the trademark shuffle climaxes, and while his voice is thin his delivery is savvy and humorous. So are his words--unlike most of his colleagues, he seems to know a lot more about sharing life with another person than "Honey Hush." (Grade - A-)