CoronaVinyl Day 438 (C): Cold Snap by Albert Collins

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "C," and a recent trip to the ol' local Salvation Army yielded a nice little stack of records, including legendary blues guitarist Albert Collins's eighth and penultimate studio album, 1986's Cold Snap, which was recorded right here in Chicago.

Collins was a Texas blues guitarist who influenced many great blues guitarists to come, like Stevie Ray Vaughan and Robert Cray.  He had some good blues family genes too, as his cousin was blues legend Lightnin' Hopkins, who introducted Collins to the guitar at a young age.  Collins rose to fame in the '60s and released a few albums in between the mid '60s and early '70s before leaving the music industry to work in construction because it was more steady.  In the late '70s, his wife convinced him to make another run at it, and he was signed to Alligator Records and released four albums on Alligator between 1978 and 1986 (Cold Snap being the last).

Cold Snap is what I would consider a standard '80s blues album.  It's pretty polished, with a tight horn section and pretty clean playing all around, but that doesn't take away from Collins's guitar skills shining through -- even if his singing isn't always the best (sometimes closer to talking than singing).  The album was nominated for a Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Recording.

The following year, Collins would make a cameo as himself in the '80s classic Adventures in Babysitting.  He would release one more studio album, 1991's Iceman, and then unfortunately died in 1993 at the age of 61 after a short bout with cancer.  Collins was ranked #56 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All-Time.

Favorite Song on Side 1:  "A Good Fool is Hard to Find"
This is a nice example of '80s Chicago electric blues, with horns, an organ, and a snappy beat complementing Collins's guitar work.

Favorite Song on Side 2:  "I Ain't Drunk"
This is one of Collins's signature songs, and it has the very relatable chorus "I ain't drunk / I'm just drinkin'."  I'm sure we've all said that at some point in our lives.