Albert Hude

Albert Cummings is an extremely talented blues/rock guitarist, somewhat flavored with Stevie Ray, but certainly not a clone. His tone is stinging, the sound clean, and he varies in style but not in quality. His vocals are also above average, something that seems to be the downfall of many guitarists of this level. The band is three piece and both Don Chilson on bass and Ken Pallman on drums are first rate supporting players. Maybe more importantly than that, they are very complimentary to Cumming’s guitar and vocals, as the pieces of this band fit together like finely precisioned watch parts. Six of the nine tracks on the CD are Cummings originals, and again, of very high quality.

Live Wire/Blues Power is a live album from Albert King recorded in 1968 at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, CA. Featuring originals and King’s rendition of classics, the album demonstrates Albert King’s blues prowess. According to Rolling Stone, this album is “Just the unadulterated pure and simple blues.

Recorded at a single show on May 29, 1969, in Madison, WI's 400-seat club The Cue, these tapes were first released in 2003. The performance finds Albert King, who had just turned 46, arguably at his career peak. Even though there are just five tracks, it's enough to understand why he remains one of electric postwar blues' most seminal figures. Since this shares no songs with Live Wire/Blues Power, which was recorded a year earlier, and features concert versions of "Crosscut Saw," "Personal Manager," and "As the Years Go Passing By" from his legendary Born Under a Bad Sign album, it's an important document. King's in excellent form too, ripping into the tunes with edgy energy, even if many of his solos and licks will be familiar to blues listeners…

Deluxe Edition is a solid, albeit imperfect, 13-track collection of highlights from Albert Collins latter-day recordings for Alligator. There are only a handful of genuine classics, but there are a lot of great performances that spotlight Collins stinging guitar work and impassioned vocals. Nevertheless, it's only adequate as an introduction, since Ice Pickin' remains the place to become acquainted with Collins blistering blues.

This provided fresh looks at 11 Collins classics, among them such epic numbers as "Don't Lose Your Cool," "Frosty," "Honey Hush" and "Tired Man." There were slow, wailing ballads with blistering solos, electrifying uptempo wailers with a great horn section answering Collins' phrases with their own bleats, and first-rate mastering and production. Guest stars included B.B. King, Branford Marsalis, Kim Wilson and Gary Moore, while Collins injected vitality into numbers he'd already made standards years ago. This set is a wonderful tribute to an incredible guitarist and musician.

All of King's recordings for the Bobbin label are on this 22-track disc, including everything from his 1959-1963 singles for the label and previously unissued alternate takes of "Why Are You So Mean to Me," "The Time Has Come," and the previously unissued "Blues at Sunrise." While these are decent journeyman urban blues/R&B, they're not up to the level of his subsequent recordings for Stax. Albert King just sounds too much like the records another King – B.B. King, that is – was making during the same era. There are similar horn arrangements and alternation of stinging guitar with smooth, confident vocal phrasing. It's a tribute to Albert King's abilities, in a way, that it does sound confident, and not the work of an imitator, despite the similarities.