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impressed, not only by his guitar skills, but also by his 100 foot guitar lead, which
enabled him to walk amongst the audience whilst blasting out a blistering solo (this

was an idea he had picked up from seeing saxophonist Big Jay McNeely do the same
thing back in the early 1950s, albeit without a guitar lead trailing behind him!).

As Hite pointed out in the sleeve notes to Collins’ first Imperial Records LP - “Upon
our return to California we let it be known at both Liberty and Imperial Records that

a great guitar player was going unnoticed in the bluesland of Texas. Eli Bird of
Imperial Records picked up on our message, and so, with the help of a few other blues

enthusiasts, Albert made his
first trip to the West Coast.
Now he has a whole new

legion of followers”. Collins
recorded 3 LPs for Imperial (

“Love Can Be Found Anywhere
(Even In A Guitar)”, “Trash

Talkin’” and “The Compleat
Albert Collins”), all produced

by Bill Hall, who had been
responsible for his previous
singles on Hall-Way and TCF

Records. Although now long

deleted, the 3 albums were
rereleased on a 1991 cd by
Imperial, under the title “Albert Collins - The Complete Imperial Recordings”.

At the time of recording the 3 LPs, Collins moved to Los Angeles, appearing regularly
at West Coast venues, such as The Ash Grove, Fillmore and Matrix, but the blues

‘boom’ was beginning to wane. He recorded one LP on the Tumbleweed label in 1972

(produced by Eagles’ producer Bill Szymczyk, who also worked with B. B. King), but
the label went out of business, and Collins found himself without a record contract.
His career as a professional musician had ended just as things seemed to be taking

off.

However, he continued to perform during the 1970s, often with a pick-up backing

band, and was enthusiastically received on the club and festival circuit. He also

acquired a European audience, with tours of Holland and Sweden.

However, once again things were about to change, when he signed with Alligator

Records of Chicago, and in 1978 recorded the album “Ice Pickin”, which has a great
cover photo of Collins plugged into a huge lump of ice that is glowing with heat! The
buzz from the album enabled an appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival and a

Grammy nomination.