Track Listing

1. If You Love Me Like You Say
2. Blue Monday Hangover
3. I Got a Problem
4. Highway Is Like a Woman
5. Brick
6. Don't Go Reaching Across My Plate
7. Give Me My Blues
8. Snowed In

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #89106 in Music
• Brand: Collins
• Released on: 1990-10-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Album Description
Limited Edition Japanese pressing of this album comes housed in miniature LP sleeve. 2007.

From Grove Press Guide to Blues on CD
The Telecaster Big Freeze continues in 1980. Those piercing, clipped high notes, wet-finger-in-light-socket riffs, and lucent lines are in abundance, lancing an assortment of originals and little-known R&B tunes. Collins's vocals, meantime, reflect the wit and seriousness of his guitar playing. Unfortunately he has to contend with a bumptious horn section. -- © Frank John Hadley 1993

Customer Reviews

Fine follow-up to "Ice Pickin'"
"Frostbite" may not be as well known as Albert Collins' commercial zenith, the 1978 album "Ice Pickin'", but it is nevertheless a fine effort.

Featuring a handful of excellent musicians, "Frostbite" includes some of Collins' best songs, like the supremely funky "If You Love Me Like You Say" and the wonderful piano-driven "The Highway Is Like A Woman", and he is backed by a five-man horn section which plays soulful riffs and fills without ever overwhelming Collins himself.
The excellent drummer Casey Jones is perhaps mixed a little bit too far into the background on a couple of tracks, but the sound and the mixing is generally very good, and the interplay between drummer Jones and bassist Johnny Gayden is top-notch.

As you probably know, the late Albert Collins played with a capo high up on the neck of his Fender Telecaster, delivering his muscular solos with no overdrive and very little sustain, and the resulting clear, "brittle" notes gave him his nickname "the Iceman".
He plays a number of excellent solos here, particularly on "Give Me My Blues" and "Blue Monday Hangover", and his vocals are strong and confident.

Not all of these songs are strong enough to make "Frostbite" a five-star album, but most of what is here is very good or even great, making this a fine addition to anyone's Albert Collins-collection.

Brick (but not goldbricking)
The instrumental tunes really kick, and the lyrics Collins comes up with are so cold, you can feel the Hawk comin' across Lake Michigan...

Get this one from Alligator records - it's definitely worth the cost of admission, folks. You'll not find a better Telecaster player than Albert Collins. (I'd heard that his volume knob on his amp went past 10, to 11, but I didn't believe it 'til I saw him live in California - I couldn't verify that it wasn't simply painted on, but it sure did sound like he was blowing that speaker past its limits to the coldest sound I'd ever heard.)

May your music live on through future generations of blues aficionados, Albert.

Peace out.

Albert Collins' Frostbite CD a winner
Albert Collins' "Frostbite" CD is a winner, and is great old-school material. This album was recorded during an era when musicians actually played their axes in the studio and live in concert.

The old-school guitarists were so busy playing, they forgot to pose for the cameras. Sadly, the reverse is true in many contemporary settings.

A bit of historical perspective is needed in order to appreciate the late blues guitarist Albert Collins, who was a natural juke joint musician and down-home songwriter.

During the early to mid-1960s, before becoming a solo artist, he worked as a "hired hand" in Little Richard's band. Collins replaced a better-than-average guitarist named Jimi Hendrix, who had just left Little Richard's group. Collins then co-wrote such notable Little Richard blues standards as "Lucille" and "Slippin' and Slidin' (Peepin' and Hidin').

This particular CD is a good primer for those who are unfamiliar with Collins' great body of work. He used a capo on his electric guitar, which tuned it to D minor, whereas his backup band would be in E or an open blues tuning. By limiting his range of notes, Collins was able to expand his horizons by playing counter to the notes other musicians played.

All of the musicians on this CD are excellent, especially tenor sax standout A.C. Reed, who recorded with Collins live and in the studio over the years. This CD is full of butt-rockin' blues grooves that will definitely make an impression on the listener, and you'll be hungry for more Albert Collins music.