The third studio LP from the ”The Ice Man”, “The Master of the Telecaster”, ”The Razor Blade” — take your pick of nickname, Albert Collins played some great blues!

This disc is a real sleeper. It goes without saying that the Israel Philharmonic knows its Mahler–they've played him under all the great conductors–and Zubin Mehta's Mahlerian credentials are also pretty strong. His earlier recording of this symphony with the Vienna Philharmonic was first rate, and similarly underrated. It may be that Mehta lacks the self-conscious profundity that we've come to expect in today's Mahler conductors–the gravity (and tedium) cultivated by Bernard Haitink or Claudio Abbado, for instance. What we have instead is one hell of an exciting performance of Mahler's Second Symphony, captured in spectacular sound. And that's certainly good enough for me. –David Hurwitz