Album: B.B. Sking, Ladies anmd Gentlemen... Mr B.B. King (Universal)

A four-disc retrospective (there's also a 10-disc one) of the great bluesman's epic recording career, which began in 1949 in Memphis, and snaked its way through every market variation to which the electric blues might adapt itself.

The result? Sessions with Carole King, Joe Walsh, Eric Clapton, Dr John, U2 .… Behind such adaptiveness lay the gravity of King's sanctified "gospel" tone – and, yes, it is difficult to separate voice from guitar. They always sang from the same hymn sheet.