**1/2 B.B. King and Eric Clapton

RIDING WITH THE KING

(Reprise)

Now that he's collaborated with everyone from D'Angelo to the Royal Monaco Orchestra, it makes altogether too much sense for the King of the Blues to get together with his British counterpart. King and Clapton are among the most influential electric-guitarists ever, and their styles are so distinctive that it's fun and easy to decipher who's playing what on Riding with the King.

The combination is not always electric or electrifying. The two offer nice acoustic takes on two old country blues, including an excellent version of Big Maceo's "Worried Life Blues"; a few of the electric cuts, however, come off as clunkers, including the inoffensive but uninspiring title tune (written years ago by John Hiatt), which includes an embarrassing scripted little voiceover rhyme from B.B. Still, there are more high points than you might expect. The 75-year-old King's volcanic shout is in better shape than it's been on other recent discs, and Clapton's singing has only grown deeper over the years. A slow version of King's chitlin-circuit era "When My Heart Beats like a Hammer" is a guitarologist's delight: Clapton stings like a bee while B.B. plays as sweet as honey.

-- Bill Kisliuk