Albert King with Stevie Ray Vaughan: In Session (Stax)

Recorded in 1983, before the late Stevie Ray Vaughan became the huge hit he was later to be, this session was difficult to organise - and when the studio was booked, Albert King didn't even know who had been booked to jam with him. But organised it was, and the result is some terrific playing by two great blues musicians. The CD gets off to a brisk start with Call It Stormy Monday, which is a little too long, but worth the listen. Vaughan has just one lead vocal, the hard-grinding Pride and Glory; and in takes between the numbers, it's touching to hear King keep up a running line of encouraging patter to his younger colleague. This splendid session has taken too long to hit the stores, and Stevie Vaughan's many admirers - as well as Albert King fans - are in for a treat.

Colm Banville

George Jones: Cold Hard Truth (Asylum)

Another year, another album, another record label and another brush with death. George Jones may be pushing the years, but even as his demons appear to wither in old age he still manages to live a drama and nearly die in a tragedy. During the recording of this reassuringly traditional-sounding collection, Jones was seriously injured in a car smash. Indeed, his injuries were so bad that producer Keith Stagall had to make do with rough vocals laid down before the crash (production schedules presumably did not allow time for the singer's recovery). But these roughs are grizzled gems to judge by songs such as Our Bed of Roses and When the Last Curtain Falls. Stagall wisely sticks to Jones's great (if diminishing) strength of being one of the great, if not the greatest, country voice of regret. No classic, but no "hightech Redneck" either.

Joe Breen