You expect great things when names like these appear together on a CD booklet; after all, Eric Clapton and B. B. King have been responsible for a significant amount of rock and blues history during the past 50 years. And the two guitar legends don't disappoint on their first full-length collaboration, either.

Clapton is definitely riding with King here; he's a fully engaged partner but he largely plays the role of the deferential protégé as they cover four of King's songs but nothing from the Clapton oeuvre. Deferential to a point, however; when the jamming starts, both players shed any sense of professional discretion and let go with stinging exchanges during King's "Three O' Clock Blues" and Sam & Dave's "Hold On, I'm Coming," while weaving in and out of each other's improvisations on acoustic, rootsy treatments of Big Bill Broonzy's "Key to the Highway" and Big Maceo Merriweather's "Worried Life Blues." Ex-Fabulous Thunderbird Jimmie Vaughan shows up on a recast of "Help the Poor," while fellow Texan Doyle Bramhall II is the force behind two of the album's punchiest cuts: the playfully funky "Marry You" and the biting rocker "I Wanna Be."

We likely won't ever speak of Riding with the King in the same reverent tones as Layla (and Other Assorted Love Songs) or Live at the Regal, but it certainly proves that even though they're further on up the road, the thrill isn't gone for either Clapton or King.