Still a force of nature at seventy-seven, B.B. King has made his new album, Reflections, a classy affair, tilted toward ballads and standards. King gives a warmly enveloping take on "(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons"; his voice opens up wide, and glistening notes fall from his guitar. Admittedly, he seems a little wobbly and uncertain on "A Mother's Love" and "Neighborhood Affair," and King's wooden takes on "Always on My Mind" and "What a Wonderful World" fall well short of the definitive versions by Willie Nelson and Louis Armstrong. But the band — which includes young bloods Doyle Bramhall II on guitar and Abe Laboriel Jr. on drums — cooks with swaggering big-band panache on "Exactly Like You" and "I Want a Little Girl," and King plays and sings with gritty elegance on "I Need You" and "Tomorrow Night."

“Ambling Alp”

The "Ambling Alp" was the nickname of the six-and-a-half-foot-tall Primo Carnera. Though the song is named after the Italian-born 1930s heavyweight champion, Yeasayer are actually paying tribute to boxing legend Joe Louis with this first-person psychedelic dance-rock tune. “I was always interested in writing a song that had boxing mythology in it,” Yeasayer’s Chris Keating said. “It’s pretty fascinating: There were so many amazing characters, and it was so closely entwined with 20th century history.” Yeaseyer also invokes German champ Max Schmeling and hints at the historical significance placed on the historic bouts between the Nazi-era boxer and the African-American Louis.