In general the idiosyncratic pairings are the most successful, like "(Ain't That) Good News" in which Sam Cooke gospels over a fast shuffle beat while Jeff Beck and Les Paul spray sharp little notes all over the landscape (I wonder if Beck was playing his -no!- Fender Stratocaster?), or the really natural pairings like Billy Gibbons' turn on the surprisingly strong "Bad Case of Loving You" and Steve Miller's revisiting of "Fly Like an Eagle." Youth also seems to help - relative newcomers Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Joss Stone have a great time with Sting in wrenching a snaky, stylish mood out of "Love Sneakin' Up On You," and Shepherd also has fun on a slowed-down "Rock & Roll, Hoochie Koo," which misses a bit only because Edgar Winter's voice is now gravelly beyond parody. I should also mention that Sam Cooke also shines on "Somebody Ease My Troublin' Mind," a slow soul cooker featuring Eric Clapton in a fantastic supporting role. This track is the class of the whole album.

But the really interesting stuff is Les Paul's own recordings. Paul has had more than fifty years in which to perfect the art of expressing himself musically through a cascade of electronic intermediaries. The results are a couple modest little master classes in the right way to do it. The album starts off with the theme from the old Les Paul & Mary Ford radio show, with Paul diddling around in upper-register whole tone scales that positively reek of black and white televisions and stentorian voices lecturing about "SCIENCE!" Elsewhere, Paul loads a cover of the jazz chestnut "Caravan" with funky echo and pitch-doubling effects, and his playing, though no longer lightning fast (every great player loses a step or two when they turn 90), is expressive, nuanced, and drenched in Paul's playful personality.

On the other hand, a remix of the old Les Paul and Mary Ford hit "How High The Moon" is decorated with breathy melismas by Alsou and is really more a vehicle for electronic sound effects and a cute bit of Les & Mary banter about Paul's "Paulverizer," one of his innumerable electronic inventions. Although it's nice, it would have been nicer to leave in more of the original track, including Paul's solo. Still, these little bits of random playfulness manage to cut the tone of the album enough to make it feel human, make it feel like a Les Paul recording.

By and large Les Paul & Friends, American Made/World Played is an okay, not great, romp through the id of the American electric guitar tradition, featuring reverent liner notes essays by Steve Miller and Keith Richards, and pulling mostly tasteful performances out of an armada of guitar slingers. Even if it never quite comes together in a way that satisfies, some of the individual tracks are well worth your time if you're a fan of the fretboard. Mostly, it's just gratifying to see Les Paul still kicking out the jams without fanfare or apology at an age when most people's horizons have devolved to "I wonder what's for lunch today." I don't mean to harp on the age thing as though Les Paul were some sort of dancing bear ('the wonder is not that it dances well but that it dances at all'). It is simply nice to see someone in the seventh decade of their career still out there doing it and clearly enjoying themselves immensely. If anything, therein lies the lasting value of this album.