Kevin Bryan reviews this week's latest album releases.

James Findlay: Sport and Play ****

DORSET-BASED singer, guitarist and fiddler Findlay was the winner of Radio 2's Young Folk Award in 2009,and he now makes his Fellside debut with a CD of rare power and passion.

James' performing style has been heavily influenced by the likes of Nic Jones and the Watersons, and the centrepiece of Sport and Play is a stunning version of the epic Tam Lin, with this unusually charismatic performer also breathing new life into timeless ballads such as Dives and Lazarus, Lakes of Shilin and The Foggy Dew amongst others.

Released on February 21 (Fellside FECD 238: £10.99)The John O'Leary Band: Two For The Show ***

THIS venerable singer and harmonica player was a founder member of the Savoy Brown Blues Band in the mid-sixties and has collaborated with a whole host of luminaries since then,including Freddie King, Tony McPhee and the great Bo Diddley.

O'Leary's admirable policy of surrounding himself with energetic young musicians helps to ensure the freshness and vitality of his sound and his latest two-CD package couples a gutsy live set and a re-mastered version of the 2004 album, Sins, with Jules Fothergill's eloquent guitar work well to the fore throughout, providing the perfect complement to John's gritty voice and harmonica work.

Out now (Trapeze TRDCD 3501: £8.99)

Raglan Baroque Players/Kraemer: Music from the Courts of Europe - Versailles ***

THIS effortless exercise in elegant music-making was created by violinist Elizabeth Wallfisch and the Raglan Baroque Players, featuring pieces penned by a series of composers whose careers flourished at the court of Louis XIV in Versailles.

This financially profligate monarch employed many of the finest artists and musicians of the Baroque era to provide entertainment for his highly cultured court,and this CD boasts splendid chamber works by the likes of Rameau.

Charpentier and Lully,including a very rare recording of the former's Platee Suite.

Out now (United 88009: £9.20)

Andrew Cronshaw: The Great Dark Water ***

WORLD music specialist and electric zither virtuoso Cronshaw recorded The Great Dark Water for the Waterfront label in 1982, joining forces with gifted folk musicians such as Ric Sanders, Martin Simpson and Rick Kemp to re-invent an assortment of traditional tunes from the British Isles and the Spanish region of Galicia.

June Tabor adds her distinctive vocals to The Ship in Distress but the rest of this absorbing set is wholly instrumental,capturing this enigmatic folk performer at his most enthralling and inventive.

Out now (Acrobat TRACD 6502: £8.99)

Emma Kirkby/Jakob Lindberg: Orpheus in England ***

SOPRANO Kirkby and Swedish lutenist Lindberg have worked together many times over the years, but rarely can the results have been quite so captivating as this.

Orpheus in England finds the well matched duo performing a selection of songs and lute solos penned by John Dowland and Henry Purcell,including Lindberg's own transcriptions of the latter's The Cibell, Echo Dance and Lilliburlero.

Emma Kirkby's vocal contributions are equally arresting as she immerses herself in the sublime melancholia of songs such as Dowland's Disdain Me Still and In Darkness Let Me Dwell.

Out now (Bis BIS-CD-1725: £13.99)

Summer Turns To Autumn ***

JEFFREY Kruger's Ember label may never have been at the forefront of the psychedelic or prog-rock movements during the late sixties and early seventies, but they did release quite a few albums during this period which have since become collector's items, and Fantastic Voyage's latest anthology showcases the cream of this highly sought after back catalogue.

The excellent Blonde on Blonde dominate proceedings with November and the anthemic Castles in the Sky, and this eclectic collection of obscurities also boasts interesting contributions from Polly Niles, Milt Matthews and Irish folkie Paddy Maguire, whose Lay Me Down features Steve Winwood and Fotheringay guitarist Jerry Donahue.

Out now (Fantastic Voyage FVCD 075: £4.89)