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Most famously known as Cat Stevens, the folk songwriter returns under the name Yusuf Islam. On An Other Cup, his first album of pop songs since 1978, it's as if the man who wrote "Morning Has Broken" never missed a step.

A concert favorite of Deadheads, "Stella Blue" doesn't seem like natural turf for Willie Nelson and producer Ryan Adams, but the cover plays out as a guitar-soaked country power ballad, with Nelson digging into the vocal with longing and resignation as Adams lays down guitar feedback.

On The Pernice Brothers' Live a Little, the band creates sunshiny pop nuggets evoking the likes of Carole King, Bread, The Zombies and Brian Wilson. "Zero Refills," in particular, is a lovely pop song, seemingly torn from the catalog of Brian Wilson or Burt Bacharach.

Years after breaking through as one of the most innovative and musically gifted acts in hip-hop, The Roots' members return with Game Theory, another groundbreaking collection of stellar and often political material.

A highlight of Peter, Bjorn and John's forthcoming Writer's Block — a concept album about the trials and tribulations of relationships — "Young Folks" is a breezy, melancholic slice of infectious pop.

To fans of Sufjan Stevens, Shara Worden is best-known as one of the backing vocalists in his band. On her own, Worden is a remarkable chanteuse who goes by the moniker My Brightest Diamond — and brings to mind the work of Jeff Buckley, Edith Piaf and Nina Simone.

Though she remains relatively obscure in the U.S., Lily Allen has spent the summer establishing herself as queen of the U.K. pop-music scene. Having already attracted blog- and press-fueled hype to rival that preceding Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy," Allen exudes swaggering star quality on "Smile."

For all its slowly gyrating seductiveness, "Gotta Be With You" serves as the hot centerpiece of an album that delivers on the promise and premise of its title. Sultry and soulful, Ronald Isley's falsetto remains commandingly rich and intoxicating.

Hot Chip is clearly made up of geeky music obsessives, each far-reaching in his musical ideas. A quirky, intelligent collection of songs, the band's new album The Warning owes as much to Prince and Aphex Twin as it does to The Beach Boys, New Order and Beck.

"Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken," from the Glasgow chamber-pop sextet Camera Obscura's recent album Let's Get Out of This Country, serves as a gloriously bubbly answer to Lloyd Cole's "Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken," one of the all-time great breakup songs.