Some smile-worthy efforts are dropping in, so take cover(s)

Worthy talents fearful of getting lost in the year-end deluge of superstar album releases are finally coming out to play. I can't tell you how many new CDs have put a big smile on my face in the last couple of weeks. OK, maybe I can.

COVER ME: Familiarity doesn't breed contempt, it breeds insight in new albums devoted to cover tunes.

On the charity set "War Child presents Heroes" (Astralwerks, B+), honored artists each picked the song and the talent they wanted to perform it. The delight is in the details separating Beck's playful version of "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" from Dylan's original, Duffy's soul-pop treatment of Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die" and Rufus Wainwright's sumptuous suite of songs from Brian Wilson's "Smile."

The ever-ambitious Susan Werner is polishing up the "Classics" (Sleeve Dog Records, A-). Her concept - recycling elegant pop hits from the late 1960s and early '70s like the Byrds' "Turn Turn Turn" and Marvin Gaye's "Mercy Mercy Me" with warmly voiced and sublimely artful "chamber music" arrangements. On some, she even blends a bit of true classical air, like Satie's "Gymnopedies" on Bob Marley's "Waiting in Vain," or a touch of Chopin with Stevie Wonder's "All In Love Is Fair." So tasteful, so good!

You don't have to be a jazz freak to groove on the tunes by pianist John Stetch and his rhythm section on "TV Trio" (Brux, B). It's packed with sly, Dave Brubeck-ish romps and Bill Evans-like rhapsodic reveries spinning off the themes of television shows like "Star Trek," "Dallas," "The Six Million Dollar Man" and "The Price Is Right."

Don'tcha love it when a ska band pumps up a pop, rock or soul oldie with an islandy treatment? No fools they, Reel Big Fish now devote almost a whole album to the cause on "Fame, Fortune and Fornication" (Rock Ridge, B), getting the jump on gems like John Mellencamp's "Authority Song" and Tom Petty's "Won't Back Down." (No, they're not the same song, but close!)

AND THE FUN GOES ON: I gained new respect for Justin Timberlake when the pop star did that self-satirizing "Saturday Night Live" digital short for "D--k in a Box" with cast regular Andy Samberg. What's not funny about skinny-wuss white guys rapping like Eminem and singing soulfully (in a Hall and Oates vein) about their "junk"?

Now that tune and video are yours to have and, um, hold on the outrageously funny CD plus DVD collection "Incredibad" (Universal Republic, A-) from Samberg and friends' band, the Lonely Island. Other ripe for (im)mature mind bits include "J--z in My Pants," the collegiate rastaboy riff "Ras Trent" and the hysterically out- of-character "Natalie's Rap," with Natalie Portman. Devotees of Flight of the Conchords and Tenacious D, this bud's for you.

Yeah, Amy Winehouse kinda stole her thunder as another kooky British girl nicking classic '60s soul motifs. But the new album from Lily Allen, "It's Not Me, It's You" (Capitol, B+) reminds me why I loved her first and better for her utterly brash, disarmingly funny way of putting guys down.

Pay attention, men, to the instructive "Not Fair" and the utterly cheery kiss off "Never Gonna Happen." And double kudos to Allen for jump-starting the release at a special download price of $4, helping land it at No. 5 on the Billboard album chart this week.

SOUL TO SOUL: Also making an impressive debut - at No. 3 - is India Arie's neo-soul sequel "Testimony: Vol. 2, Love & Politics" (Universal Republic, B+). Dig how she splits the difference with sexy intoxicants like "Chocolate High" and the oddly phrased "Pearls," equating the suffering of African women with the pain of wearing a new pair of shoes!

Having taken the blustery blues mama role about as far as she could, Shemekia Copeland shows a quieter, more sensitive side on "Never Going Back" (Telarc Blues, B), produced by Oliver Wood.

Been jonesin' for some rip-roarin' funk rock and blues music in the P-Funk, Sly Stone and Robert Cray veins? Lend your ears to the Soul of John Black, the alter-ego of singer/guitarist/composer John Bigham, on his scorcher of a new album "Black John" (Eclecto Groove Records, B+).

He's like a full festival of electric blues and psychedelic soul-stew styles.

Gritty, grooving Hammond organ-fueled jazz is alive and well and ready to claim new converts on Dr. Lonnie Smith's joy-filled, crossover-friendly "Rise Up!" (Palmetto, A). Recorded in Bucks County, Smith's bright brigade includes guitarist Peter Bernstein, alto saxophonist Donald Harrison and drummer Herlin Riley.

She lost in the "American Idol" season six finale to Jordin Sparks. Now former backup singer Melinda Doolittle is "Coming Back to You" (Hi-Fi, B-) and espousing virtues like "Fundamental Things."

While harking at times to an early Diana Ross or Aretha Franklin, Doolittle misses a chance to step out with distinction.

GUYS WITH THE GOODS: Music is still therapy for Morrissey on "Years of Refusal" (Attack, B), be it name-checking all the prescription drugs he's now rejecting in "Something Is Squeezing My Skull" to allowing that there are "worse things than not being someone's sweety" on "That's How People Grow Up."

Listen and learn.

Pearls of wisdom also flow from the lips of the delightfully daft Robyn Hitchcock on his juicy new batch of Day-Glo pop-rock with the Venus 3, "Goodnight Oslo" (Yep Roc, B+).

"River of Time" (Red House, A) is a hearteningly fine set of rootsy, acoustic blues tunes from Jorma Kaukonen, half of Hot Tuna and a one-time mainstay of the Jefferson Airplane. The time capsule blends lyrical originals like the instrumental "Izzy's Lament" with covers of Gary Davis, Mississippi John Hurt and Ron McKernan (aka Pigpen) classics.

Country-tuned singer/songwriter Craig Bickhardt has written a bunch of hits for others, but saves some of the best for his own "Brother to the Wind" (Stone Barn Records, B+). I love the way "This Old House" speaks, and how "Donald and June" keep wishing for a boy, yet count their blessings with a brood of girls. Fans of Gordon Lightfoot and John Prine will connect.

THAT ACADEMY AWARD WINNER: "Slumdog Millionaire" scorer A.R. Rahman has a track on the captivating, otherworldly Putumayo collection "India" (B+). The tunes blend haunting, tradition-minded vocals and tunes with modernistic backing beats. *