Three albums that have it covered

Hmm. My three top album picks this week - by Mika, Pearl Jam and Monsters of Folk - all have cartoony covers.

It's as if each is saying, yeah, we all need a little (or a lot) of imagination in our lives. And clearly, listening to music is a great way to trigger those dreamy impulses.

MIKA MAGIC: Nobody takes me out of my skin or makes me grin like Mika, a giddy, girlyman popster celebrating the Technicolor world of his (recent) adolescence on his second album "The Boy Who Knew Too Much" (Casablanca/Universal Republic, A-). While beloved overseas (5 million album sales) for his cotton-candy-flavored tunes and over-the-top vocal showmanship, Mika's been snubbed on these shores for pretty much the same reasons. Cause music's always supposed to be dead serious, ya know?

Every number here is a big production, from the stadium-sized shout out "We Are Golden" to the music-hall-flavored morality tales of "Good Gone Girl" and tap dancing "Dr. John" to his sly, sexually twisted update of a Disney "Pinocchio" movie tune as "Toy Boy." Mika is steeped in the glam-slam traditions of Freddie Mercury, Elton John and Robbie Williams, yet very much his own, giddy and glorious thing.

THE NEW FOLK SCARE: Popping through a hedge on the sepia-toned album cover of their debut album, the illustrated personas of "Monsters of Folk" (Shangri-La, B+) look a bit like rustic, Tolkien superheros. Or, more likely, will make you think about the album covers and music of two supergroups that cut through the briar patch before them - Crosby, Stills & Nash (and Young) and the Traveling Wilburys.

Like those predecessors, the songs of Monsters' Conor Oberst (aka Bright Eyes), his studio cohort Mike Mogis, Yim Yames (aka Jim James of My Morning Jacket) and M. Ward derive from folk motifs, yet take it several leaps beyond into a contemporary, rocking milieu.

Jumping out for me are their harmonizing sing-along "Magic Marker" and lilting (Beatles-ish) lullabye "The Sandman, The Brakeman and Me," plus the pointedly antiauthoritarian tone of "Man Named Truth" and religious war-deriding "His Master's Voice."

Like that classic first CS&N album, these guys have tweaked the recording sonics for maximum punch. From the dramatic, heartbeat bass notes on the opening "Dear God," you'll be glad you bought the full fidelity CD version rather than a compressed download. "Monsters of Folk" Monday, Nov. 9 at the Academy of Music.

FORWARD INTO THE PAST: Pearl Jam used the same guy (Tom Tomorrow) who illustrates the "This Modern World" comic strip to profusely illustrate the cover and booklet of "Backspacer" (Monkeywrench, B). It's PJ's eighth studio album but first for their own label, now available in physical form at Target (semi-exclusively) and indie stores.

In name, look and sound, "Backspacer" is a throwback. The title refers to the key on a typewriter used to back up the carriage and retype a botched letter. The songs are largely ruminating about what is, was and could be in "a distant time . . . a distance space," as describes garrulous singer/songwriter Eddie Vedder in "Unthought Known."

Early on, the band seems to be backspacing into a rushed, pounding style of roadhouse rock, name checking the showboatin' "Johnny Guitar" (Watson). But be patient, more diverse and intriguing stuff arrives later as they float "Amongst the Waves" and crave a "life with the volume full" on the twin-guitar-jamming, Stones-influenced "Supersonic," then rally the troops with the anthemic, string-driven "Force of Nature."

MISSING PERSONS REPORT: Rapper Q-tip (of A Tribe Called Quest) has finally put out "Kamaal the Abstract" (Jive, B-), an album of jazz-influenced hip-hop that his former label rejected for having no "singles potential." Uh, they were right, though it's also pretty cool.

Brazilian fusionaires Os Mutantes, disciples of the "tropicalista" movement that embraced political concerns and a global grasp of music, are finally back on the scene after several missing decades with "Haih Or Amortecedor" (Anti, B+). Be amazed as the mind benders dice and slice rock, Cuban rumba, balmy samba, power pop and TV detective show themes.

For a brew that's almost as exotic and lots more accessible, check out kindred spirits Pacha Massive on "If You Want It" (Nacional, B), a moody mash-up of electronica, dub, rock and Latin rhythms with cooing he/she bilingual vocals. Sure to be playing soon at a hip restaurant near you.

Ray Charles is long gone but making two belated appearances today on CD and DVD. For your audio pleasure, check out a remastered and extended version of his map-hopping (though strictly studio recorded) "The Genius His the Road" (Concord, B), which first introduced fans to his definitive treatments of "Georgia On My Mind" and "Mississippi Mud" and now takes us, via bonus tracks, to a "Rainy Night in Georgia" and down "The Long and Winding Road."

Brother Ray also plays a vital role on "The Willie Nelson Special" (Eagle Eye Video, B), a TV hour from the '80s stressing the jazz-meets-country side of both gents on duets of "I Can't Stop Loving You" and "Mountain Dew."

PRETTY GIRLS IN A ROW: On her debut album "Love Travels" (Columbia, C+), Angel Taylor comes off like an ebony-skinned version of Colbie Caillat, pouring out wish-he'd-notice-me (as if) love travails. The songs are young, sweet and innocent, matching her agreeable vocal sound. Lyrics are too sketchy and repetitive for my taste, but I'm hardly the target ('tween and teen) audience.

Marie Digby is flat-out gorgeous, with an intriguing mix of Japanese and Irish/American features. And oh yeah, her "Breathing Underwater" (Hollywood, B-) album package is chock full of glamorous model shots. There's music there, too. Not especially original, though serviceable in the pop singer/songwriter vein, and confidently sung by this pretty woman. Remember what that little black dress poster did for Mariah Carey? With the right, um, exposure, Digby could be massive, too.