A very mixed bag, but some tasty Biscuits in there

Get your fresh CD Biscuits right here, plus your spooky sequel to the "Phantom of the Opera" and some nifty jazz-rock crossover treats, all coming to your favorite music stand today. Hot dog.

DISCOPHONIC SCENE: I've sometimes been baffled by the huge fan base for Disco Biscuits, Philly's most popular "jam" band exports. But the fine-tuned and surrealistically packaged "Planet Anthem" (Diamond Riggs Records, B+) has converted me to the cause.

Deep they're still not, but they are playful and polished, for sure. And the Biscuits do live up to their name - prizing both funky grooves and a trippy, "baked" mind-set.

Scoring especially well here are the noodlin' "Widgets," their watching-the-world-go-by "The City" and gleeful "Fish Out of Water," sure to provoke instant sing-alongs. Tonight at 8 p.m. you get a free chance to chime in as the group's sold-out album release party at TLA streams at www.livestream.com/discobiscuits.

IT'S ALIVE! IT'S ALIVE!!! Can't kill that "Phantom of the Opera" with a stick. Andrew Lloyd Webber's melodramatic musical debuted 24 years ago but will seemingly play forever.

I'm not certain Sir Andrew's doing his pet monster a favor, though, by introducing a sequel stewed in an even darker operatic broth, serving one languid, snooze-inducing pop aria after another.

Though just opened on London's West End, and Broadway-bound come November, "Love Never Dies" (Decca, C) is already available as a double-disc, original-cast album, a marketing ploy the composer's been using since the days of "Jesus Christ Superstar."

The Phantom has relocated to turn-of-the-20th century Coney Island, N.Y. (uh-huh), where he's set up a grand entertainment pier with the goal of luring in Christine, the love-of-his-life opera singer who got away.

Now she's married to a haughty but penniless member of the aristocracy and accompanied by a 10-year-old son who (were he wearing a mask) might be taken as the spitting image of the Phantom. (I dare say no more!)

Of course there's gorgeous singing and lush orchestration throughout, and a recurring tune or two that may eventually dance in your head, though none as immediately as "Music of the Night." Only true "Phantom" believers may find magic in the tragic and eternal romance of it all.

ALL THAT JAZZ: Tired of the take-a-standard-and-work-some-changes approach? Keyboardist/composer Brad Mehldau sure is, and puts our ears through some wondrous new tunes, tempos and backflips with the double-disc set "Highway Rider" (Nonesuch, A). Along for that ride are pop-minded producer Jon Brion, special guests Joshua Redman (sax) and Matt Chamberlain (drums), and a huge orchestral ensemble that Mehldau uses in atypically dynamic, "Third Stream" fashion (not just as sweetener). This is music at once seriously composed and accessible. And often sensational.

Fans of electric jazz-fusion guitar masters like John McLaughlin, Pat Metheny and Larry Coryell should definitely get on board for the group Garaj Mahal and their robust "More Mr. Nice Guy" (Owl Studios, B+). Led by dexterous guitarist/composer Fareed Haque, the quartet juggles a bunch of crossover styles - from bluesy rumbling to soul popping (with vocals by drummer "The Rick") to prairie-pretty pastorals. There's an occasional nod to the leader's Middle Eastern roots, too. And lots that's danceable!

Updating the classic "corner jazz lounge" sound to make "Sparks" (Carlo Music Records, B) are Charlie Apicella & Iron City. The guitar-playing leader trades licks (in Wes Montgomery meets Jimmy Smith style) with organist Dave Mattock, plus drummer Alan Korzin, guest violinists John Blake and Amy Bateman and sax man Stephen Riley on a few originals and finger snappers like "Sookie Sookie" and "Billie Jean."

Good 'n' greasy.

ROCK AND THE RIGHT PLACE: The circus of life - not without its pratfalls and pitfalls - serves as thematic thread for the entertaining set from twang rockers Drive-By Truckers, "The Big To-Do" (ATO, B+). I'm most partial to the funny 'n' sad narrative "The Fourth Night of My Drinking," a could-be-sexy (if she wasn't so bored) present for the "Birthday Boy," and a fatalistic tribute to "The Flying Wallendas."

If "classic" rock opera is your thing, Andrew L. W. can't really hold a candle to Serj Tankian. He's the Armenian/American tenor (formerly of System of a Down) behind the "Elect the Dead Symphony" (Reprise, C+), a concert disc reworking of Serj's solo debut album pumped up by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra.

It's a heavy-handed condemnation of the world gone wrong, and, yeah, we're all to blame 'cause we keep voting the perpetrators into power. Fans of Geddy Lee might get a special rush.

The move to Valencia, Spain, (with his Spanish-born wife) has been invigorating for Josh Rouse, inspiring the breezy new sounds (often in a Brazilian bossa nova or Cuban groove) and bilingual vocals on "El Turista" (Yep Roc, B+).

NEW FACES: Expected to garner attention at this week's SXSW conference, the tech-toned, pop-rocking duo and album "Broken Bells" (Columbia, B) boasts the talents of master mixer Danger Mouse and Shins lead singer James Mercer. Their dabbling nature - shifting from the Brian Wilson/Beach Boys-like harmonies of "Your Head Is on Fire" to the buzzy "The Ghost Inside" and dance pop "Mongrel Heat" - makes them hard to pin down.

And oddly, their snappiest tune, "The Mall and Misery," is buried dead last in the running order, making it easy to miss.

Boasting an earnest lead singer in the Bono vein and just a wee bit of hip-hop posturing folded in with the anthemic rock, good things could also befall "Paper Tongues" in 2010, debuting on their self-titled A&M/Octone album (B-).