Scarlett Johansson, Joe Cocker have new CDs

NEW YORK - Scarlett Johansson, “Anywhere I Lay My Head”
Trapped inside Scarlett Johansson’s porcelain skin is the voice of a canary — in a coal mine. A worldly alto pops out of those pouty lips, making her decision to release an album of Tom Waits covers a bit less odd than it might at first seem. Johansson’s pipes are surprisingly deep but don’t approach the dirt gargle of Waits himself. But she’s an actress, and his songs are some of the best monologues ever set to music. Cuts like “Falling Down” come off like a Cambridge girl doing karaoke at the campus bar. But others achieve poignancy: See “Fannin Street,” intrepidly plucked from Waits’ 2006 three-CD outtakes collection, or album closer “Who Are You,” which doubles Johansson’s voice with producer David Sitek’s bass, hinting at a Waits duet of acceptance. The whole set is heavily dosed with reverb and electro-swirls, perhaps to cloak Johansson’s vocal limitations as much as to add psychedelia.

Joe Cocker, “Hymn for My Soul”
He’s got one of those voices that would make the tax code sound like music, so you’d think that making a good Joe Cocker record wouldn’t be that hard. That hasn’t always been the case, of course, but here, Ethan Johns, the well-credentialed son of one-time Cocker producer Glyn Johns, nails it with a potent formula of top-shelf material and ace players. Sympathetic song choices abound, from a restrained but forceful version of Stevie Wonder’s “You Haven’t Done Nothin”’ and a rich take on the Meters’ “Love Is for Me” to sublime renderings of lesser-known songs by Bob Dylan (“Ring Them Bells”), George Harrison (“Beware of Darkness”) and John Fogerty (“Long As I Can See the Light”). His cover of the Beatles’ “Come Together” from the “Across the Universe” soundtrack only strengthens a set that already shows Cocker in the best possible light.

Bun B, “II Trill”
After the untimely death in 2007 of rapper Pimp C, Bun B gathers a long list of famous friends to celebrate the life of his UGK partner on his sophomore solo set. Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, Lupe Fiasco, Sean Kingston, Young Buck, Chamillionaire, Juvenile, 8Ball & MJG, Webbie, David Banner and Pimp C himself, are among the collaborators on the drum-heavy, midtempo-laden album. On the Jodeci-sampled “You’re Everything,” Bun B rhymes about his love for his hometown of Houston, while poverty, politics and spirituality dominate the reflective “If It Was Up to Me.” But the most heartfelt track on the album is the one dedicated to Pimp C, “Angel in the Sky.” Appropriating elements of Stevie Wonder’s “Ribbon in the Sky,” the song finds Bun B taking solace in his grief: “I miss my brother every day, but I know he’s watching from up above.”

Mudhoney, “The Lucky Ones”
The Seattle vets follow up 2006’s “Under a Billion Suns” with another Sub Pop manifesto, and this one feels like a soundtrack to the recession. With Steve Turner’s guitar a buzzing hangover and Mark Arm snarling with irresistibly creepy restraint, Mudhoney’s eighth studio album finds the band rocking like it’s 1988 ... or 2008. Arm’s “past innocence” (“I’m Now”), he’s “had enough” (“And the Shimmering Light”), and he’s grappling with the whole “f---ed-up gestalt” (“The Lucky Ones”). Hand claps, semi-bluesy basslines, erupting distortion and even the occasional righteous drum solo wriggle through the feel-bad set of 11 “Nuggets”-ready songs to pump $4 gas by. “Inside Out Over You” lurches across keys somewhat awkwardly, but the rest is pure, delicious minor-chord malaise.

Donna Summer, “Crayons”
Considering that she hasn’t released a new album of original material in 17 years — a music-industry eternity in which many of her fellow vets have turned to singing standards — you might expect Donna Summer to reinvent herself as a breathy-voiced chanteuse on “Crayons.” No dice. This surprisingly lively set finds the former disco diva teaming with a crew of young collaborators — including Greg Kurstin, Danielle Brisebois, Ziggy Marley, J.R. Rotem and Lester Mendez — for a series of uptempo forays into stomping dance-pop, juke-joint blues-rock, breezy Latin jazz and African-accented soul.

Islands, “Arm’s Way”
This Montreal band’s Anti- debut is a far more calculated, robust affair than its first album, 2006’s “Return to the Sea.” The guitars crunch harder and the strings cut deeper — each song plays out like a mini theatrical production wherein the narrator is stabbed in the heart and attacked by a pack of dogs. It’s dark and dramatic, yet behind all that lies ex-Unicorns member Nick Thorburn’s penchant for pop music, meaning that catchy hooks and melodies are among the commotion. The psychedelic bent of “The Arm” makes for a grand display of orchestral pop, the lead guitar slinking through “Creeper” is strangely compelling, and it’s all brought to a close with the 11-minute “Vertigo (If It’s a Crime),” which brews up such unsettling tension, you can’t help but anticipate what will happen next.

Jason Mraz, “We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.”
After 2005’s uneven “Mr. A-Z,” Jason Mraz emerges even bolder than before on an album loaded with strings, horns, formidable grooves and a dozen songs dripping with mantra-like positivity. On opener “Make It Mine,” he declares, “Wake up, everyone!” and provides a sonic alarm clock with a blast of brass, hand claps and a buoyant la-la-la vocal chorus. The single “I’m Yours” is a reggae love song, while “Coyotes” explores Latin flavors. “Only Human” boasts full beatnik mode, and “Dynamo” reverts to the lightning-speed vocals and clever wordplay that established Mraz on 2002’s platinum “Waiting for My Rocket to Come.” A collaboration with James Morrison on ”Details in the Fabric” is melodramatic, but Colbie Caillat is a welcome presence on the rich, string-laden duet “Lucky.”

Keith Sweat, “Just Me”
Does he still make us sweat? That’s the appropriate question to ask about Keith Sweat’s first set of new material in six years. He knows how to surprise but, ultimately, chooses to do what we know him for best. The album’s fresh moment is “Somebody,” a love ballad that starts with rapper Chris “F.L.O.” Conner declaring, “By popular demand, he’s back!,” samples Blue Magic’s “What’s Come Over Me” and finds Sweat singing entirely (and out of character) in falsetto. From there, however, Sweat reverts to the languid tempos, explicit bedroom talk and layered, interwoven vocals that are the New Jack’s screed.

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