POP/ROCK

YUSUF

'An Other Cup' (Ya/Atlantic)

Cat Stevens picks up, more or less, where he left off on his last secular pop album in 1978 -- but in some respects he's improved.

The most glaring change, of course, is his name. Born Steven Georgiou 59 years ago in London, he achieved fame in the '70s as the sensitive folk-pop singer Cat Stevens behind the classics "Peace Train" and "Oh Very Young." He gave it all up when he adopted the Muslim faith in 1979 and took the name Yusuf Islam.

His tuneful new songs recall his finest moments idealistically and melodically but boast warmer, fuller arrangements including a horn section. "The Beloved," the standout, blends Yusuf's spirituality (without mentioning his faith), a bountiful pop hook and Senegalese singer Youssou N'dour on harmonies. He may never top the beauty of "Peace Train" but he's playing in the same fields here.

Meanwhile, a somber, string-laden and pleading cover of the Animals' "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" feels intensely personal given the bad press Yusuf earned in 1989 for comments surrounding author Salman Rushdie's controversial novel "The Satanic Verses." Vocally, Yusuf's voice has deepened and gained a sure-footedness. Overall, "An Other Cup" contains less filler than even Stevens' most acclaimed records and is a worthy addition to the catalog.

--Howard Cohen, Miami Herald

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HIP-HOP

CLIPSE "Hell Hath No Fury"

Re-Up/Star Trak/Jive)

You can't keep a good Clipse down. Not even if you sign 'em, diss 'em, and consistently for three years push back their album's release date. No, the Clipse will put out fierce mix-tapes and wait. Then, when the time is right, MC/brothers Malice and Pusha T will crush you.

Clipse

Through the hot-dropping bass line of "Mr. Me Too" and the cleaving cold chants of "Wamp Wamp (What It Do)," the rapping brothers go about their business with voices hardy, high-pitched and empowered -- mightier and more calculating than even the victorious Jay-Z. Maybe the long wait gave the blunt Virginia-based duo a sense of forward motion or force.

They sound like a battering ram barging into "Keys Open Doors." Though the weirdly nuanced backgrounds of the Neptunes (producers Pharrell and Chad, back to their best sci-fi tricks) threaten to upstage Clipse, check out the schizoid rap of "Trill" and be thrilled. Pusha T and Malice maintain a cruel blank distance throughout the song's mean, doom-shuffling, drug-hustling lyrics, colder than ice and bloodier than the diamond trade.

--A.D. Amorosi, Philadelphia Inquirer

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JAZZ

Lynne Arriale Trio

'Live (Montema)

So many superlatives have been heaped upon pianist Lynne Arriale that it is difficult to describe her and her trio's brilliance without repeating some of them.

Lynee Arriale Trio

Simply and directly, Ms. Arriale (ARE-e-all) and her trio (Jay Anderson, bass; Steve Davis, drums) are the equal of any piano trio recording today, and superior to many.

This likely is news to many, since Arriale never has recorded with a major label since beginning her career as a leader after she won the 1993 International Great American Jazz Piano Competition. Yet this is her 10th album.

There is the choice of material. On "Live'' (recorded in Germany), we have songs all worth hearing, a heady mix of originals by the leader, and pieces by a diverse list from Miles Davis to Thelonious Monk to South African Abdullah Ibrahim to the Beatles.

Many of the arrangements are stunningly and entertainingly original.

Arriale is a sensitive ballad player, as well as composer and interpreter of romantic, deeply emotional music; she's also a dynamo, a hard-swinging bopper who plays swift, beautifully articulated lines. On dramatic, non- straight-ahead pieces, she is forceful, with a robust, two-handed attack.

"Arise," her 9/11 remembrance, is sad yet uplifting -- like a well-written hymn. Her song "Home'' evokes every imaginable good feeling associated with where we live. Ibrahim's "Mountain of the Night'' is a simple melody evoking an inner peace mixed with joy.

Arriale, however, also loves to rumble around in the low register, as she does on the vamp in "Iko Iko,'' a catchy, African-derived children's song. She and the trio do a hard-driving samba-esque "Braziliana,'' and a staccato-filled, bluesy version of Lennon/McCartney's "Come Together.''

The trio's treatment of Miles' "Seven Steps to Heaven'' and Monk's "Bemsha Swing'' is as fresh as it gets, highly inventive and unconventional, even for those two iconoclasts.

Finally, this is a true trio. Anderson and Davis are as creatively involved -- in the ensemble and as soloists -- as is possible without being the leader.

-- Bob Protzman

Pete Zimmer Quintet

'Burnin' Live at the Jazz Standard' (Tippin' Records)

The 28-year-old drummer Pete Zimmer is fronting a quintessential post-bop group that offers an appealing, often exciting personal point of view.

Zimmer and his under-40 bandmates seem to be playing plain old be-bop, but closer listening reveals subtle differences that make the music sound fresh while still maintaining a strong sense and feel of earlier times.

Pete Zimmer Quintet

The time frequently is broken rather than steady, and tempo changes are commonplace; also, those long, legato be-bop lines full of fast-flying notes -- so much a part of the tradition -- are replaced by an intriguing series of passages of differing length, each making you wonder about and look forward to the next.

The use of stop-time (sudden stops and starts) also adds interest to the tunes and solos.

Four of the six pieces are Zimmer's, and they seem fully thought through without being overintellectualized. The music swings -- sometimes hard, as with tenor saxophonist Joel Frahm's "A Whole New You,'' has its bluesy moments ("Woodside Blues''), gets that classic, soulful hard bop feel ("Getting Dizzy''), includes a taste of funkiness ("Doin' Something' ") and can be pretty without being sappy ("Waltz For Opp'').

The players (besides Zimmer and Frahm, trumpeter/flugelhornist Michael Rodriguez, pianist Toru Dodo, and bassist David Wong) are first-rate -- technically strong and pretty much cliche free.

-- Bob Protzman