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Sly and the Family Stone was all about diversity. Racially integrated, the group preached peace and love over a groove-a-licous fusion of soul, funk, rock and r&b. This tribute album mirrors that inclusive philosophy with some ingenious reinterpretations. Maroon 5 covers “Everyday People” and Black Eyed Peas’ Wil.i.am tackles “Dance to the Music.” But best is the blissed-out rendition of “Family Affair” by John Legend and Joss Stone, who is no relation to the legendary Sly Stone but sings so soulfully that she could be. Jan. 24

Post-modern popsters Saint Etienne have always been an anomaly. Formed by English music critic Bob Stanley and named after a French soccer team, the trio forged a new genre by mixing the pop of swinging ’60s London with the sounds of the city’s club scene of the ’90s. The group’s seventh CD is an ambitious concept album, a pop opera about a fictional London apartment block. With tales of its residents and their day-to-day lives, it could easily serve as a dreamy soundtrack to the next Sims computer game. Jan. 24   

Although still best known for singing on Paul Simon’s Graceland album, the South African gospel group, led by Joseph Shabalala, has its own impressive history, including two Grammy winning albums. Here, Mambazo re-records some of its classic songs with Emmylou Harris (“Nearer My God to Thee”) and Taj Mahal (a Delta style “Mbube”), while Sarah McLachlan and Melissa Etheridge lend their voices to Graceland’s “Homeless” and “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes” respectively. Sonic sweetness.  

Grime, the British amalgam of rap, garage and house music, is enjoying a huge crossover these days, with the success of artists like M.I.A., Dizzee Rascal and The Streets. Audio Bullys, aka Tom Dinsdale and Simon Franks, clearly hope to cash in on the trend with their mix of beats, samples and Cockney rap. But where The Streets’ Mike Skinner offers satirical and celebratory views of working-class London life, these brain-damaged stoners never rise above their dead-end existence. Desultory and depressing. Jan. 24   

Despite their claim, singer-guitarist Keith Murray, bassist Chris Cain and drummer Michael Tapper are actually math teachers—or at least look like it. Nerdy in the extreme (minus the pocket protectors), the Brooklyn-based rock trio is equally academic in its approach to music. The group’s debut album, named for a J.D. Salinger short story collection, adds elements of punk and new wave on songs like “Textbook,” Can’t Lose” and “Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt.” Catchy pop hooks are also part of the equation. Jan. 10

The Strokes have rocketed to the dark edges of space with the New York band’s heaviest, most dangerous sounding album to date. The lead-off single, “Juicebox,” comes across like a sinister Batman theme, complete with ferocious guitar. The syncopated “Razorblade” and the blistering, raging “Vision of Division” are oddly euphoric. But strangest of all is “Ask Me Anything.” With its robotic keyboard riff and Julian Casablancas’ singing repeatedly “I’ve got nothing to say,” it’s like Kraftwerk on crack. Jan. 3

Depeche Mode represented the dark, dehumanized side of ’80s electropop. Despite frontman Gahan’s velvety vocals, Martin Gore’s deeply moody lyrics and the band’s cold, industrial sound always cast a pall. Gahan’s second solo album is no less depressing. Songs like the dreary “Down,” on which he sings “I feel so old, down on the ground is where I’m bound to end up,” deal with themes of aging and mortality. “Use You,” meanwhile, is a harrowing ode to self-loathing. Has Gahan never heard of Prozac? Oct. 23   

There’s nothing new about a female rapper dropping an album from prison. Lil’ Kim released one while she was sentenced for lying to a jury about a shooting (one that ironically involved Brown’s entourage). Brown, who shares Kim’s fixation on sex and the mafia, is now partially deaf and behind bars for parole violation. The Brooklynite’s latest is a tawdry affair, with tracks like “We Don’t Surrender” bitterly professing her supremacy while lamely insisting that she’s regained her hearing, if not her freedom. Dec. 11

Although they recorded only two albums before their demise amid Pete Doherty’s chronic drug use, these Brit-rockers left a huge legacy. NME readers chose four Libertine singles for the magazine’s “50 Greatest Indie Anthems Ever” list, fewer than Oasis and The Stone Roses but more than Blur, Radiohead and Joy Division. This collection gathers Doherty and vocal-songwriting partner Carl Barât’s finest work, including the joyful “Can’t Stand Me Now” and their fitting swan song “What Became of the Likely Lads.”

Only a performer as talented and audacious as Rufus could pull off a tribute to Judy Garland’s legendary 1961 concert. The Carnegie CD and the Palladium DVD capture all of Wainwright’s gifts and chutzpah, although the DVD doesn’t feature his show-stopping Garland drag routine. Instead, Rufus focuses on his surging tenor, wringing emotion from two dozen Garland classics like “Over the Rainbow.” Special guests include Garland’s daughter, Lorna Luft, Rufus’ mother, Kate McGarrigle, and his dynamic sister, Martha.