Derek Lowe

In this modern day Romeo and Juliet, kung fu action star Jet Li plays Romeo to hip-hop singer, Aaliyah Haughton's Juliet. Li is an ex-cop investigating the murder of his brother, who had ties with the Chinese mafia in America. Aaliyah plays the daughter of the American mob boss. Neither side approves of their romance, so, obviously, kung fu action ensues, with a soundtrack by Aaliyah.

Under the Covers is collaboration between alternative rock artist Matthew Sweet and Bangles singer Susanna Hoffs. Volume 1 and 2 contains 36 cover versions of favorite songs from the 1960s and 1970s.

Ray Obiedo (as guitarist) and Norbert Stachel (playing tenor sax as part of the Tower of Power horns) help turn the throbbing retro-soul meets Memphis-flavored soul jam "Horn-afication" into one of the most memorable cuts on keyboardist Roger Smith's Consider This. Smith begins with the moody undercurrent of the Hammond B-3 beneath the bright, percussive brass, then keeps that brooding texture going beneath a call and response between the horns and his happy-go-lucky keyboard melody.

A sequel to Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs' 2007 stroll through the '60s was perhaps inevitable, at least as inevitable as the decision to devote Under the Covers, Vol. 2 to the super sounds of the '70s.