This CD cover image released by Entertainment One shows ‘Greetings From Bunezuela’ a new release by Bun E. Carlos. (AP)

Bun E. Carlos’ drumming introduced some of Cheap Trick’s biggest hits; his sticks were the first sound audiences heard on “I Want You to Want Me” and “Ain’t That a Shame,” among others. Now six years removed from the Rockford, Illinois quartet that was inducted into this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Carlos (born Brad Carlson) has finally recorded his long-threatened album of obscure covers that helped form his musical persona.

The first two tracks, “Do Something Real” by Robert Pollard of Guided By Voices and The Who’s “Armenia City In the Sky,” are drenched in a Cheap Trick marinade; the bass and guitar in particular sound like Trick’s Tom Petersson and Rick Nielsen. “Him or Me” features the Hanson brothers on a cover of Paul Revere and the Raiders, and this version would have made a swell Monkees track.

Alejandro Escovedo sings lead on “Tell Me,” one of the Rolling Stones’ more obscure tracks, and Carlos reaches way back to enlist Randy “Xeno” Hogan, who was Cheap Trick’s original lead singer before Robin Zander, for “Let the Mystery Be” and “Count On Me.”

Carlos does not sing or perform a drum solo on “Greetings from Bunezuela!”; what he does is anchor each track with the perfect Bun E. beat, particularly on Bob Dylan’s “It Takes A Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry,” which sounds like Tom Petty covering Chuck Berry’s “Memphis, Tennessee.”

UK singer Birdy burst on the music scene at 15 with a knack for making cover songs sound like her own with her broody, gloomy vocals.

Now, she’s finding her own voice — with her own lyrics — on her new album.

Birdy moved to London from Lymington in Hampshire, United Kingdom, two years ago while creating her third album. Now at 20, she’s developed a decided taste for what she likes musically and has grown comfortable with recording.

That’s reflected all over “Beautiful Lies,” released this year and currently being promoted on her 15-city US tour, which wraps June 29 in Seattle. Birdy co-wrote the entire album, co-producing six of the 14 tracks.

“I feel like this album is kind of my coming-of-age album because I’m older and it’s taking time to really learn my opinions,” the soft-spoken singer said in a recent interview. “I feel like on this album I really knew what I wanted.”

It took nearly two years to craft the album with the help of producers MyRiot and Jim Abbiss, who worked on Adele’s debut “19” and its masterful follow-up, “21.”

Birdy, born Jennifer van den Bogaerde, released her self-titled debut in 2011. Mostly covers, it included an impressive rendition of Bon Iver’s “Skinny Love.” She followed it with an original album, “Fire Within,” in 2013.

“Beautiful Lies” features the emotional, sad pop songs Birdy has become known for. There are also more upbeat moments, including album opener “Growing Pains” and “Keep Your Head Up.”

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NASHVILLE, Tenn: The hip-hop group Arrested Development is still making music on their own terms by releasing two new albums this year, one that is a free download and another one for sale.

The group’s 1992 debut, “3 Years, 5 Months, and 2 Days in the Life of...,” sold over four million albums due to their hit singles “Tennessee”, “Everyday People” and “Mr. Wendal,” which stood out in the rap genre with their spiritual and socially conscious lyrics about poverty and family.

That message hasn’t changed for Speech, the frontman of the six-piece collective, although the music industry definitely has.

“The music industry has been sick and sales have been dismal for everybody,” said Speech, whose real name is Todd Thomas, during a recent interview in Nashville, Tennessee. “Nothing was happening and we were collecting all this music that we felt really passionate about. So we decided to just release it, just drop it.”

Since their debut, Arrested Development has been considered an outlier in the genre. They were critical favorites for their mix of pop, funk, rap and R&B samples and earned two Grammy Awards for best rap performance by a duo or group and best new artist — one of the few rap acts to take home the honor. But Speech said their overtly positive messages didn’t always resonate with other rappers or record labels.

“A lot of our peers felt like we weren’t really hip-hop and they would say that,” Speech said. “So to be called alternative hip-hop was sort of a slap in the face to me. Because I understand it’s an alternative in its subject matter from the gangster stuff, but we’re hip-hop. It’s just another viewpoint.”

Their second album in 1994 was not nearly as popular and the band disbanded for several years before reuniting in 2000. The two new albums, “Change the Narrative” and “This Was Never Home,” were released in February. Their single, “I Don’t See You At the Club,” references the Black Lives Matter movement and the 50th anniversary of marches in the South for civil rights, but also marriage and the lack of commitment in hip-hop music.

Speech, who sits on the board of the International Black Film Festival, performed with Arrested Development for dozens of grade school kids in Nashville as a part of the festival’s community program “Imagine Me” Children’s Summer Film Series in collaboration with Belmont University, Metro Nashville Police Department, Metro Nashville Parks and Salama Urban Ministries. The group performed a couple of hits and then encouraged the kids to rap and dance onstage with them.

By Wayne Parry