Artiste: The Cure

Album: Songs of a Lost World

Rating: *****

Grim, lonely and personal… British figureheads the Cure strike a downcast tone on the new album. There is no sense of urgency, nothing of the hurriedness that music streaming services demand. Bandleader Robert Smith is at his finest, taking time to warm up, allowing three minutes to elapse on the opening track, Alone, before letting his fantastic voice weave magic. Slow but brilliant, the lyrics are memorable: This is the end of every song we sing. The fire burned out to ash, the stars grown dim with tears.

The album’s cover does away with the squiggly artwork in favour of a half-formed granite — a spinning 1975 sculpture by Janez Pirnat called ‘Bagatelle’. The Ljubljana-born sculptor spent the last 10 years of his life on the Croatian island of Brac.

The follow-up track, And Nothing is Forever, is another dirge with strings and piano, and guitar from Reeves Gabrels, the former David Bowie sideman who joined the Cure in 2012. The song creates a sense of deep space as Smith sings: I know/ That my world has grown old/ And nothing is forever… If you promise you’ll be with me in the end.

Coming closest to a pop number is A Fragile Thing, which offers truths about love and commitment. The high point of the album is Warsong, complete with guitarist Reeves Gabrels’s wailing guitars as Smith sings: We tell each other lies to hide the truth. Equally mesmerising is Drone: Nodrone that packs caustic moments: I lose my reason when I fall through the door/ Endless black night lost in looking for more.

Artiste: Snoop Dogg

Album: Missionary

Rating: ***

Sequels can be underwhelming and Snoop Dogg proves it on Missionary, which comes over 30 years after the rapper dropped the Dr Dre-produced Doggystyle. The duo perfected West Coast hip-hop, making it fun rather than the gritty rap of Ice-T and NWA.

Doggystyle from 1993 defined a new sound, with Dre mixing the soul of live musicians with classic samples and then packing it all up with memorable hooks while Snoop Dogg offered enough braggadocio in the lyrical department.

Missionary attempts to be mature with good production value. Dr. Dre delivers some excellent beats: The keys on Gorgeous, for example, remind one of West Coast funk, while Gangsta Pose is all about energy.

But one can’t ignore that Snoop Dogg is trying too hard to please listeners. Take the case of Pressure (with K.A.A.N.): She said she wanna eat a hot dog, I’ma relish it/ You ever met a billionaire with a million fetishes?

Holding the flow back is Gunz N Smoke, which features Dr Dre, 50 Cent and Eminem. Sounds like a rollicking guest list but what you get is a forgettable song: Let’s take a second here for this moment of violence/ You smell it in the air, product of my environment.

Listeners expect Snoop to rap about murders and marijuana. He does... and does it energetically. But haven’t we heard all this before? It’s more like Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V.

There are occasional moments of clarity, like on Outta Da Blue, which is more like a nod to Snoop’s roots. And the outro track, The Negotiator, shows Dre’s expert production and Snoop’s famous chill delivery style. It’s a dreamy number to end the album on.

Artiste: Ruth Gipps

Album: Orchestral Works Vol 3

Rating: *****

Ruth Gipps, who had a flair for the dramatic, came to prominence immediately after the Second World War. Having a different approach, she found it difficult to secure performances of her works and also find an equal footing in the male musical establishment.

On the third instalment in his survey of orchestral works by Gipps, Rumon Gamba, conducting the BBC Philharmonic, is joined by the horn soloist Martin Owen.

The album opens with Gipps’s brilliant Coronation Procession, depicting the journey of the crown(s), perhaps as observed from the Royal Coach, culminating in the entry to Westminster Abbey. Written in January 1953, the piece was not used at the coronation, and instead first performed in September 1954 in Melbourne, Australia.

Making the selection brilliant is Symphony No. 1 in F Minor. Dated September 1942, it is a reflection of the horrors of war.

Artiste: Lil Baby

Album: WHAM

Rating: ****

The album celebrates the late 2010s Atlanta rap scene Lil Baby grew up with. At the same time, the album contains the first new Young Thug verse since his release from custody after pleading guilty to participating in street gang activity.

On Dum, Dumb, and Dumber, the Atlanta rapper comes across as strong, especially in the interlude by Young Thug: I don’t even believe I was locked up, for real, for real/ I was havin’ my way the whole time, fool, you know what I’m sayin’?

There is also a moment of controversy as 21 Savage chimes in on the track Outfit. The lyrics “brought Drac’ with me and it know kung fu / If I hit him in the jaw, then he gon’ sue” is being considered a shot at Kendrick Lamar.

Lil Baby packs in a lot of details through 15 tracks in a 41-minute run and even has a good roll call of artistes. But consistency? The tracks Say Twin and Streets Colder could have done with more flourish.