On the Stereo: The Cure's Songs of a Lost World, Willie Nelson, Paris Hilton, Isaac Hayes

The Cure mount a masterly, glacial comeback, Willie Nelson revives his '90s moodiness with the help of his son Micah, Paris Hilton revives Y2K, Isaac Hayes early singles compiled.

The Cure—Songs of a Lost World [2024]

The Lost World of the Cure's first album in 16 years could certainly be the late 20th Century, the era when the band was at its creative and commercial peak. The Cure hasn't disappeared in the 21st Century but they've certainly slowed, transitioning from the studio to the stage, demonstrating their live prowess in a series of epic sets. Songs of a Lost World reflects that strength not only in its muscle but in its slowness. This is a band that knows how to create and sustain a mood, confident that the audience will stay attentive as the group crawls toward Robert Smith's inevitable entrance. Often, Smith doesn't appear until after a song has crested, his verses effectively punctuating the music's roiling contemplation. Dispensing with the eccentric pop that accentuated even their gloomiest records—"Lovesong" gave Disintegration some room to breathe—the Cure instead find nuances in forty different shades of black, heightening the drama by letting the beating waves of keyboards and squall of guitars feel alternately foreboding and comforting. Smith may be preoccupied by the ending of things, something the very titles of "And Nothing Is Forever" and "I Can Never Say Goodbye," make clear, yet he doesn't sound as if he's 65—older than Bob Dylan was when he released "Love and Theft" in 2001. His singing still sounds nervy, his voice lacking any audible weather, his resilience matching the band's glacial might. Smith's vitality also means that as heavy as Songs of a Lost World is—a term that applies to the execution as much as the emotion; the riffs propelling "Drone: Nodrone" throttle hard—it doesn't seem depressive. There's a genuine thrill in hearing veterans play with an inventiveness that matches their mastery. 

Willie Nelson—Last Leaf on the Tree [2024]

The title of Last Leaf on the Tree echoes that of Last Man Standing, another record where mortality was very much at the forefront of Willie Nelson's mind. That statement could be applied to a fair number of Nelson's recent records, each featuring moments where he wonders what it all means or costs—questions that are bound to cross the mind of a man who has passed his 90th birthday. There's a difference with Last Leaf on the Tree, though, one that separates it from The Border (released just six