I just wanted to say...
 

...I've sat in my little house in London tonight with a good bottle of red wine and listened to the whole of 24 Karat Gold on the amazon stream ....Its just so so wonderful and special! I'm 43 and have been listening to our lady since i was 14....this album is something i feel so privileged to hear after all these wonderful years...love you Stevie x

Hello from across the pond. I'm doing the same thing here. I'm 44 and been listening to Stevie since I was a kid, too. What a wonderful gift this record is!

Ha! I'm older than you both --45! I have waited over 30 years for Stevie to come out with a worthy follow up to Bella Donna and it's finally here. While I like the Wild Heart and In Your Dreams for different reasons, I would never say that as a whole they would rival Bella Donna. This album does and it has more tracks which means she has more chances to fail. There is so much musical depth on this album that I know I will be listening to this for years. Cannot believe she came out with this album now, at 66 years of age. She never gives up. She has always fought for herself and this time it really paid off. She is on a streak of highs. Glad that I'm around to see it. Great job Stevie! This will probably be the best classic rock album that out this year and I hope she gets her Grammy.

It's truly an amazing album and I think several of these songs ("Starshine", "Lady", "24 Karat Gold", "Mabel Normand", "Belle Fleur") could have ended up on a Mac album, the first three in particular. Hell, if "Starshine", "Lady" and "24 Karat Gold" had been the 'usual three Nicks songs' on the next Mac album I would have thought that they're better than the Nicks songs on TITN and BTM, and they rival her songs on SYW and Mirage.

Great point.

It would be very easy to put In Your Dreams, TISL, or 24 Karat Gold in the top three list of Stevie albums; one only has to edit them down to 9 or 10 tracks first.

I did the exact same thing, except I listened to the album on my turntable. I'm around your age & been listening since 1976. My mom is a fan so I'd listened to Stevie very early on. Love all the songs!

IYD and 24 karat would be towards the bottom of my list.

There are things to like on each, but nothing like Bella Donna, WH

I think so too. I think all three of these albums have been very strong.

So glad to know multiple others share my love of Stevie's more recent work! Hands down, Bella Donna is a phenomenal album but often I don't think TISL and IYD get the credit they deserve. Admittedly, I'm a younger fan than many around here so I think sometimes that's why TISL and SYW are so special to me- I readan article quite a long time ago about how music from our teen years seems to especially resonate with people for life (something about the strong emotions of adolescence and the way we put a lot of emotional meaning of our own into the music we listen to). TISL is one of the defining albums of my teen years so it holds an intensely special place for me. Worth saying the other two albums that make my teen year triad are Sarah McLachlans "Fumbling Towards Ecstasy" and Tori Amos's "Little Earthquakes" and honestly I absolutely can't stand McLachlans latest album (and the one before it was also a disappointment) and many, many Tori fans seem to be much less fond of her more recent works. So that's what blows my mind about Stevie, she's still consistently putting out incredible songs and albums and not that Sarah or Tori are exactly peers or in the same ranks as Stevie anyway but heck maybe that says even more- very few artists can continually put out amazing work, you know?

I think what's awesome about how consistently awesome Stevie's work is- whether you're comparing 24KG to BD or TISL, is how exciting it is to us as fans, regardless of age, doesn't it kindof make you feel like a kid or teen again, overjoyed at your favorite singers new album? Because I haven't been this excited or even bought any album on release date (and probably even longer since I preordered one) in a long time. It's like renewing that emotional connection we have to Stevie's music. For me personally, as I tend to primarily listen to older music and haven't been all that interested in most new releases for quite a long time, it even reminds me of what makes music so special to begin with. And I've already rambled elsewhere how much I loved hearing the album on vinyl first. Think I'm a bit of an old soul in general though so excuse my wave of nostalgia here.

Now I am desperately hoping for a solo Stevie tour for this album because how awesome would it be to hear these songs live?

I would hold TISL, IYD and 24K up as being better than Bella Donna, RAL and SA. I put Wild Heart at the top. OSOTM would be high, but hard to say where I'd put it against the last 3, just yet.

Michele

I feel Stevie's more recent efforts (Trouble in Shangri-La, In Your Dreams, and 24 Karat Gold) are every bit as good as Bella Donna. I do think Bella Donna is among her best work but I don't necessarily feel that it's the standard that she must try to match.