ONE YEAR of "24 Karat Gold"!!!

[sorcerer999]

Exactly one year ago, I was lucky enough to receive the vinyl deluxe edition of "24KG" in the mail a couple of days earlier than the September 30th release date. I remember being at work and checking the delivery status and seeing that it was scheduled to be delivered by UPS sometime that day. I got home at 5:30pm and it still hadn't arrived. You better believe I made a huge pitcher of iced tea and sat on the porch with a book, waiting with baited breath for the UPS guy, who didn't show up until almost 7pm!

One year later and this album still makes me very happy. I still strongly believe that there really weren't any radio friendly/radio "single worthy" tracks on this album (with the exception of "24 Karat Gold" the song) and maintain that it's an album with "no era" because it evokes "ALL ERAS" of Stevie's career. This is the one album, for me personally, that is meant to be listened to from start to finish as one indivisible and congruent collection. Although, I will say that the six songs I originally plucked as my personal favorites on that first listen...
24 Karat Gold
If You Were My Love
Belle Fleur
All The Beautiful Worlds
Watch Chain
Hard Advice

...are basically STILL my favorites off the album and have found their way into all my musical mixes, playlists, etc, respectively.

The two songs I initially loathed - "Blue Water" and "She Loves Him Still" have really grown on me over this past year, which makes me happy. I guess, as somebody said on another thread awhile back, you could call these two songs the "slow burns" for me. It really took me quite awhile to appreciate them.

Most of the rest of the songs I also truly enjoy "within the context of the album as a whole entity" (as discussed in a previous thread). So I'm relieved, and a tad shocked, that there aren't any songs off this album that I truly hate or have an urge to "skip".

I also look as this album as the "soundtrack" to my remodeling, repainting and redecorating project that I did on my home this past year. From October 2014 to this past July (yeah, it took awhile) I would pick a room, choose a paint color (or colors), put on my headphones and play "24KG" on repeat until I was finished. It's a great album to have on in the background. It makes monotonous work not so boring, singing along.

I haven't listened to the album or any of the individual songs in about three months since the beginning of July, but I played it all the way through today because of the "year anniversary". It is still holding up for me. Although I am putting it to rest once again to make room for several new albums that were just released or are soon to be released later this year from some of my other favorite artists.

I was thrilled with this record when it first came out and I'm still thrilled with it today! I must say I'm so glad she recorded it and that we finally have some of these songs that have been on our "wish lists" for decades! "24 Karat Gold" was a fabulous addition to her catalog. I really hope she is proud of it! I know there are a lot of you on here who are detractors and have let certain "production issues", however minimal, hamper your enjoyment of this record. I'm so glad it doesn't hamper mine!

Okay. Your turn! How is "24 Karat Gold" holding up for you after one year?