Finally got a chance to put this on my turntable and hear it through proper speakers.

Sounds great, but it will be even better when I get the chance to play it loud.

Even better than HD for me.

If I ranked the albums as you suggested, Rev, only considering 8 songsz for me it would still be the exact same ranking I posted 3 pages before with FT on 5 or 6 hahah...I think I omly give Some Girls so much credit because it had time to become iconic, because these times were iconic, because Some Girls Live in Texas is among my top 5 live Stones performances, and because for the inexplicable nostalgia I feel thinking about the fact that I wasn't even born then (my parents weren't even married then xD) but I wish I could have attended shows on that tour  .as I eish I could have been there at the Marquee Club show in 1971 which is my fave live show of them ever... so I feel I reslly reslly need to head some of those songs live in order to better be able to rate how iconic they will be hahaha

For HD I loved WWW live, SSOH was absolutely gooebump-inducing, Mess it Up sounded better than on the record, Tell Me Straight was as beautiful as I had hoped it would be, only Angry didn't work at all for me live because of the weird tempo

Also I understand you with skipping a track because it's strong but for me it's not Hit me i  the Head buf Some of Us because it always makes me tear up and I don't wanr it to lose that magic by overplaying it...actually I've mostly been listening to the album front to back so far without skipping because the order of songs is brilliant...there aren't many other records that are so well thought-through when it comes to the order of songs, which also makes FT so great

Also I was thinking since it's the WC I wanted to do a song-by-song comparison of HD and FT (cause they almost all seem to have a cousin in some way) and then rate who wins 1:0 or if they are equally strong so it would be a 1:1 draw, then sum up the "goals" to see the final score (I already know FT will win in my comparison but I wanna see how HD fares)


Also I wrote earlier that Divine Intervention is giving me Tattoo You vibes but I'm just listening to the record again (while doing mindnumbingly boring stuff at work) and now it's giving me major Some Girls vibes, like the guitars/rhythm remind me of Respectable... imo Hit me in the Head  (unlike the Wick said earlier, or unlike Paul Sexton said in that one interview) doesn't remind me much of Respectable because it rather rocks and is hard and gritty, it doesn't swing as much as Divine Intervention and Respectable...that's why I said HMITH would rather fit on Dirty Work because it's rough and Mick's voice sounds as dirty as on some of the songs on DW (and at least 4 people on Shidoobee think so too 😅)

There is no harder song than HMITH music wise unless you mean lyrics wise then Covered in You if you consider hard as in swearing a lot lol

Covered in You isn't a sweet love song at all, actually the exact contrary... the obvious lyrics on the forefront are about domestic abuse, a woman beating a man, and the underlying lyrics are about the gutter press writing total bs about celebs all the time...

In my HD vs FT song cousins comparison 3 songs stood out for me that don't have an obvious "equvivalent" on HD: Rough and Twisted, You Know I'm No Good and Jealous Lover, idk if you mean one of those^^ also I'll post my comparison later today or tomorrow but FT wins, that's sure, it's way better than HD and I'm very glad about that because it's always great when the 2nd thing in a series is better than the 1st and then the 3rd hopefully better than the 2nd

ronnie-woody wrote on Jul 15^th, 2026 at 10:39am:

Mr Charm, then? 😅 and why in the world would you only listen to 13 songs when there also is Bad Luck Hideaway????

Also yes I agree with the interpretation of Ringing Hollow that's basically what Mick and Keith said, it's a love song to the US but also pointing out its downsides...


I fucking love Side Effects, it's a stereotypical Stones/Keith song, also his solo on it is real sweet...and it's one of those double meaning lyrics too, it's not about actual drugs but about an all-consuming love

Btw something entirely else I observed:

the (free) streams on Spotify and Amazon music are poor quality  it's not so cleae and pretty brickwalled...
the paid Amazon Dolby Atnos version is very clear and not brickwallwd HOWEVER I cannot distinguish between the left and right channel clesrly any longer because it's more of a "surround" sound
Meanwhile when listening to the bought MP3 version via Musicolet, the left and right channel are clearly distinguishable and it's also mainly clear but seems to still be brickwalled (but this is still my fave option on the phone rn tbh)
And finally, when listening to the CD on my cheap old CD player with small speakers, it's not brickwalled and has a very retro sound that makes certain songs sound absolutely incredible, e.g. Ringing Hollow, Beautiful Delilah and Rough and Twisted

I cannot believe there are such hige differences 🙈 also I cannot wait to get a vinyl eventually and play that and see what's the difference here

What's that lossless setup on Spotify? I suppose premium?
Dolby Atmos is nice if you don't care about being able to distinguish the guitars, it's pretty clear and in your face but it has an all-encompassing surround sound basically like you're in an IMAX cinema or something, and I honestly can't tell any longer which guitar comes from which channel, which kinda sucks... without Dolby Atmos on MP3 played via the Musicolet App, it's perfectly fine

ronnie-woody wrote on Jul 15^th, 2026 at 12:55am:


I wouldn't say Dirty Work, but we are probably in agreement here on the rest. My point was not that they sound the same, but more the energy and breaking new ground in a convincing and novel way. Hit Me In The Head is a harder faster song with that type of Some Girls energy but put forward in a completely new way. And what's mainly new is throwing in the harmonica on a song like this. Also, the greatness of Charlie Watts makes every song better. Covered in You is somewhat similar, it's very Mick in the rap type part, but it's a Mick rap, not some lame attempt like Tom Jones or something to try to rap like traditional rappers. He then moves to the really melodic chorus, and throws in his harp playing. Just very very well done.

In terms of the record's sound, I still think Steve Jordan gets better sounding records, but Beautiful Delilah is perfect. People just assume that because they started as a blues band and have done so much blues over the years that it's a return to yesteryear, but they have never really done a song like that on a record before and the sound on that cut is outstanding. Very understated and underrated song. If that had been on Sticky Fingers or Exile, we would be talking about it in the same way as You Gotta Move or Shake Your Hips.

I definitely agree with you about how fucking great R&T is because I did NOT expect a blues song at all and I love when the Stones are being bluesy and go back to their roots...I feel like I've overplayed it a bit by now but I still like to start into the album with this song since starting with In the Stars feels wrong lol

Also, I finally managed to finish writing up my comparison between FT and HD


HD vs FT

Angry – In the Stars: 0:1 both were the first official single, In the Stars has amazing live potential and I can already imagine Mick doing a sing-along with the audience to it, Angry on the other hand didn't work live at all and I dislike the lyrics they could have been written by anyone

Get Close –  Covered in You: 1:1 based on their vibes of being standout/extraordinary on the album and with a hidden message different from their obvious meaning

Depending On You – Bad Luck Hideaway: 1:1 based on both being slower songs but not as good a comparison as the others because they got different styles, and where Depending on You has that lovely violin addition, Bad Luck Hideaway has Mick and Keith singing together

Bite My Head Off – Hit me in the Head: 0:1 I mean they're basically the same in punkiness, only that Hit me in the Head rocks waaaay harder and it really grew on me a lot, while I kinda always skip Bite My Head Off

Whole Wide World – Divine Intervention: 1:1 both have amazing guitar parts and WWW was brilliant live, I imagine Divine Interventionsl also working really well on stage and hope for a tour basically just to hear that live (well this and Some of Us)

Dreamy Skies – Ringing Hollow: 0:1 Dreamy Skies was really nice but it can't take it up with Ringing Hollow which has way more meaning

Mess It Up – Never Wanna Lose You: 0:1 based on both being fancr/disco songs...I absolutely loathe the album version of Mess it Up and the generic mainstream radio lyrics that Mick actually wrote for some DJ, live it was fine...however, I could imagine them actually dropping Miss You every other night in favour of Never Wanna Lose You because it's basically the exact same song and a total banger...I wonder how long they'll manage to drag it out live xD

Live By The Sword – Mr Charm: 0:1 based on the mood, not as close a cousin/comparison as the others but they're both punk-rocky and have somewhat absurd lyrics, however Mr Charm has the better and catchier chorus

Driving Me Too Hard – Side Effects: 1:1 both stereotypical Stones songs with a heavy Keith influence and I love them equally

Tell Me Straight – Some of Us: 1:1 both sweet and amazing Keith songs...Tell Me Straight didn't make me cry when I first heard it but it's still very very special and I'll never forget the moment when Keith first played it live at the 2nd Metlife show

Sweet Sounds of Heaven – Back in Your Life: 1:0 I'm really sorry, Andy, I love what you did for and with the Stones but maybe you should have let Mick or Keith choose one of their ballads instead of forcing yourself into the songwriting credits...SSOH is still outstanding and goosebump-inducing

Rolling Stone Blues – Beautiful Delilah: 1:1 what's better than the Stones going back to their roots?? Rolling Stone Blues has an incredible harp play by Mick and Beautiful Delilah some great Mick and Keith interaction and that great Delta blues feel, both very special


No comparison for:
Rough and Twisted: no original blues song on HD, so +1 for FT since I love the bluesy roots of the Stones
You Know I'm No Good: there's only 1 cover on HD, so +1 for FT because they felt creative enough to add this and also this cover is way better than the original
Jealous Lover: no song like this on HD, so +1 for FT for the additional song and Mick's falsetto

Final standing: HD: 6 – FT: 14

Tbh I can imagine them getting together for a bit somewhen in autumn, maybe not a proper long recording session where they make a whole new album, but maybe just a week in NYC where they do 3 songs just to keep the movement going...or maybe just Mick and Keith getting together and playing each other songs they came up with in the meantime...then tour next spring/summer and maybe after that studio again

UK Midweek Update (Friday/Tuesday sales)

01 The Rolling Stones - Foreign Tongues (30,256)
02 My Chemical Romance - Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (14,842)
03 Bring Me The Horizon - Count Your Blessings | Repented (10,569)
04 December 10 - On Your Side (10,152)
05 Michael Jackson - The Essential (9,908)

The album was at 27,316 on Monday's Update.

I don't remember if they mentioned it on any interview yet, but I think R&T also is a song where Keith came up with the riff because it's a typical Keith sound right there...maybe they'll mention something on the 4th episode of the Spotify podcast, I can't wait to listen to it tonight

For my ears, those songs have typical Keith riffs and sounds: R&T, In the Stars, Mr Charm, Divine Intervention, Hit me in the Head, Side Effects (well and obciously Some of Us but that's Keith's anyway^^)