This album is sadly not what it was supposed to be. Thirty years after their first Couple In Spirit recording, Keith and Julie Tippett had planned another multi-tracked studio duo album. Tragically, Keith fell ill and died in 2020 before the planned recording date, but by drawing on his substantial legacy of unreleased live recording Julie was able to bring the project to fruition. It is a remarkable achievement, both for the integrity of the music and the emotional honesty of Julie's words and performance.

The lengthy title track is a forceful demonstration of both musicians’ intensity, Keith's piano rolling, roaring and thickening while Julie's diverse vocal layers scatter and combine around the mystical lyrics. It (and the album) ends as Keith's performances often did - with a music box winding to a close. Elsewhere, the tinkling cascades of ‘A Song’ give rise to what could be a traditional folk melody while the thrumming insistence of ‘Riding’ feeds the singer's gospel-blues incantations. Michel Legrand's ‘Windmills Of Your Mind’ is included, though Keith hadn't recorded a version, and the unexpected chords of the chosen music add an interestingly menacing atmosphere to the breezy psychedelia of the original. But the album's most affecting track is ‘It's Rain and Rain’, Julie's words a raw and honest outpouring of pure grief over a 1979 live recording of Keith in the Netherlands. Anyone who ever saw the two perform together will have been struck by the depth of their mutuality both as musicians and as partners. Sound on Stone is, inevitably, a poignant reflection of a true Couple in Spirit.