I felt the same way about the last two albums, until I saw him play live again with the band a last night. The show was amazing, and I finally felt like I understood why he is going in the direction he is. Sometimes the lyrics to his newer stuff seem somewhat contrived, but on the whole it's still geniune and often really good, and his compositions now are better fleshed-out and more mature than the skittish/rockity stuff, IMO. A true poet.
I felt the same way about the last two albums, until I saw him play live again with the band a last night. The show was amazing, and I finally felt like I understood why he is going in the direction he is. Sometimes the lyrics to his newer stuff seem somewhat contrived, but on the whole it's still geniune and often really good, and his compositions now are better fleshed-out and more mature than the skittish/rockity stuff, IMO. A true poet.