I wonder: did the people on here who prefer Mark's more recent output mostly become familiar with MK's music later, like after DS and Golden Heart? I mean, how many have been fans from the beginning and prefer Mark's newer music?
I ask this because I was talking with a client recently who turned out to be a die-hard Bob Dylan fan. I told him I really liked Dylan, but mostly the newer stuff, esp. Time Out of Mind and later. He looked at me with his mouth agape like I was crazy, and said this was just because I am too young to have been there in the early days and heard those songs when they were new and fresh and current.
I've been a fan for almost 30 years, and I love MK's old music. And his newer stuff. If I hadn't loved MK's new music, I hadn't been listening to it. MK makes whatever music he wants to make. If it's good, I listen to it. For me it's like that with all music. If i like it, I listen to it. If I don't like it, I don't listen to it. It's not like MK or any other artist ow us anytning. Just let them make the music they prefere, and then listen to it and buy their records if you like it. If I feel like listening to old rock music, I might pull out some of DS' earliest albums.
I'm glad MK doesn't make music like that anymore, because then he would be like any other tributeband who try to copy their heroes. But the two or three first (and IMO only) DS records were really great, some of the greatest albums ever made! (I like to think of DS as a funky bluesbased rock band who made three records from 78 to 80. After that, from 82 or even from the Making Movies tour, it has been MK solo with lots of different musicians, and much more pop, folk and even a bit of country music, first under the DS brand, later under the MK brand, unntil 2000, where they became a and again, but still under the MK brand).