For me, the problem is not as simple as Mark not producing rock songs anymore. He has always written a lot of slow material. It's just that fewer and fewer of his songs really catch my attention these days, or are written in styles I don't enjoy. Some songs, like Secondary Waltz and Heart Full of Holes, sound like lullabies to me.
On KTGC, there are a handful of songs I really enjoy, primarily We Can Get Wild. In the Sky is great too.
I find that there are several aspects combined that make albums like SL and KTGC less interesting for me than some older stuff.
1. I find that all the storytelling songs have resulted in a loss of emotion and energy compared to more personal songs on, say, OES.
2. I generally prefer his finger-picking to his flat-picking.
3. The albums are too slow and lack groove.
Of course these factors are not absolute. I love the solo on Don't Know You're Born and I think Bonaparte is a great tune. But overall, Mark has gone in directions lately that have not been favourable to his music as far as I'm concerned. SL, for example, which is famous for having been recorded 'live' sounds incredibly dull to my ears. The live arrangements of Boom, Like That and Sonny Liston really showed what power these songs have. This is also true of Postcards, which benefited greatly from McCusker's flute and Danny's drumming. It sounds kind of flat on the album.
