I agree that it’s a bit sad for us long time fans to see that his getting old and having health issues and that he doesn’t make the kind og music we used to like. But I find it a bit harsh to criticize him for that. I guess he is just trying to have a good time and a good life, spend some time in the studio, making songs and records, moving around microphones, drinking cofee, getting new guitars, selling the old ones etc. I think he is not struggling to achieve things or trying anything hard at all. I don’t agree that he is trying to achieve optimal sound or the perfect mic position. (Most other musicians do, though.) He has the best equipement at hand at all times and mostly just plug and play. I guess everything has become (too) easy. I don’t think he is ambitious at all anymore. And I absolutely don’t blame him. It must be a great life doing what you love the most. But I guess that’s why his music sounds the way it does and has done for some years.
Absolutely. In a world where old stars are resurrecting their money-earning old bands all the time, trying to record new hip young people music in their elderly, recording old songs or Mark forbid, cover albums all the time, having plastic surgery, going nuts, verging into politics and other questionable domains, it's refreshing to see somebody who's at nearly 75 still quietly doing his thing, and good at that.
However, like I said, Mark is a human being and it's still his job, a dream job that is, and he lives in heaven compared to 99.9999999999999999% of people in the world, and he deserves all this, but a little bit of criticism and questions from people would not hurt either. Mark is undoubtedly a little bit lazy, a little bit disconnected from his fans, a little bit old-school in a bad way, and has a ton of other imperfections.
We just observe all that, complain about bad things, or celebrate good ones. The world is in perfect balance.
