Spin's "Ten Recent Albums That May Also Stand The Test Of Time" (2005)

goat

I was on board with him up until about his first solo record, and I still think that I'm Wide Awake It's Morning is a masterpiece. Since then, though, he's become far too comfortable to play to the NPR/Paste crowd. I was unable to get all the way through his most recent solo disc; he sounds positively middle-aged on it.

dude's hype usually revolved around his youth so once that was gone you just had a elvis costello-type making real music for real millenials

read music/speak spanish remains his "politically outraged pinkerton fan" testament, beyond that i only need a few tracks

it's funny that both he and john mayer wound up walking around california in a big floppy hat