SABLE,

That was tough. I hope none of this ends up on any LP. Speyside was the one I'd heard, I thought it fine, and it's the highlight. Otherwise there's some poor writing: lackluster lines of lyric and melodies that miss the mark.

Speyside, though forgettable, was encouraging in its For Emma stylings. I hope we see more of that, and I hope he relearns how to write songs. Since For Emma, he's had at least one good song on every outing, and Big Red Machine was really encouraging despite its stylistic departure. SABLE, is discouraging in that it's the style I wanted but so clearly inferior to how he used to do it.