[s3r3nity]

I just feel like with the big three, that it's harder to place them into distinct genres like you can with some of the newer stuff. Not to say that all of her old stuff was genre-bending and amazing and groundbreaking, but, for me at least, it doesn't seem to fit as neatly into categories as well as the newer stuff does. Similarly to what people here have said before, a lot of the newer stuff sounds more like Ringo just covering music from different genres, rather than writing something that's in the genre but has something besides "a rock song" "a jazz song". And yes, blah blah unique doesn't always equal good, that's very true. But cookie cutter is very rarely interesting. And I'm not saying that all of her recent releases have been cookie cutter. There's some really interesting songs on Daihakken, and I haven't listened to the Carnation single enough to properly give my take on it. In general, it just feels to me like she isn't experimenting as much anymore, not in the sense that she's not trying enough genres, but that she's not trying enough WITHIN each genre. Quality over quantity, or something. I'd rather have her stick to jazz and write 5 interesting jazz songs than 1 of each generic jazz, pop, rock, ballad, or orchestra.
Ok, I think I'm just rehashing a zillion old points by now, so I'm gonna stop.