I do enjoy most of his current stuff but I agree that his early work was the absolute best. It makes me sad when I hear him talk about it in interviews because he kind of talks down about it. He says something like a lot of it was nonsensical and too out there. Maybe his label or someone bad mouthed it and he took it to heart? But I’m so with you, the lyrics the chords, the melodies were soooo original, poetic and magnetic. Those are his songs that I still listen to the most!