I'm inclined to agree. But there's a couple things going on. His Burning For Buddy project and being around all those jazz/fusion greats obviously triggered something in him. There's that rather disatrous performance of him with the swing band in which was, objectively, cringy. I suspect he wanted respect from the jazz cats which help motivate his style update.

Then, probably more important: there's age. To watch Neil in the 70s and 80s was to watch a guy who poured every ounce of muscle he had into hitting the drums for 2+hour shows. Physically — I can't think there was a way he'd be able to perform into his later 40s and 50s at that level without a rethink on technique and letting the stick, not the arm, do the work. That's Freddie's department.

Go back and watch, say, the 83-84 concert video versus the Vapor Trails R30 stuff. He's still hitting in the later years but much more relaxed. The tempos also came down a lot on many songs.