I agree with Reed that Buffett's early works are examples of great songwriting and that Buffett's artistic quality suffered after he experienced commercial success. However, I disagree with a couple of Reed's opinions. First, he includes Down to Earth and High Cumberland Jubilee as examples of Buffett's early, great songwriting abilities. I disagree. In my opinion, those two albums were immature, flawed early works. In other words, there's a reason why the record company misplaced those albums for a number of years. Second, Reed suggests that the great songwriting ended after Havana Daydreamin'. He argues that "Margaritaville" appeared on Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes, ushering in the era of commercialism in Buffett's music. While I agree that "Margaritaville" marked the beginning of the commercialism, Buffett had absolutely no idea that that song was going to do what it did. In my opinion, Changes in Latitudes is full of great songs. In fact, to me, there is not one bad song on that album. I would argue that the meaningful songwriting continued through 1981 and the publication of Coconut Telegraph. I would make the same argument here. To me, there's not one bad song on Coconut. In my opinion, the songwriting starts to decline in 1982 with the publication of Somewhere Over China.
I recommend Reed's article to you because I find it to be a very fair treatment of Buffett's career. Reed recognizes the artistic accomplishment of the songs Buffett wrote early in his career while acknowledging that the art suffered later from commercialism. Both of those premises I wholeheartedly embrace. However, I disagree with Reed on where he draws the lines for the albums that show artistic merit. Down to Earth is too early and there were rewarding albums after Havana Daydreamin'. In sum, I recommend the article most highly. Here's the link:
http://articles.boston.com/2012-06-22/m ... ffett-show
Enjoy Cap'n Bobby