Yes. Well said. Those later songs, 'real' though they were, didn't SOUND 'real'.
Not the first time an artist feels strongly about an album and fans don't respond to it equally enthusiastically. When Phil released I can't stop loving you which is not his but he thought it was a good idea to cover, I remember thinking that if he had released that song in the 80s, at the peak of his success, when I was in my 20s, I would have probably loved it. After all, who hasn't had a teary good-bye at a railway station? When it came out though, I simply dismissed it, it simply wasn't for me anymore but apparently as far as Phil's music was concerned, time had stood still. As I sad, too many sappy love songs can make you deaf and insensitive, even when it's real.