Originally Posted by rickysambo

Good to see varied analysis from everyone here. Offering my three cents:

1) First & Foremost, I would want Richie to stay true to who he is--- A Guitar Player. One isn't expecting long instrumental passages but songs devoid of an audible guitar line is what pissed off a lot of fans since 2000, I bet.
None of the fan favourites have busy instrumentation, but they all have capable instrumentation. So, a song which has compressed drums annd percussion drowning out the rest is undesirable. As sensational as the Next 100 years solo is, it is about 3dB too quiet compared to wall of noise around it. "These Days" is obviously the go to example of an album where there is no redundant extraneous sounds, everything is calculated yet creative. Every rhythm lick is nuanced and says something, instead of a boring (modern) strum on the chord. The gist is that I'd want a "guitar present" album . I'm sure I'm not alone in this.

2) Lyrics. Hmm. Somebody mentioned Richie was never very gifted in that regard. Clearly, Richie isn't a verbose guy and his twitter vocabulary is pretty shockingly deficient. "Shelter, food & sex is what we need" is cringey, while every line on "You can only get so high" is moving. He does hit or miss, a lot like Jon. I'd say Jon has higher highs and lower lows.

3) RSO was comfy and bland. Nothing good comes out of a well rested artist who has no walls to scale. I hope Orianthi has had no input in his music. Her lyrical chops are worse than an eight grader going through her first imaginary break up.
I've said it before but I'd love Richie to rope in some vocalists for a couple of songs. Even a guitarist or two. He did have Clapton on his first outing and that was terrific. All these things require effort and creative combat, but often results in memorable output.

4) The old artist trying to reclaim the past glory debate is nothing new but I think the point is that fans often want the artist to quit replicating the current trends rather than aping their finest hour. To quote Kirk Hammett (when Metallica decided to have a solo free album in 2003's St.Anger): "I think it's bullshit, to cater to the current trend that says no guitar solos. If we're doing that then we are dating this music to this very year".
The current trend in music is dreadful-- naive, entitled and misguided lyricism; mistake free, individuality free music; A very good case in point is Greta Van Fleet. Talented boys with a lot of potential who became media darlings for basically nothing and now their 2nd record is just a shining example of forgettable songwriting. It is up to the artist to carve a conducive environment for music, which often translates to an environment that's actually not conducive to creating music. Conflict and chaos is more interesting than a well oiled machine going about its job one more time.