He was very intense when he was off his meds but he knew that made him a better performer. The stuff he did with Jad Fair was great, It's Spooky is a great album. It's true that as he mentally degenerated his music became worst but I think once he decided to aim for a better sound quality he lost the naive sound that made him endearing.

Imo he's supposed to be a minimalist artist. He sounds better with a out of tune guitar and a tape recorder than with a rehearsed band in a studio.