Brian,
To be honest- initial listen through fell short of my expectations. Most notable was that Jack's voice sounds tired . . . I grew up admiring his bass skills but through time really found his voice to be captivating and strong. So to hear what I heard was concerning. With that, the bass playing is what I would call conservative.
As mentioned, Drone has a great bass tone and through out the disc there is some very tasty guitar and piano/ keys work.
Jack is moving through space and is aging like we all are, my expectations of Silver Rails to sound like How's Tricks? is not realistic.
As long as Jack makes music I will continue to buy it, he is a legend in bass, lyrics, piano and vocals.