I do think they wrote their best batch of songs on "Dots and Loops" though, which is part of what makes it their best album to me. Some of what they did after that is like a slight spin on the sound of that album, but with songs that don't grab me as much; ergo it's hard for me to consider them in this conversation.

I do think the right set of sonics can overwhelm any objection to lack of songwriting. Obviously "In a Silent Way" is a huge sonics record and it's one of my top twenty by anybody in any genre - I love that album so much it hurts. But Miles was smart enough to not just repeat himself, which is a real sinkhole when you're working more with sound than song structure and melody. There's not one other album in his discography that sounds much like "Silent Way" - the very next thing he released was already on a whole different planet. Miles was restless.