I never dug those Venus records as well. I see what you mean with his playing. I think Shepp could really blow a beatufiul ballad. The duets with Mal Waldron are amazing as are those with Horace Parlan. It's more the music as a whole plus the chosen repertoire that I dislike. Pharoah Sanders made a similar move in the 90's and I don't visit those records a lot too. Not that it's bad, it's just they made a lot more interesting music.