I have said for years that it is odd that they use outside writers so much. I still enjoy the hell out of the music, and think some of their best work has been in the post-Neal era, but I'd love to see them give it a go just once with only the band writing, just to see what they can do.
In the 6 albums since Snow, here's the list of songs written by/credited to band members and NOT John and/or Stan:
Feel Euphoria
Shining Star
A Guy Named Sid
From The Messenger (Ryo solo piece, does it count?)
NWC
Watching The Tide
Game Face
Listening To The Sky (Ryo solo piece as well)
Is This Love?
With Your Kiss
Wherever You Stand
Rearranged
Edge Of The In-Between (music by Meros, lyrics by Boegehold)
The Emperor's Clothes (old song by Neal, reworked by Al)
Kamikaze
From The Darkness
The Quiet House (music by Meros, lyrics by Boegehold)
Hiding Out
Submerged
Afterthoughts (Neal worked on this with Ted and Al)
Waiting For Me (Neal worked with Al on this one too)
Wish I Were Here
Minion
Hell's Not Enough
The Center Line
Considering that that covers 6 albums, 66 songs (with individual credits), and of those 66, 25 did not include music writing credits to John Boegehold or Stan Ausmus. So about 38% of the work they've made since Neal left has not included them, which doesn't seem as few as one might think, especially considering how many songs Boegehold has credits to (musically at least), which is 34. I tried to find more information on specific writing credits, but only on X do they make the distinction of who wrote the music and who wrote the lyrics.
To be fair, though, both John and Stan have also contributed some performances on the albums since Neal left, so it's not JUST writing music and/or lyrics for their songs. And the songs themselves are still very much in the vein of the Beard, but I think it helps that it's Ryo, Dave, and Al playing them.
-Marc.