Interesting comments here. The producer obviously does make a fair difference but I don't think as much as some people are giving him credit for.
I think it's mainly that the musical compositions for these new songs are a lot better than we've come to expect.
Morrissey's sung tons of duff songs in the last 10 years with rubbish melodies and dull music e.g. Father must be killed, On the streets I ran, Sorry doesn't help, How does anyone know how I feel, People are the same everywhere, You have killed me etc. I simply don't think a producer could come along and turn this stuff into sparkling gems.