"Again, this album isn't horrible, it's just average with very few splashes of excitement."
I think that is as fair an appraisal of the album as when I said pretty much the self same thing the day after it leaked.
It's always amusing to hear people claim those who are not fully on board with the Morrissey Of The Now are trying to relive/revive the Smiths, when they themselves hear Ringleaders and Refusal and inexplicably seem to want more.
Personally, I'd prefer the man who was a major creative force behind Hatful of Hollow, Meat Is Murder, The Queen Is Dead and Strangeways to capture some of that magic again rather that claim The Youngest Was The Most Loved should have been number one across the known universe.
I don't think the author is unfair on Tobias, if anything he is too fair on Morrissey. The lyrical content is distinctly average with few of those clever flourishes we associate with him. I suppose you could argue the music as supplied failed to pique Morrissey's muse sufficiently, but the buck still stops with Morrissey himself.
People have been saying Tobias should go for many years, but we are now reaching the point where his dismissal would be irrelevant, because Morrissey may now quite possibly have released his last album. Harvest will decide at some time in the next couple of months. The poor buggers must be wondering what the hell they got themselves into.