For me OML was a bad album. Not because it has mellow pop songs (MTM anybody?), but because for the first time in their career the songs sounded generic and impersonal (despite the lyrics). Having to hire outside writers, the fact that after year and a half they had only finished 10/12 songs that in another era of the band, they would have been automatically dismissed on the early phases, makes me think the band had a creative block at that time, but after beating the bush for some time, they had to come up with something for Warner, which I suppose wasn't very happy with THP.
I know, this is just a wild guessing from my part but this is what this era sounds to me
PS: Although the tour was one of the best in many years, to be honest.