Stewie, I guess we're just gonna have to differ, and judging from the video, I would say MM judges the situation similar to me. 7 years and 3 albums is an eternity for a band. There's only so many chances in life, and JR is 60 already.
BTW, different tack: I was riding the train earlier and listened to older MM material. Is there any album that he/we view as where he would have had full creative reign? My best guess would be Mullmuzzler, but even there I felt he played very "practical".