I’ve never been able to care about Fred outside of TBS. If the best album you worked on is WYWTB, though, then you’re doing pretty well.
I remember following the Fred replacement rumors pretty intensely. For a while there it really seems like Andrew Jackson was a sure thing. Fazzi ending up as the guy was pretty surprising at the time. Jackson's sound felt like more of a natural fit than him. Like it or hate it, New Again saw the band experiment with some interesting new sounds. I'm still super curious to see where they ended up going next with him.
I'm not calling it experimental in the sense that the band was breaking new musical ground for the genre, but it absolutely experiments with the band's sound. There's an overall groove to it that's pushed to the surface. I think that comes from Fazzi and Rubano being more in sync and on the same page than the rest of the band. On top of that, while the band has had harder songs like The Union and Spin, this one has more aggression and pace to it. Songs like Sink Into Me and Cut Me Up Jenny have a power pop influence that is not present on any of the previous records. Both have these plucky riffs to them that aren't as fluid or stripped down as what you'd find on the first three. Then there's a song like Carpathia which is built in a similar vein, but way more aggressive. Plus those vocal harmonies and that soft, moody bridge would absolutely not have been in the band's wheelhouse before Fazzi. And while it didn't make the record, you can't tell me Winter Passing is something that could have been on TAYF, WYWTB, or LN.
Talking about a musician's influence on a band is not the same thing as giving them uncritical praise. Neither is saying I would have been curious to hear what direction the band went in with him. I'm not saying everything he did on the album worked or even meshed well. Hell, I mentioned Cut Me Up Jenny in there which I find to be unlistenable (though, I think Adam might have written the main riff for that one). But it's undeniable that his style influenced the band's sound.
I don't have a personal concrete ranking of every TBS album, but I do feel very strongly that WYWTB is the top and self-titled is the bottom. Any ranking moving either of those too far from their respective extremes just feels off to me.