I couldn't agree more with all of your points. It's rare I hear an album in a genre I enjoy and it has more than 2 or 3 songs I really like. At this point, who knows what Guns will do. If they want their NITL reheated CD singles included on an album with additional CD era songs and/or actual new stuff, they will at the very least need to remix and master the songs so they don't sound awful next to one another. An example is Perhaps being much quieter than the brick walled Hard Skool and The General. They need to utilize professionals for the mixing and mastering. The 2008 album was not perfect, but it did have a great master, and an OK mix. (Needed the bass guitars cranked though, IMO)
The quality of The General is actually so bad, it's distracting. I can hear the clipping, for those who can't or are not sure what it sounds like, it's like the snap cracker and pop of Rice Crispies, but a little sharper, and in this case during percussion.