Terry pretty much confirms OES was a contractual obligation album thrown together by MK out of necessity - which is exactly what it sounds like.
100% agree
When OES was released, my DS fan friends hated it as "not real DS".
As for me, I was so blown away by the masterpieces on the album (the addictive tittle track, the haunting PONO, the very moving Iron Hand, the erotic YAYF) that I could easily forgive the mistakes (the commercial Heavy Fuel, the too much country orientated songs).
As for the tour, I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, it was my first time seeing DS live, so I have found memories. Also Mark's guitar playing was the best ever. On the other hand, Mark's bad mood, the lack of keyboards compared to the BIA tour (yes, I love keynoards !) and the overall "over commercialized" feeling put me off. Can't decide whether it was the best or the worst of tours. Probably both. Telegraph road is a good example: most impressive end solo, but that seems like a show off exercise showing no respect for the song: too rushed, no intro, no emotion, obscene amount of pedal steel.
The OES album and tour are a big paradox to me. A mixture of very best and very worst.