Going to agree with Kieran here. HTDAAB sounds so stale and unnatural and overcooked in too many places.
I've always felt ATYCLB has an organic feel to it, where the songs, even if you think they're bland or whatever, at least don't feel like they've been gone over 5000 times. I believe that, regardless of how the final product strikes you, the band were coming at ATYCLB from an honest creative standpoint of, 'ok, we feel like we lost ourselves in technology and in concept during Pop, let's get back to basics and learn to just be a rock band and write songs again instead of going on sonic expeditions that rely too heavily on the studio', the whole four guys in a room thing.
I say this as a Pop lover. I think you can both love that record and also recognize that from their viewpoint, they may have felt like they were straying too far from what they originally were and needed to get their bearings again. So I think they were at a genuine crossroads and had real motivation that wasn't just commercial in nature(although of course the commercial, and critical, stuff, was a big part of it).
On the other hand, HTDAAB just felt like, 'well, ATYCLB and the Elevation Tour were more successful than we ever thought they would be, let's try to just ride that wave'.
HTDAAB is arguably the least artistically ambitious record they've ever put out. There are some good or even great tracks on it - Vertigo and COBL are obvious classics, AMAAW is a great song, Fast Cars is good, maybe I wouldn't mind listening to some of the other tracks if I was in the right mood, but the record as a whole is uninspiring.
Whereas with ATYCLB, I can listen to almost the whole thing straight through and never be bored...POE is the only one I might skip(and I also consider TGBHF feet to be a part of the album in spirit, even if not in actuality). It's a much warmer, more inviting, and less stale record, both in songwriting and in production. Lanois and Eno's production is warm and lush and provides space for both song and listener to breathe. Lillywhite's production on (most of) Bomb is like being punched in the ears. Lillywhite's production was good on the first three records, exactly what they needed, but it did a number on this record, and it still baffles me that he won a grammy for it.