The Fire Inside, as we know it, is as far as I remember basically a "notebook" kinda demo from JBJ with minimal overdubs. To say that "see, this song he just wrote to get stuff from off of his chest sounds just like the labored over songs on the albums!" - yes, that's how creativity works sometimes. The performance itself is noticeable different, though - but not neccessarily in terms of quality (see The Fire Inside example above). Depends on the type of song. If I Was Your Mother would sound quite different played on an accoustic guitar.

The album getting postponed might turn out to be a good thing. Things track has gotten better reception than pretty much everything else released from the record so far. Jon trying less to make a bold statement and more just writing about what's on his mind, immediately and without too much time to overthink, might be a good thing.