To me, Richie was pretty absent from What About Now anyway. I don't believe he was around for much of the sessions and when he was he was phoning it in. He had lost the passion for the band by this point and his stamp is missing from that whole album.

Classic Richie hasn't been heard on a BJ release for a long time anyways, so this sounds no different than the last few records. Compare it to Bounce, for instance, then Richie's absence is glaringly obvious...