I'm actually glad you asked, because IMHO PF is an example of just about everything Yes is not:
- PF, at a pretty high point in their career financially speaking, had a SERIOUSLY public breakup and spat that continued for over a decade. Fans followed suit.
- About what, a bit over a decade ago? The members publicly reconciled at a Live 8 performance. Behind the scenes, they also clearly reached a better place, continuing to do small gestures back and forth (especially between Gilmour and Waters). There were even acknowledgements of shortcomings along the way.
- Since then...we've now found ourselves with three different bands featuring the core members of PF, each focused on a respective angle. All three are aware of each other and even support one another (again, not just lip service but actual guest appearances here and there). Said performances aren't being met with reviews amounting to "they just don't have it anymore" but rather indicate that all three do great justice to the material (for those shows I myself have witnessed, I think that is a true statement). Studio albums have been fewer but not invisible...and I'd easily argue that overall fan opinions of Rattle That Lock, Is This The Life or Endless River are nowhere near the level of negativity that a product like Heaven & Earth yielded.
- Now...some FANS continue to hold to the sides that came up during the rift. But they do so in contrast to the actions of the actual players.
If you want to deflect from the cluster that is Yes? Try throwing Ian Anderson under the bus...you probably could've used ELP who would still be bickering if the sad passing of 66% of the band didn't effectively end the spat.
I know they are your favorite band. And for a very, very long time I stayed pretty strongly as a fan (up through FFH and the first tour with Davidson) so I'm not some "Yes stopped being good after 1979" former fan long since off the boat. But no amount of thick-as-hell rose-tinted nostalgia lens can blur over the terrible mess with which they've chosen to end their career. It didn't have to be that way, and it is ALL on them.
IMHO.
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