Was Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe a Failure?

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   ABWH introduced me to classic Yes, so to me its not a failure. I only knew of Yes via MTV/90125 like most teens.  I was just learning about prog in the late 80s starting with the big Pink Floyd revival, so ABWH was a great gateway to classic Yes.  I had also just discovered King Crimson at the same time as ABWH, so to have the 80's KC rhythm section (which included the original Yes drummer who actually played on those classic tracks) was icing on the cake. And if Squire was replaced by someone, it was with one of my favorite bass players!  And for ABWH to actually tour arenas and amphitheaters without the Yes name is remarkable and showed the desire people had for the classic era, and perhaps prog in general.
I thought the ABWH album was fine for its time, despite catching flak from friends at the time for liking it (and Yes).  I don't hate Teakbois, but it should have been replaced with "Vultures in the City", and I enjoyed it as one of the few new prog rock albums at that time.   I remember the parody track by punk band The Dead Milkman saying "we want a real Yes reunion, no more Anderson Walkman Buttholes and How!"  Be careful what you wish for...
Even Union was enjoyable to me, both the show and the album (flawed as it is, it still had interesting and even spacey ambient parts).  But we didn't know that Union was to be the end of an era.  I bailed on Yes when the Talk lineup was announced, and followed Bruford to the new KC era of Thrak while scooping up the early Yes catalog, ending with Drama for me personally.