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I don't think a band should stagnate, but you can progress without making a toothless and unlistenable piece of sappy juvenilia like "Yoshimi," surely.
My main criticism of Spiritualized is that they in fact have not progressed, but have continued to simply make more and more diluted (or in a few cases, more and more overproduced) versions of a once-vital template. They were the best live band on earth from the beginning through Ladies and Gentlemen, but the stuff they have churned out since then has depressed me enough as a one-time ultrafan that I won't even go see them anymore because I want to keep my memories from the early and mid 90s undiluted by all the retreading. They are like looking at yet another damn picture of Chuck Close's head at this point to me, to make a visual art analogy.
Swans, Legendary Pink Dots, Haino....I could go on and on with artists who have been prolific over long periods and gone through many phases without succumbing to regurgitation or cutesy schtickiness to appeal to more people.
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