HOUSE OF YES: LIVE FROM THE HOUSE OF BLUES (DVD)

When Rick Wakeman left YES (again!) in mid 1997 due to some health problems and some Management conflicts about a planned tour in the following months, the band, having worked with Billy Sherwood (as recording and mxing engineer) in some of the studio tracks and some of the mixing of the live tracks for the "Keys to Ascension" albums, and with a new management company and a new recording contract which demanded from them a new studio album "as soon as possible", they finally "forced" Billy Sherwood`s inclusion in the line-up, because he and Chris Squire have composed a lot of songs together for a planned duet album (which was released later under the "Conspiracy" title). Some of those songs were recorded and included in YES` 1997 studio album titled "Open Your Eyes", for which Sherwood played guitars and keyboards. Since Sherwood wasn`t a full time keyboard player, the band recruited (as a hired hand) Russian keyboard player Igor Khoroshev, being him recommended to Jon Anderson by one friend. Khoroshev appears on 3 tracks in the "Open Your Eyes" album, and he later played with them on tours. For the next album, "The Ladder" (1999) he was lsited as part of the line-up and also was included in the songwriting credits for the songs from that album. Of course, as a hired hand again, as YES were like expecting then Wakeman`s return (which happened until 2002, with him again leaving the band again for the planned 2008 tour).

Why I started this review with this? Well, because in this video is very clear that, at least for the Editor and the Director of this video, and maybe for the oldest members of the band too, the "stars of the show" are Anderson, Howe, Squire and White. Sherwood and Khoroshev seem to be treated just as hired hands (a bit strange since Sherwood was a real member of the band). The cameras most of the time are focused on Anderson, Howe, Squire and White, with few times focused on Sherwood, and less times on Khoroshev.This is one of the things that I don`t like from this video. One example of this is in the song "Awaken", in the keyboards solo section which includes a harp played by Anderson. The cameras are focused on Anderson most of the time, while Khoroshev is ignored most of the time despite that part of the song is clearly the part were the keyboards are the most important part of the song! Another thing is the sound mixing: Khoroshev`s keyboards and Sherwood`s guitar are mixed lower.

Sherwood`s role in the band was also not very clear, because his guitar parts are not very important, except in some songs from "The Ladder" album, which is clear that his guitar parts were important. His backing vocals are very good, sounding very well with Anderson`s and Squire`s vocals (Howe is silent in vocals most of the time). Khoroshev`s role was underrated, I think, because, in my opinion, he was one of the best keyboard players who played with the band, because he could play very well the songs which were originally played by different keyboard players in the old studio albums.

Before this video (and the 2 CD set form the same concert) were released, Sherwood left the band, and the band, later in th same year (2000), toured with Khoroshev in the "Masterworks" tour, after which he was fired due to "backstage bad behaviour".

In conclusion, I think that this video, while being recorded at a very good concert, is marred a bit by the Editing and the Direction, because Sherwood`s and Khoroshev`s roles are clearly underrated while the cameras are focused in the other members of the band while they should have been focused on Sherwood and Khoroshev while they played solo parts in their instruments. This video is very good in sound, and it is like a "Memory" of this now forgotten and underrated line-up of the band. I think that with Sherwood and Khoroshev the band could have played songs from the "Relayer" album which needed additional musicians.

One last comment: Anderson looks like being enjoying very much singing on stage with the band, and he also plays percussion and a bit on a keyboard while he is not singing. Squire and White look happy too. Howe looks "distant", concentrated in his own instruments without interacting very much with the other members of the band.