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

This was the very first time I ever saw Yes. I was at a friend's home, spending the night, and this production was on television. I remember the flashy colors, the "white coats" (it turned out that was just Chris Squire), the strange musicianship, and none of the songs I knew from the radio. That's largely because this DVD is something of a promotion for their new album at the time, The Ladder. Squire is by far the most interesting person to watch- a blind man could see he was having a blast, full of energy, grins, and spins. I recommend this product to anybody who likes the song "Yours is No Disgrace," because I feel it is their best version of that song yet, by a long shot. The first track from the new album, "Homeworld: The Ladder" is a faithful rendition in almost every respect. "Lightning Strikes" is an even peppier version, and the other tracks are just as fun, if not at least as good as the studio versions. Surprisingly, The Yes Album could have been the featured album of the show also, since three of the six tracks are played here (noticeably absent is "Starship Trooper"). Steve Howe's guitar work throughout the program is exceptionally good, but nowhere better than on pieces like "Yours is No Disgrace" and "Perpetual Change." I was rather disappointed seeing "Time and a Word" and more disappointingly, "Ritual," as titles on the DVD, seeing as how neither of those great songs exist in full- both are paltry excepts, which admittedly work perfectly well in the context of the show, but this lover of both was utterly crestfallen. "Awaken" is as majestic as ever, and I felt the direction and filming during that song was at its peak, from the revelation of Squire's three-necked bass guitar, Howe's headless electric, and the confetti falling from some ethereal place. Alan White, as usual, shows what a consistent and powerful asset he is to Yes. "Cinema" makes an appearance on this DVD, serving as the introduction to the encore, which features two classic tracks from two different periods, "Owner of a Lonely Heart" and the obligatory "Roundabout." This is a show featuring my second favorite Yes keyboardist, Igor Khoroshev, so that is certainly a huge consolation. I do wonder why Billy Sherwood was playing so high up on the neck of an electric twelve string for much of the show, though.