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

Surely not Yes' best DVD but hey, these are still Yes, with the good production they have got us used to in their 21st century DVDs and with tracks like Awaken, And You And I, Perpetual Change etc I can not give this less than 4 stars.

Actually what for some may be the weak point of this DVD is the interesting point for me: the line-up and track list. We have already many Yes videos with the classic line-up and classic tracks again and again, and here we have the chance to see them during their short period with Igor Khoroshev at the keys and Billy Sherwood as backing guitar in the tour promoting The Ladder, so we get to see a different line-up and some different songs. While neither the new members nor the new tracks are terrific, they mean some novelty compared to other videos where we just see the same we have already seen before. Incidentally I saw this tour in Barcelona, Spain so the DVD is always a nice way of refreshing those memories.

Yours Is No Disgrace is always a great track to kick the show off, Jon supports with some percussions and simple keyboards. Chris looked funny with his huge presence, wearing white bermuda pants, boots and a white coat, but he seems to have genuine fun. Igor wears a cheap-looking white jacket and plays in a cold clinical way, for sure he did not have the charisma required for this band, but technically he met all the requirements, if you close your eyes you will not miss Rick.

Jon's voice is a bit rough in this show and he presents us with his typical love and peace talking and gestures but he seems to be in good mood too. Alan as usual having a good time at the drums. Steve is the one who looks a bit more detached from the show, concentrating on his guitar playing which is great as usual. Billy Sherwood is always like in the background, his guitar (for a big part a 12-string electric) is low in the mix but he gives a helping hand mostly in tracks where Howe plays acoustic or nylon such as Lightning Stikes or the reggae-influenced The Messenger. The camera edit clearly says that Igor and Billy were considered as 'hired musicians', they get much less exposure than the long time members.

Time And A Word and Nous Sommes Du Solei are not the actual songs, just a few bars of vocals, too bad.

Among the tracks from The Ladder, Homeworld was really good, with a calm ending section reminding of ABWH, and It Will Be A Good Day is a good crossover song too, but Lightning Strikes, The Messenger (with some reggae parts inspired by Bob Marley) and Face To Face were rather weak.

The highlight is undoubtedly Awaken where Igor shows that he could play (but not act) as good as Wakeman, and other great classics such as Perpetual Change, And You And I and I've Seen All Good People make up for a good show.

For the encore they play Cinema without Howe, Sherwood takes the lead but in my opinion he lacks the style of Rabin in his best days, the version in 9012 Live is better, and then already with Howe back they play Owner Of A Lonely Heart although as usual you can feel that Steve does not like playing this song even if he plays a second solo after the main one is played by Sherwood. The show ends with Roundabout where as curiosity we see Igor contributing some percussion with his left hand in the chorus section while playing the keys with his right hand, I don't remember Rick doing that.

A bit of a mixed bag but for once it allows you to see a different face of Yes.