THE WORD IS LIVE

• "Then" sounds much meaner without the orchestra, but not necessarily better than the Time and A Word vers"ion.
  
• "For Everyone" has only been released in their early BBC recordings cd, many of the pressings of which erroneously contain two disc ones.  As this was on disc two, I am hearing it for the first time. To my infinite surprise the middle section would be turned into Disillusion in Starship Trooper a year and a lineup change later.
• "Astral Traveller" was a minor classic of the Banks' era that I found slightly overrated, but here you can feel the excitement of the concert hall in this energetic warts and all rendition.
• On "Yours is No Discgrace" you feel like you are in your 10th row seat as you watch Bruford and Squire make floor shake and Kaye rock the organ like it was going out of style.  It is very very different from the version with Wakeman and White on Yessongs.
• This version of "All Good People" is perhaps the best I've ever heard, especially due to Bruford's hyperactive drumming and Kaye's increased organ presence.
• The live version of "America" is much less pristine and 4 minutes longer, but just as satisfying as the Yesterdays version.  The biggest difference is more raunchy and bar band feel Kaye's dirty organ gives the piece.
• The Moraz portion of the set is led off by a sinister "Apocalypse" shorn from the "And You and I" suite that struggles to be heard over the audience, not becuase it is a bootleg, but because the audience is so loud.
• "Siberian Khatru" gets the Relayer treatment, with a fender rhodes replacing the harpsichord and more up-front synths in the outro.
• "Soundchaser" speaks for itself as the most hyperactive and complex piece in Yes' repotoire, and here Moraz and Howe fly by the seat of their pants trying to outplay eachother.
• "Sweet Dreams" has sound quality of lesser quality than most of the other songs on the second disc, and is very loose and different than the original version.  Unfortunately, Anderson's vocals get a little off key towards the end.
• "Future Times/Rejoice" was my favorite song off of the underrated Tormato, and they pull off a great version here that should have been on Yesshows.
• "The Circus of Heaven" isn't that great, but it isn't as bad as some make it out to be.  Howe's guitar is as inventive as he ever was and Squire's bass pattern at the end is addictively sinister as to seem out of place.
• "The Big Medley" is worth the price of admission; 28 minutes of pure bliss.  An infinitely better version of Time and a Word segues with a fast and complex version of Long Distance Run Around where Wakeman rocks the synth rather than the pussy electric piano he used on Yessongs.  Then The Fish, The Ancient, and Survival mix and come in and out of focus until the band breaks into Perpetual Change with a vengeance.  Finally, the outro of the battle sequence and Soon are played, and you thank heaven once again for yes.
• "Hello Chicago" is a simple jam similar to the one before Ritual on Yesshows.
• The '78 version of Roundabout was as fast as raucus as this song got, before the band found it necessary to take off a couple of minutes or bastardize it into a blues shuffle (not bad on the Songs from Tsongas dvd, just not my cup of tea).
• The '78 rendition of "Heart of the Sunrise" was much more precise, yet less brutal than the one on Yessongs.  I prefer the Yessongs version due to pure shock value as you drive in a parking garage with the, to quote eminem, "windows down and the system up".
• I always thought "Awaken"'s gentle waves of sound were more suited for a studio environment, but this song does more than enough justice to the piece.
• "Go Through This" appeared as a bonus track on the remastered Drama, but here is much more with an actual vocal melody.  It strikes me as Yes' take on punk, but in the best possible way, with Squire's bassline pumping up Madison Square Garden and Horn's quick fire verses.
• "We Can Fly From Here" was written, but failed to appear on Drama.  It is more melodic in a Buggles sort of way than the other Drama songs, but also includes interesting instrumental interplay.
• "Tempus Fugit" is brilliant: ass-kicking tight concise prog.
• The last tracks are okay versions of okay songs from the Big Generator tour.  I loved the version of Rhythm of Love on Songs from Tsongas, but this one just seems flat.  I don't really appreciate the Rabin era that much, so I won't speak to sour those who do.  Lets just say that once I had "House of Yes," which has versions of Hearts and Cinema, I've never played 90125.

• South Side of the Sky with Moraz, when Gryphon was their supporting act.  Supposedly on the last couple dates of the tour, both bands jammed to this song as the encore.
• I know many love to hate Tales, but I would love any of the 4 sides of that, especially Remembering with Moraz, which was played only a couple times.
• To Be Over.  One of my favorite Yes songs, a pure angelic wall of sound, and I want to hear how the boys did it one stage.  I'd also like to hear the early versions of Awaken this lineup did.
  
• Arriving UFO, Release Release, or On the Silent Wings of Freedom, the first two of which weren't played much due to their difficulty of pulling off live, but they all supposedly sounded FANTASTIC and better than their studio counterparts.
• Anything else from the Drama shows:  I for one loved Drama, and anything to help yes fans re-assess this hidden gem is fine by me.

You know whats nuts? i found a Yes bootleg, and the sound quality is FAR superior to Yessongs.

i need to check out this boxset though.

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10596& amp;PN=4