No, these songs are from the original Fly From Here sessions, before Horn and Downes came on board. Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman were both out of the band at the time (and did an album together somewhere in there), but they had Oliver Wakeman on keyboards. Both of Rick's sons play keys, and it's no surprise that they're both very good. So Wakeman on keyboards, and Benoit David on vocals. Trevor Horn was brought in to produce, and I'm not sure if it was before or after he became involved, but the next thing I heard was that they were revisiting some material originally from the Drama sessions, and by the way, Son of Wakeman is out and Geoff Downes is now playing keys on the next album. Um... okay.
I do like Fly From Here. I like Downes, and as I said Benoit's voice reminds me of Horn's in a way, so Fly From Here really is Drama II to me. Then they actually re-recorded the album with Horn on vocals, which I thought was kind of a slap in the face to Benoit. It truly was the Drama lineup again. But before any of that happened, they had written some stuff. I think it was an interview I read with Steve that mentioned it. So these four tracks are apparently from those sessions. Howe, Squire, White, Wakeman, and David*. I didn't know that there was recorded material; I didn't realize that they'd gotten that far.
Anyway, this is some good stuff. I've never actually heard anything by either of Rick's sons before, and that brief Moog solo was nice. Presumably they gave us this one to get people to fork out for all four. That's the draw to me, the entire live album is the "bonus" as far as I'm concerned. Too bad, too. I'd've probably forked out for a four-song EP. I still don't know if I'll get this whatever-you-call-it release. Oh yeah -- "Cash grab" -- that's what you call it. What some would call it, anyway.
* There's a new age pianist named David Benoit who's been around for a while. Then comes Benoit David, and I keep getting his first and last name mixed up. Then I realize it doesn't matter.