I always thought the THREE SIDES LIVE version was really inferior. Phil ruins it by changing words ("all the children cried") and by how he sings some parts ("and the sleep, and the o-o-o-odds"). And it's just not the same without the multiple voices on the chorus.
Yes! That "all the children cried" thing always bugged me. A disproportionate reaction I'm sure, but there it is. I also agree that the multi-tracked voices add so much to the original, as does the overall production. It has an almost other-worldly feel to it that they couldn't hope to recreate on stage, and of course, they didn't. Maybe that was one reason they dropped it quite quickly.