Is it Richard playing the distorted (Les Paul?) guitar lines?
on the Begrade version you can see Richard switching a pedal for the solo, it explains the distorted sound
About the song in general, I find some good ideas, but I far prefer the studio version : the global sound fits more to the song imho
the live version goes too much "rock" while the studio version has a more "ambient" flavour so to say, and it gives me more the picture of the scene (snow, daybreak, etc..)