The Ladder
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Ladder | ||
 |
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| Studio album by Yes | ||
| Released | 20 September 1999 | |
| Recorded | February - May 1999 | |
| Genre | Progressive rock | |
| Length | 60:22 | |
| Label | Eagle Records (U.K.) Beyond Music (U.S.) |
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| Producer(s) | Bruce Fairbairn | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| Yes chronology | ||
| Open Your Eyes (1997) |
The Ladder (1999) |
House of Yes: Live from House of Blues (2000) |
The Ladder is an album by progressive rock band Yes and was released in 1999. The follow-up to 1997's tepidly-received Open Your Eyes, The Ladder was seen as a conscious return to the classic Yes sound, while maintaining a contemporary edge. It is the first Yes album to feature Igor Khoroshev as an official member.
Following guitarist/keyboardist Billy Sherwood's guidance of the last project, Yes decided to bring in an outside producer, Bruce Fairbairn, in order to give the music the benefit of objective ears. By the time the band had decamped to Vancouver, Canada to record The Ladder, Igor Khoroshev had become the group's official keyboardist, with Sherwood relegating guitar duties with Steve Howe.
Although the sessions went off successfully - with all concerned very pleased with the end results, the project ended tragically with Fairbairn's surprising and premature death in May 1999, according to Chris Squire, just before a few final vocals and mixing on The Ladder had been completed. Yes would subsequently dedicate the album to their late producer upon its September release.
Concurrently with the release of the album, Yes licensed the use of "Homeworld (The Ladder)" with the Sierra Studios PC game "Homeworld", of which a digital preview was included with The Ladder.
Hyped as a "return to form", The Ladder generally pleased most of its listeners and longtime Yes fans, performing slightly better than Open Your Eyes by reaching #36 in the UK and #99 in the US.
[edit] Track listing
All songs by Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Billy Sherwood, Chris Squire, Alan White and Igor Khoroshev. Lyrics by Jon Anderson.
- "Homeworld (The Ladder)" – 9:32
- "It Will Be a Good Day (The River)" – 4:54
- "Lightning Strikes" – 4:35
- "Can I?" – 1:32
- The song references Anderson's 1971 composition "We Have Heaven" from Fragile
- "Face to Face" – 5:02
- "If Only You Knew" – 5:43
- "To Be Alive (Hep Yadda)" – 5:07
- "Finally" – 6:02
- "The Messenger" – 5:13
- A tribute to Bob Marley
- "New Language" – 9:19
- "Nine Voices (Longwalker)" – 3:21
The Ladder (Eagle EAGCD088) reached #36 in the UK. It also reached #99 in the US during a chart stay of 2 weeks.
[edit] Personnel
- Jon Anderson - vocals
- Chris Squire - bass, vocals
- Steve Howe - lead guitars, vocals
- Igor Khoroshev - keyboards
- Billy Sherwood - guitars, keyboards
- Alan White - drums
[edit] Sources
- AllMusicGuide.com
- "Top Pop Albums 1955-2001", Joel Whitburn, c. 2002
| Yes |
|---|
| Jon Anderson | Chris Squire | Steve Howe | Rick Wakeman | Alan White |
| Peter Banks | Tony Kaye | Bill Bruford | Patrick Moraz | Geoff Downes | Trevor Horn | Trevor Rabin | Billy Sherwood | Igor Khoroshev |
| Discography |
| Studio albums: Yes | Time and a Word | The Yes Album | Fragile | Close to the Edge | Tales from Topographic Oceans | Relayer | Going for the One | Tormato | Drama | 90125 | Big Generator | Union | Talk | Open Your Eyes | The Ladder | Magnification |
| Live albums: Yessongs | Yesshows | 9012Live: The Solos | Keys to Ascension | Keys to Ascension 2 | House of Yes: Live from House of Blues |
| Compilations: Yesterdays | Classic Yes | Yesstory | The Ultimate Yes: 35th Anniversary Collection |
| Remix albums: Yes Remixes |
| Box sets: Yesyears | In a Word: Yes (1969 - ) | The Word is Live |
