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The Ladder
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.)
Producer(s)	Bruce Fairbairn
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link
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. The re-issue included in the 2006 box set Essentially Yes also includes this preview.

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.

All songs by Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Billy Sherwood, Chris Squire, Alan White and Igor Khoroshev. Lyrics by Jon Anderson.

1. "Homeworld (The Ladder)" – 9:32
2. "It Will Be a Good Day (The River)" – 4:54
3. "Lightning Strikes" – 4:35
4. "Can I?" – 1:32
   • The song references Anderson's 1971 composition "We Have Heaven" from Fragile
5. "Face to Face" – 5:02
   • The song references Lift Me Up from Union
6. "If Only You Knew" – 5:43
7. "To Be Alive (Hep Yadda)" – 5:07
8. "Finally" – 6:02
9. "The Messenger" – 5:13
   • A tribute to Bob Marley
10. "New Language" – 9:19
11. "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.

• Jon Anderson - vocals
• Chris Squire - bass, vocals
• Steve Howe - lead guitars, vocals
• Igor Khoroshev - keyboards
• Billy Sherwood - guitars, keyboards
• Alan White - drums

• 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 | Essentially Yes
Related Articles
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