The Ladder (album)

In October 1998, the Yes line-up of vocalist Jon Anderson, bassist Chris Squire, guitarist Steve Howe, drummer Alan White, guitarist Billy Sherwood, and keyboardist Igor Khoroshev (brought in as a side musician for the tour), wrapped their 12-month world tour in support of their seventeenth studio album, Open Your Eyes (1997). For their next move the group felt the time was right to record a new studio album. In November 1998, Squire confirmed to the press that they agreed to work with Canadian producer and musician Bruce Fairbairn, who was recommended by their management The Left Bank Organization as they had worked with him on other projects. The band had produced Open Your Eyes themselves, but wished for an outside producer to give the music objective ears and aid in its direction. During their stop in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada during the Open Your Eyes tour in mid-1998, they visited Fairbairn; Howe said: "We all took to him amazingly well. We prayed that he would say 'yes' to the idea of working with us". Fairbairn, a fan of the band and aware of their musical talents and capabilities, agreed to work with them. Howe recalled in his memoirs that the experience went as well as expected. Fairbairn both nurtured and challenged the band, giving individual members his full attention when they were overdubbing parts and providing direction to them as a group. At the same time he was an unforgiving critic of Anderson's lyrics, sometimes striking them out and telling the singer to come back the next day with new ones. "He was simply marvellous to work with", Howe wrote. "He knew exactly how to make records but had to remind us how to." Later in November 1998, Yes returned to Vancouver to write, rehearse, and prepare demos of their new material in Sanctuary Studios, which lasted until February 1999. As they had performed the final gigs of the Open Your Eyes tour in Japan, they organised to have their equipment shipped to Vancouver to perform. By this time, Khoroshev became a full-time member. The Ladder saw Yes write an album collectively for the first time in a while; one of the conditions they agreed upon was that if a member contributed a song of theirs, the band would not use it. Sections of songs were then brought in and combined with another, particularly if they were not complete to allow them to be worked on further. Fairbairn attended the rehearsals for two weeks, something that Howe had never seen before as previous producers he had worked with could never be bothered. Having produced a demo of some songs, Fairbairn picked eight of the strongest tracks for the band to work on. ==Recording==

The Ladder was recorded from February–May 1999 at Armoury Studios in Kitsilano, a western neighbourhood of Vancouver. Fairbairn is credited as the producer and Mike Plotnikoff the engineer and mixer. Select tambourine and shaker parts were completed by Sherwood as White was absent from the studio due to a minor illness. There were certain tracks where Sherwood nailed the overdub in one take. The album also features contributions from multi-instrumentalist Randy Raine-Reusch, who, along with Anderson, contributed much of the ethnic instrumentation present throughout the album. After returning from a conference in Cairo, Egypt, Raine-Reusch was asked to meet with White and Anderson and selected some world instruments to flesh out certain songs. The instruments were then transported by Raine-Reusch to the band's recording studio. Raine-Reusch ended up playing a zheng on "To Be Alive", a didgeridoo on "Can I", a tamboura on "Nine Voices", and a finger cymbal known as a Ching, as well as other effects such as a bullroarer throughout the album. His passing was a shock to everyone involved and ended tentative discussions to work with the band again on future projects. After Yes took a short break, they regrouped and completed the production and mixing duties with Plotnikoff. The Ladder was then mastered at Sterling Sound Studios in New York City in May 1999. At Fairbairn's funeral service held on 24 May, Anderson and Howe performed an acoustic version of "Nine Voices (Longwalker)", a song that Anderson recalled touched Fairbairn personally and was a favourite of his. Yes subsequently dedicated The Ladder to Fairbairn. ==Songs==

. "Homeworld (The Ladder)", originally titled "Climbing the Ladder", is the result of the band's discussions with video game developer Relic Entertainment and publisher Sierra Games, who expressed an interest for Yes to license a track for their 1999 real-time strategy PC game Homeworld. The group agreed to have the track featured in the game's ending credits, which features Anderson writing lyrics inspired by its themes of science-fiction, space, and the search for a new home. According to Anderson, the track was close to being taken off the album as the band had written a collection of arrangements but struggled to fit them together prior to working on them to fit into a song. "It Will Be a Good Day (The River)" features Howe playing a Japanese koto. The opening to "Lightning Strikes" features the same Mellotron flute sample as "Phenomenal Cat" by The Kinks. White had been experimenting with more unusual jazz and African-inspired rhythms when playing in his studio and played them to Anderson, who then adapted some his chords and a melody he had written to fit it. ==Artwork==

The Ladder features artwork by the band's longtime sleeve designer, artist Roger Dean. ==Release and reception==

The Ladder was released on vinyl and CD in September 1999 by Eagle Records in the UK and by Beyond Music in the US. It was a greater commercial success than Open Your Eyes in both countries after the latter had failed to enter the UK Albums Chart. For its one-week presence on the UK chart, the album reached No. 36 for the week of 2 October 1999. In the US, the album peaked at No. 99 on the Billboard 200 chart during its two-week stay in the same month. The album included a digital preview of the game Homeworld which was also included when The Ladder was reissued for the Yes album compilation box set, Essentially Yes (2006). In October 1999, Jason Warburg reviewed the album in for The Daily Vault, giving it a "C+" rating. He recognised the band were looking back at its 1970s output yet looking forward to create a "new definition of 'The Yes Sound'" which he welcomed, particularly with "Homeworld (The Ladder)", an example of how the group "can unquestionably still tackle the sprawling, multi-themed rock numbers that were once its bread and butter". However, Warburg thought Yes continues to struggle to "define itself" yet blended its progressive 1970s and pop-oriented 1980s sound better on The Ladder than Open Your Eyes, and Anderson's "New Age blather" and "airy optimism" in his lyrics hurts the music at times. In the Daily Herald in the Chicago area printed a positive review by Rick Baert. He gave the album four stars out of five, and also welcomed the band's return to elements of their musical roots which he said were missing from Talk (1994) and Open Your Eyes, noting the opening track as "traditional Yes". "It Will Be a Good Day" reminded Baert of "The Revealing Science of God" from Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973) and "The Messenger" of Fragile, and noted "If Only You Knew" as a rare "believable love song" by the band that comes off as authentic. In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Bret Adams gave the album three stars out of five. He praised Fairbairn's choice of not overproducing the album which he felt Fairbairn had done on previous albums by Kiss and Aerosmith. Anderson, Howe, and Squire, Adams thought, had "fine moments" and noted White's drumming "consistent". He thought "Homeworld (The Ladder)" was a "tight performance" and noted the "supple vocals/acoustic guitar/piano coda" as its strongest section, but rated "Face to Face" as the album's strongest track and "New Language" the album's best long form song. Longtime supporter of the band and biographer Chris Welch praised Fairbairn's "sensitive, disciplined" production and Plotnikoff's engineering gave a "cohesion, clarity, structure and a strong live feel to the album". He thought each song had its own unique identity yet "seemed linked to a common cause", and pointed out that the band's sparing use of instrumental power enhanced the music. Welch highlighted "Face to Face", a track he felt "had some of the most joyful playing heard on a Yes album in many moons". ==Tour and aftermath==

A four-month tour of the Americas to support the album began in Rio de Janeiro on 6 September, two weeks before its release, followed by a two-month tour of Europe in 2000 that ended on 25 March in Bucharest, after which Billy Sherwood left the band. ==Track listing==

All music by Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Billy Sherwood, Chris Squire, Alan White and Igor Khoroshev, except where noted. All lyrics by Anderson. ==Personnel==

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes. Yes • Jon Anderson – lead vocals • Steve Howe – lead and acoustic guitars, pedal steel guitars, mandolin, vocals • Billy Sherwood – guitars, vocals • Chris Squire – bass guitar, vocals • Igor Khoroshev – keyboards, vocals • Alan White – drums, percussion, vocals Additional musicians • Randy Raine-Reusch – tanbur, guzheng, ching cymbals, bullroarer, didjeridoo, percussion • Rhys Fulber – dance loops • The Marguerita Horns – horns on "Lightning Strikes" • Tom Keenlyside – piccolo, tenor saxophone • Derry Burns – trumpet • Rod Murray – trombone • Tom Colclough – alto saxophone • Neil Nicholson – tuba Production • Bruce Fairbairn – producer • Mike Plotnikoff – engineer, mixing • Paul Silveira – assistant engineer • Steeve Hennessy – guitars and keyboards technical support • Drew Arnott – keyboard technical support • Chin Injeti – keyboard technical support • Chris Crippen – drums technical support • George Marino – mastering (at Sterling Sound Studios, New York, June 1999) • Roger Dean – painting, logo and lettering • Martyn Dean – design ==Charts==