Music Monday (The Ladder, Side 1)

The Ladder is the eighteenth studio album by progressive rock band Yes and was released in 1999. To me, it is the best album they have done in years.

The follow-up to 1997's tepidly-received Open Your Eyes (blah), The Ladder was seen as a conscious return to the classic Yes sound, while maintaining a contemporary edge. It is the only Yes album with keyboardist Igor Khoroshev as a full time member, the last with guitarist Billy Sherwood (yay?), and the only album of the band as a sextet.

Plus, Roger Dean ya'll:

Following guitarist/keyboardist Billy Sherwood's guidance of the last project, Yes decided to bring in an outside producer, Bruce Fairbairn, to give the music the benefit of objective ears (thank God!). By the time the band had decamped to Canada (?) to record the album, Igor Khoroshev had become the group's official keyboardist, with Sherwood relegated to guitar duties along with Steve Howe.

Although the sessions went off successfully, with all concerned very pleased with the end results, the project ended with Fairbairn's sudden death in May 1999. Fairbairn died, according to Chris Squire, just before the completion of final vocals and mixing on The Ladder. Yes subsequently dedicated the album to their late producer upon its September release.

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The Music

1) Homeworld (The Ladder) - Now this is the type of scifi, cutting edge type of song Yes should have been focused on for years. This song is just fantastic. The keyboards are everywhere and prominent, and the lyrics are cosmic and meaningful. No cheese here. It kicks ass and also references the working title for Talk, "History of the Future".

Concurrently with the release of the album, Yes licensed the use of this song to the Sierra Studios PC game "Homeworld", of which a digital preview was included on The Ladder. The track was played during the game's end credits.

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2) It Will Be A Good Day (The River) - Yes is always at their best when they are positive. I mean, it's the basis for their name for goodness sake. Another great, inspiring song.

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3) Lightning Strikes - Now here is a fun song. It almost has a "Teakbois", island-y sound to it.

The track  borrows the opening flute solo from The Kinks' song "Phenomenal Cat" (yes that opening is actually part of the song). Trying to reconnect with their past, it also references "The Revealing Science of God (Dance of the Dawn)" from Tales from Topographic Oceans and "Endless Dream" from Talk.

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4) Can I? - To me this is just a funky little rhythmic bridge between the last song and the next one. However there is no doubt that it  quotes Anderson's 1971 composition "We Have Heaven" from Fragile.

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5) Face to Face - Another positive song. Yay, I think they figured it out! You can hear the end of the previous track as it flows into the intro of this one. I always think of these three songs as one unit. This song references "Lift Me Up" from Onion Union.

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6) If Only You Knew - Now this is how you do a sentimental song without making it cheesy.

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This album also has a strange, whether intentional or not, connection to John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Umm, what? The story goes that Lennon first met Yoko at one of her art exhibits. He was about to leave because he was unimpressed with the exhibits, but one piece had a "ladder" with a spyglass at the top. When he climbed the ladder, Lennon felt a little foolish, but he looked through the spyglass and saw the word "YES" which he said meant he shouldn't walk out, as it was positive, whereas most concept art he encountered was "anti" everything. True story. Make your own theories.