Music Monday (The Ladder, Side 2)

So after covering side one, and trying to sort through the whole John Lennon/Yoko Ono thing (whut?), it is time to move on to the second half of The Ladder.

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The Music

7) To Be Alive (Hep Yadda) - Another fantastically positive song. There are parts of this song and "It Will Be a Good Day" that sound like they have an Asian influence.

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8) Finally - When I first heard this song I immediately thought it sounded like Asia. It is fast paced for sure, but I never really cared for it. That is until the 3:27 mark and how it all finishes out. Beautiful.

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9) The Messenger - I could not find a video of the studio version so I picked this live performance from the House of Blues DVD. Jon explains that it is a tribute to Bob Marley.

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10) New Languages - This might be my favorite song on the whole album. It is based on a jam from the Open Your Eyes album sessions. It was obviously too good for that collection of crap.

The lyrics are great and Jon sings his ass off. The opening line "I speak from some sort of protection of learning, even tho' I make it up as I go on" always cracks me up because I have always accused Jon of just making up nonsensical lyrics through the years. And I love the chorus:

Is there something that I'm supposed to see

Is there something that I'm supposed to feel 

I'm with you

And I can't help but want to know

(Talk to me) 

Is there something that I'm supposed to teach 

(Speak to me)

Is there something that I'm supposed to find 

As I reach to the healing in each spoken word

The backing track from the guitar solo supposedly references the bass line to "Roundabout" from Fragile. Honestly, I just don't hear it.

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11) Nine Voices (Longwalker) - Ever notice how Yes like to end albums with small, sometimes acoustic songs (think Holy Lamb, or Let's Pretend)? They do it again here. Nice song with an African/aborigine feel to it. It is supposed to reference "Your Move" from the Yes Album and I kind of hear it in the intro a little bit, plus a "doot doot doot" backing vocal towards the end.

And yes, I did notice that the pic used for the video above is actually ABWH, but I'm okay with that.

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The Ladder reached #36 in the UK and #99 in the US during a chart stay of two weeks.

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