Tweet

Album Details

• Artist: Yes
• Album: The Ladder
• Label: Beyond Records
• Year of Release: 1999
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: gwhill on 2012-12-06

When a band has a fanbase like Yes, it can be a real struggle sometimes. The balance between pop oriented material and the more purely progressive rock oriented side is often hard to reach. In order to achieve commercial success, artists must produce material that appeals to the masses and that generally means more concise and accessible music. Yet, long-time Yes fans are drawn to epic and complex pieces of music. That creates a real conflict.

The Ladder seemed a good middle ground. Two songs fit, by most definitions, into the category of epic, while several others had plenty of pure prog leaning characteristics. Yet, they included several tunes that had pop radio potential. Still, every thing seemed to merge nicely making one cohesive package. The lineup was basically the same as that on Open Your Eyes (Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Alan White, Billy Sherwood and Igor Khoroshev) with the difference being that Khoroshev was made an actual member of the band at that point.

Music on the disc seemed to touch upon different periods of the group’s career, and there are even nods to the Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe era. For instance, the opening epic has sections that call to mind that ABWH sound, while also seeming to channel The Yes Album, and Close to the Edge. Other segments of the disc seem to have echoes of Tales from Topographic Oceans, Tormato and Drama. The closing track, “9 Voices” is actually a reworking of the “Your Move” segment of the Yes classic “I've Seen All Good People” with all new lyrics.

All these elements seemed to make The Ladder a nice connection between the more modern (and often AOR oriented pop-like) sounds of the Rabin era and Open Your Eyes with the proggier side of the group. That made it a disc that was a grand compromise in many ways. It did suffer a bit in terms of promotion, though because it, like Open Your Eyes, had been released on the independent Beyond Records, limiting the visibility of the set outside the diehard fans circle.

User Reviews and Comments

Log In or Register to Rate Albums