Yes - The Ladder (1999) [Full Album]

The Ladder is the eighteenth studio album by the English progressive rock band Yes, released in September 1999 on Eagle Records. It is their only studio album recorded with six full time members and their last with keyboardist Igor Khoroshev and with guitarist Billy Sherwood for 22 years.

The band met with Canadian producer Bruce Fairbairn in 1998 while touring their previous album Open Your Eyes (1997), who agreed to produce their next studio album at Armoury Studios in Vancouver. They spent four months producing a demo tape of new songs, which saw the group work collectively on the music for the first time in a while. The album features a variety of world instruments performed by Randy Raine-Reusch. Fairbairn died from a sudden heart attack during the final recording and mixing sessions, after which Yes dedicated The Ladder to him.

The Ladder received a warm reception from critics who saw the album as a return to creative form. It reached a peak of No. 36 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 99 on the US Billboard 200. Three singles were released: "Homeworld (The Ladder)", "Lightning Strikes", and "If Only You Knew"; the former was used in the 1999 real-time strategy PC game Homeworld. After touring the album worldwide in 1999 and 2000, Sherwood left the band.

Tracklist:
1. Homeworld (The Ladder) 0:00
2. It Will Be a Good Day (The River) 9:31
3. Lightning Strikes 14:26
4. Can I? 19:01
5. Face to Face 20:36
6. If Only You Knew 25:34
7. To Be Alive (Hep Yadda) 31:17
8. Finally 36:24
9. The Messenger 42:25
10. New Language 47:39
11. Nine Voices (Longwalker) 56:58

Yes
Jon Anderson – lead vocals, rainstick, percussions
Steve Howe – acoustic, electric, pedal steel guitars, mandolin, koto, backing vocals
Billy Sherwood – electric guitars, backing vocals, tambourines and shakers
Chris Squire – bass guitar, backing vocals
Igor Khoroshev – piano, Hammond B-3 organ, Mellotron, synthesizers, backing vocal
Alan White – drums, percussion, backing vocals

Additional musicians
Randy Raine-Reusch – tanbur, guzheng, ching cymbals, bullroarer, didjeridoo, percussions
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

+++ Description, Tracklist and Timecodes by Alex4Rock +++