Yes The Ladder released

The Ladder Yes

Released: September 28, 1999 Peak: 99 US, 36 UK, -- CN, -- AU Sales (in millions): -- Genre: progressive rock

Tracks: Song Title [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Homeworld (The Ladder) [9:32] (1/3/99, --) It Will Be a Good Day (The River) [4:53] Lightning Strikes…She Ay (Do Wa Bap) [5:35] (1999, --) Can I? [1:31] Face to Face [5:02] If Only You Knew [5:42] (10/31/00, --) To Be Alive (Hep Yadda) [5:07] Finally [6:01] The Messenger [5:12] New Language [9:19] Nine Voices (Longwalker) [3:22] Lyrics by Anderson. Music by Anderson, Howe, Sherwood, Squire, White, and Khoroshev. Total Running Time: 60:26 The Players: Jon Anderson (vocals) Steve Howe (guitar, backing vocals, mandolin, banjo) Chris Squire (bass, backing vocals, harmonica) Alan White (drumers, percussion, backing vocals) Billy Sherwood (guitar, backing vocals) Igor Khoroshev (keyboards, backing vocals)

Rating: 2.964 out of 5.00 (average of 6 ratings)

About the Album: Yes’ 18th studio album featured the same lineup which recorded the poorly-received Open Your Eyes in 1997 and the group which hit the road for the band’s 30th anniversary tour. White reported that the band lived in different apartments in the same building during the recording and travelled to and from the studio together – something they hadn’t done since 1977’s Going for the One. WK Bruce Fairbairn was brought in to produce the album. He’d previously produced such albums as Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet and New Jersey as well as Aerosmith’s Permanent Vacation, Pump, and Get a Grip. He also worked with AC/DC, Blue Öyster Cult, Chicago, the Cranberries, INXS, Kiss, Loverboy, Poison, the Scorpions, and Van Halen. He died unexpectedly during the making of the album. Yes dedicated the album to him. Anderson and Howe performed Nine Voices (Longwalker) at his funeral. WK That song was based on a 1978 spiritual-led walk across the United States which was organized by the American Indian Movement to support tribal sovereignty. Anderson befriended a participant named Long Walker and wrote a song about the nine tribe members and the song they sing “to bring forgiveness in the world.” WK Homeworld (The Ladder) resulted from the band’s discussions with Sierra Games about licensing a track for their game Homeworld. The song, with Anderson’s lyrics inspired by the game’s themes of science fiction, space, and the search for a new home, was featured in the game’s end credits. WK All Music Guide’s Bret Adams called it a “tight performance” AMG while The Daily Vault’s Jason Warburg said the song showed how the group “can unquestionably still tackle the sprawling, multi-themed rock numbers that were once its bread and butter.” WK However, Warburg also said the band was struggling to define itself, but blended their 1970s progressive sound with their pop-oriented 1980s fare better than they had on Open Your Eyes. Adams agreed that “The Ladder is a synthesis of the best traits of the experimental Fragile era and the pop-oriented 90125 era.” AMG Adams considered Face to Face, in which “Squire lets loose with a sputtering bassline,” to be the strongest track. AMG Band biographer Chris Welch commended the track for “some of the most joyful playing heard on a Yes album in many moons.” WK Adams called New Language “the best long song… thanks to a clever arrangement giving all six members an opportunity to demonstrate their talents.” AMG He considered If Only You Knew, which Anderson wrote for his wife, “a sweet, straightforward love song” AMG and noted The Messenger “has a smooth, funky feel – a remarkable feat considering prog rock is usually considered the ‘whitest’ rock genre.” AMG The Ladder largely “received a warm reception from critics who saw the album as a return to creative form.” WK Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s Gene Stout called it a “bright, optimistic album” WK and the Daily Herald’s Rick Baert considered it a return to the band’s musical roots. Adams questioned the roles of Khoroshev and Sherwood. He said “it occasionally seems the purpose of Khoroshev’s keyboards is providing a variety of sonic textures instead of functioning as a lead instrument.” AMG He did acknowledge that Sherwood’s “second guitar tends to flesh out the sound.” AMG Both were gone after this album. While touring to support The Ladder, Khorshev was dismissed because of backstage sexual harassment. Sherwood left after the tour, but returned in 2015. Notes: The Japanese release included live performances of “I’ve Seen All Good People” and “And You and I.” The 2000 Limited Tour Edition included additional versions of “Homeworld,” “The Messenger,” and “All Good People.”

Resources and Related Links: AMG All Music Guide review by Bret Adams WK Wikipedia First posted 7/25/2021.

Yes Open Your Eyes released

Open Your Eyes Yes

Released: November 25, 1997 Peak: 151 US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Sales (in millions): -- Genre: progressive rock

Tracks: Song Title [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. New State of Mind [6:00] (single, --) Open Your Eyes [5:14] (9/22/97, 33 AR) Universal Garden [6:16] No Way We Can Lose [4:56] Fortune Seller [5:00] Man in the Moon [4:41] Wonderlove [6:06] From the Balcony [2:43] Love Shine [4:37] Somehow, Someday [4:47] The Solution [5:25] The Source [16:21] All songs written by Anderson, Howe, White, Squire, and Sherwood. Total Running Time: 72:06 The Players: Jon Anderson (vocals) Steve Howe (guitar, backing vocals, mandolin, banjo) Chris Squire (bass, backing vocals, harmonica) Alan White (drumers, percussion, backing vocals) Billy Sherwood (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, recording, mixing)

Rating: 1.885 out of 5.00 (average of 5 ratings)

About the Album: In 1996 and 1997, Yes released a pair of albums known as Keys to Ascension and Keys to Ascension 2. Both were double albums which included live material from 1996 along with new material. The lineup featured Anderson, Squire, Howe, White, and keyboardist Rick Wakeman. The albums were produced by Billy Sherwood. Sherwood met Chris Squire in 1989. The Yes lineup at that time featured Squire, Anderson, White, Tony Kaye, and Trevor Rabin. Anderson reunited with Yes bandmates’ Howe, Wakeman, and Bill Bruford while Rabin focused on solo work. Squire, White, and Kaye recruited Sherwood as a possible Yes member, but he was uneasy about replacing Anderson as a frontman. He did, however, contribute to Yes’ 1991 Union album and played guitar and keyboards on the band’s 1994 tour in support of Talk. Sherwood and Squire formed a strong writing partnership and toured as the Chris Squire Experiment in 1992. They were developing songs for an album to be called Chemistry when Sherwood was enlisted for Yes, becoming an official member in 1997 after Wakeman left the group. Two of the songs the pair had developed for that project, Open Your Eyes (originally called “I Wish I Knew”) and Man in the Moon, were re-worked for Yes. Sherwood then sent tapes of early versions of Wonderlove, Love Shine, New State of Mind, and Universal Garden to Anderson, who liked the songs, recorded vocals for them, and sent them back to Sherwood. White then recorded new drum tracks and, as Sherwood said, “all of a sudden it had that [Yes] flavor.” WK Howe, who came in toward the album’s completion, has said he and Anderson had little input on the songs, WK although they did contribute From the Balcony. While Sherwood served as the band’s primary keyboardist, the album also included work from Russian keyboardist Igor Khoroshev as a guest on a few songs. He was brought on board at the request of Anderson and Howe, who’d heard tapes of him. He then joined the band on their 30th anniversary 12-month world tour and became a full member after the tour. The album was poorly received, becoming one of their least successful commercially. Entertainment Weekly’s Chuck Eddy criticized Yes as “neither as self-indulgent nor as magnificent as they’re capable of being.” WK Stereogum was even harsher, saying it was “written at a child’s level of musical sophistication.” WK

Resources and Related Links: WK Wikipedia First posted 7/25/2021.