The Ladder [ENHANCED] [IMPORT]

Yes

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 4, 2004)
• Original Release Date: October 4, 2004
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced, Import
• Label: Beyond
• ASIN: B00001O2V8
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (251 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #91,439 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Thirty years and a dozen-plus personnel changes after it helped launch the English progressive rock movement, Yes bills The Ladder as a "return to form." The question is: Which form? Though opening with a sound wash and rhythmic sleight-of-hand that suggests Close to the Edge and Tales from Topographic Oceans, it soon becomes apparent that the reunited core of the band's early 70's prime (vocalist Jon Anderson, bassist Chris Squire, guitarist Steve Howe, drummer Alan White, augmented by Billy Sherwood and Igor Khoroshev on guitar and keyboard, respectively) has remembered a thing or two from Yes's metamorphosis into a pop hit-maker ("Owner of a Lonely Heart") in the 1980s without sacrificing their willingness to occasionally take their music effortlessly off the wall. (Economic adventure, if you will.) The band takes playful, virtuosic swipes at Afro-Cuban percussion, as well as jazz, funk, and classical, and even concocts an unlikely tribute to Bob Marley that sounds about as reggae-fied as, well, Yes. And if their utopian-counterculture lyrical bent remains unbowed, it now seems like a spit in the face of the overarching cynicism of the age. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Alive & Well in 1999, October 10, 1999

By A Customer

The Ladder is most certainly one of their most confident and natural sounding albums in quite some time. Is this a return to the days of Close To The Edge? No, this is Yes in the here and now of 1999. The core of the legendary band that has recorded some of the most amazingly powerful and uplifting rock albums of the 1970's is still here and playing some very inspired music.

It's unfair to hold a band to someting they did some 25 years ago and expect them to recapture that. New songs such as Homeworld, Face To Face, The Messenger, New Language do capture many of the wonderful qualities that the music of Yes is known for. Lightning Strikes is a atypical song for them but they play it with such a upbeat and fun spirit, that they make it a Yes song. Nine Voices is a wonderful acoustic song. If You Only Knew is a simple ballad for them but could be a hit for them on the adult contemporary charts. Overall, The Ladder is very much a Yes album. Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, Alan White, Igor Khoroshev & Billy Sherwood have succeeded in creating new and vibrant Yes music on the eve of the new millenium.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Time to get excited about Yes again, December 7, 1999

By	C Nelson (USA) - See all my reviews

It has been a long time since I have been hardly able to play any other CD for weeks. The Ladder is certainly the best work by Yes since Talk, and among the best work they have ever done. And no, I did not start out as an 80's Yes fan. I have been a fan for 30 years. They and Renaissance have always been my favorite bands. The Ladder has some of everything for everybody: the classic epics, the sweet ballads, the hard-edged stuff, the Asian-sounding chants, and, of course, the always amazing guitar playing of Steve Howe. I think it is this variety that has brought the most criticism of this CD. Most Yes fans want EITHER Close to the Edge OR 91025 OR Anderson's solo works. Relax. Open your mind. Be versatile, like Yes has become. Then you will know why a long-time devout progrocker (me), a lyric/melody lover of Fairport Convention (my wife), and a heavy metal lover (my son) all thoroughly enjoyed the tour and can't get enough of this CD.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant!, January 25, 2000

By A Customer

It is very telling that 95% of the reviews for "The Ladder" are ecstatic. This is a thrilling album & a return to form. For those confused by the last 4 Yes releases prior to "The Ladder" you MUST read Chris Welch's outstanding book on Yes "Close To The Edge", which explains it all, from 90125 to Union, the confusion-inducing Yes era.

"The Ladder" is truly brilliant. Billy Sherwood & Igor Khoroshev make this a fresh new sounding recording, although Sherwood has been with the band for a while now. The harmonies are really fantastic, Chris's bass playing is finally freed up & can actually be HEARD - so much like the Yes-Album/Fragile era, Steve Howe is all over every song with creative fills & inspiring solos & gobs of incrdible slide work - some breathtaking acoustic work also, reminding me of his acoustic work on the GTR album. Jon is in TOP form, singing soft & tough with heart & soul.

Yes is working hard to get their audience back and get back to doing what they do best - melodic exspansive music with technical flourishes i.e. "prog-rock". Even the short songs have multiple tempo and key changes.

So far faves are: Homeworld [10 mins long & for a Sci-Fi video game - how Prog can you possibly GET?] Can I?/Face To Face If Only You Knew [this is NOT AOR!] Finally [WOW! TFTO synths & guitars] The Messenger [shades of "And You & I!] New Language - best since "Mind Drive"!

If you love Yes run out & get this album.