THE LADDER

The good news about The Ladder is that it sounds great. Thanks to Billy Sherwood, the sound was excellent on their 1997 albums, Keys to Ascension 2 and Open Your Eyes - - but the sound quality and mixing on The Ladder may actually be better. (Please note that when I refer to Keys to Ascension 2 here, I am strictly referring to the studio CD.)

More good news: the performances are also great, in particular, those of guitarist Steve Howe and keyboardist Igor Khoroshev. Lead vocalist Jon Anderson is excellent. Again, these were true of Keys 2 and Open Your Eyes.

The bad news: the material does not meet what I consider to be Yes standards. While the composition on Keys 2 was easily their best of the 1990s, and the composition on Open Your Eyes was about average for Yes, most of the songs on The Ladder seem to be attempts to assure the listener that this is indeed a Yes album. For the most part, this album could have been titled Yes Plays it Safe.

Released in 1997, two years before The Ladder, Open Your Eyes received relentless criticism from a sizable faction of Yes fans. The problem? In a nutshell, not enough Anderson.

A majority of Yes fans had been elated in 1995 to hear that Trevor Rabin had been ousted from the band. Rabin was a big part of Yes's improbable comeback in 1983, which included a #1 Billboard pop song and 90125, Yes's biggest-selling album ever. But once Yes failed to replicate that success, the fan base restabilized; once again, a majority of Yes fans were fans of 1970s Yes, which was largely defined by Anderson's leadership. After Rabin's influence over the band's 1994 album Talk clearly eclipsed Anderson's, a core of fans began a campaign to convince the band to return to its 1970s sound. So Rabin was out. Plus, fan favorites Howe and keyboardist Rick Wakeman were back.

Another 1990s subplot involves Billy Sherwood, an associate of Yes bassist Chris Squire. Sherwood first appeared with Yes in 1991 on a song on Union, and on a studio outtake which appeared later that year on Yesyears. In 1994 he was a backup singer and instrumentalist on the Talk tour. In 1997 he was brought in as a producer of Keys 2.

In mid-1997, Wakeman left the band, and Sherwood joined as an "official" member. He was heavily involved in the composition and production of Open Your Eyes, which was released just three weeks after Keys 2. Open Your Eyes featured a new sound for the band. To begin with, since Howe was not as involved as the rest of the band, his trademark guitar sound was missing from many songs. Secondly, with Wakeman gone, the keyboards on many of the songs were used for backing parts only. And most notably, Sherwood sings a significant portion of the backing vocals on Open Your Eyes. To summarize: Keys 2, with Anderson, Howe, and Wakeman, was on the market for less than a month before it was replaced as the band's current release by Open Your Eyes, with less Anderson, much less Howe, no Wakeman - - and in the eyes of many, with Sherwood filling the role recently relinquished by Rabin.

To the band's credit, they didn't deep-six Sherwood. But for their next album, The Ladder, he would be much less visible - - or, more precisely, much less audible. To further reinforce the idea that Yes hadn't forgotten its 1970s roots, artist Roger Dean was hired to paint the cover, as he had done for so many of the band's albums - - but, conspicuously, not Open Your Eyes. Khoroshev, who could emulate Wakeman's sound almost perfectly, was taken on as a member. And more importantly, many of the compositions make blatant reference to early-70s Yes songs. It seems as if this songwriting goal restricted the band's compositional creativity.

There are exceptions, and not all are admirable. Most notable is the reggae song "The Messenger." Yes doing a reggae song, inflected vocals and all, might sound like a bad idea, but in practice, it's actually a terrible idea. What makes it much worse is that while "The Messenger" is not an overt Yes-sounding song, the band had tried nearly the same thing in 1991 with "Saving My Heart." That song - - really a Rabin solo song - - was almost as embarrassing as "The Messenger."

There are also two strong songs on The Ladder. "Homeworld" definitely sounds like Yes - - but not necessarily 1970s Yes. It would've fit perfectly on Keys 2, where it would've complimented "Mind Drive." In my opinion, "If Only You Knew" is the strongest song here. It's an adult-contemporary pop ballad that definitely does not sound like Yes, nor would it be mistaken for "progressive rock" if not for Anderson's and Squire's vocals. Although the official writing credits indicate that every song was written by every then-current member of Yes, it's been suggested that the music to this song, unique in the Yes catalogue, was written by Khoroshev. In any event, Khoroshev would not have the chance to contribute to future Yes projects, as he was fired following credible charges of sexual assault.

But overall, much of The Ladder sounds like a solid Jon Anderson solo album with significant contributions from Howe and Squire. That's not the worst thing I can say about an album, but given the cast of the production and the quality of their 1997 works, I expected more. The Ladder merits two stars.