THE LADDER

Spotify

The next album began recording in Vancouver, Canada, with producer Bruce Fairbairn, who had just finished work with Aerosmith and had built up a good track record with Loverboy, AC/DC, Kiss, The Cranberries and Bon Jovi.

The hectic schedule of studio sessions continued throughout the months of April and May. These broke off abruptly, however, following the sudden death of Bruce Fairbairn in his sleep, aged 49, from natural causes. As a producer, Fairbairn had been an excellent motivator to YES, a straight talker who had drawn out the true essence of the YES sound. His untimely death was extremely sad, but, paradoxically, also acted as a powerful incentive for the band to forge ahead with some of the best music in their recent career. At Bruce’s memorial service held on 24 May in Vancouver, Jon and Steve performed ‘Nine Voices‘ from the forthcoming album, the finished album itself would be dedicated to Bruce’s memory.

Their millennial album, The Ladder, was released in September, just after the 30th anniversary of the release of their first album YES. Truly a band album, it was immediately embraced by the fans as a return to form. ‘After a year and a half touring, we went straight into the studios to start rehearsing, so we were already working as a complete band’ explains Jon. ‘That’s why we were able to make The Ladder more of a complete album because everybody had so much energy to perform together. It was a lot easier than putting together an album with Trevor Rabin, who would say, “this is what you’re playing, this is what you’re singing, this is the way I want it”, etc. For the first time in maybe twenty years, we were together as a group in order to make a proper album. You know, in the eighties, it was the producers and record companies controlling the finances. They would say that you have to do what the producer says, and then you’re given the money to make an album. For the last fifteen years, the band have been held together by accountants and record companies.’

The Ladder featured the instant classic ‘Homeworld‘, which combined the styles of classic 1970s YES and ‘Hearts‘ one of the more successful 1980s recordings. Other prominent tracks that found favour with the audience included ‘Lightning Strikes‘ which was released as a single, Bob Marley tribute ‘The Messenger‘ and ‘New Language‘, which, with its incorporation of all the traditional YES hallmarks, was the latterday equivalent to the classic ‘All Good People‘. Many miles away, stylistically speaking, from the unrepresentative Open Your Eyes, The Ladder sent interest in the band soaring and reached number 36 in the album charts.

The 1999 world tour began in September in Rio De Janeiro. The main focus of the stage set for the South American tour was a huge square YES logo, designed by Roger Dean, in the middle of a back-projection screen. The ‘carved rock’ design was once again placed on the front of Alan White’s drum riser, whilst Jon’s harp stood at the back of the stage awaiting its use in ‘Awaken‘. Cosmic symbols were prominent on stage, while a simple light show projected images around tented screens, creating an otherworldly atmosphere. As Jon elaborated, ‘We always have had excellent equipment and it’s looking good, but we don’t have finances like U2 who took the Zoo TV on the road, which was amazing.’

As Jon points out, nothing can ever be taken for granted in YES. ‘People working in groups can sometimes feel that they don’t want to be in the group anymore. Like Rick, saying “I don’t want to be in the band anymore, it’s frustrating;” eventually you say okay. You never know what’s going to happen, we are going on tour soon and you don’t know how life is going to be. I’m just so happy that we were able to make The Ladder because it completes a really good cycle, we have been on a 30-year cycle and we have got back to where we really should be musically.’

Excerpted from David Watkinson’s ‘Perpetual Change‘.

Click on the song title to view the lyrics.