THE LADDER

One of my favourite Yes albums. We have tunes again (after most of the late 80's and early 90's output where melody was, well, missing) and some proper songs. It's not all great but the two openers are, and over the piece it deserves 3.5 - 4 stars. I miss Wakeman from this one but at least we have Howe at his best and they sound happy playing together. I am disappointed at how quickly this material disappeared from the live set (as I recall we got nothing from the Ladder in either 2003 or 2005 - come on guys, show you believe in the music).