The Ladder is the sixteenth album by progressive rock band Yes and was released in 1999. The follow-up to 1997's tepidly-received Open Your Eyes, The Ladder was seen as a conscious return to the classic Yes sound, while maintaining a contemporary edge. It is the first Yes album to feature Igor Khoroshev as an official member. Following guitarist/keyboardist Billy Sherwood's guidance of the last project, Yes decided to bring in an outside producer, Bruce Fairbairn, in order to give the music the benefit of objective ears. By the time the band had decamped to Vancouver, Canada to record The Ladder, Igor Khoroshev had become the group's official keyboardist, with Sherwood relegating guitar duties with Steve Howe. Although the sessions went off successfully - with all concerned very pleased with the end results, the project ended tragically with Fairbairn's surprising and premature death in May 1999, acc