1999's The Ladder was seen as a conscious return to the ‘classic' Yes sound, while maintaining a contemporary edge. It is Igor Khoroshev's only outing as a full time member and the last with guitarist Billy Sherwood. Yes also decided to bring in the objective ears of producer Bruce Fairbairn here to give the music the benefit of an outsider's perspective. When the band decamped to Vancouver to record The Ladder, Khoroshev was brought on board as the group's official keyboardist while Sherwood joined Steve Howe on guitars. In an interesting twist many tracks on The Ladder make reference to songs from Yes' back-catalog. Although the sessions went successfully, with all involved very pleased with the end results, the project ended with Fairbairn's sudden death in May 1999. Fairbairn died just before the recording of the final vocals and mixing and Yes dedicated the album to their late producer upon its release. Highlights from the album include "The Ladder," "If You Only Knew" and "The Messenger."