YANNI anyone??

[Ham Radio Nut]

I know people 'rag on' Yanni hugely, BUT I was listening to his release titled 'Ethnicity' today, and I like it! It has a good female vocalist, lots of 'world' music, and decent electronica. The whole thing 'percolates' at a good pace. No cut is bad, and there are some outstanding pieces like 'Rainmaker', 'Written On The Wind', and 'Playing By Heart', and one song ('Almost A Whisper') even sounds like it belongs on a 'Bond 007' soundtrack!

BTW, is it me, or were Yanni and Tony Iommi 'separated at birth'?

 

[FalconP]

Haven't been following Yanni closely, but I still find the piano pieces on In My Time very pleasant and graceful. He sure can write a tune, but his modest, small-scale melodies cannot bear the weight of orchestration. That's why albums like Tribute sound overblown and turgid.

Yanni's debut album, the long out-of-print Optimystique, is a minor masterpiece in electronic music: colorful and very dynamic.

 

[appophylite]

Agreed. He does get ragged on and people do occasionally get ragged on for listening to him, but that doesn't stop the music from being fairly nice. I have 6 or so of his albums that are on my hard-drive somewhere and still get occasional rotation. His music was actually the very first music I ever purchased.

 

[Hermitt]

I wasn't aware that he's done anything new recently. I first discovered him around '85 when he released Keys To Imagination a very excellent recording. When I was following him back then, after his 3rd Private Music labeled release ( which i don't recall at the moment) He was reviewing some of his earlier recordings that weren't released as of then. He considered re-recording some of them, but as he reviewed each piece, they would cause him to remember the reason and atmosphere that each was recorded. So he left well enough alone and released Optimystic another excellent recording

I have some more of his releases, but these 2 are by far my favorites. I also remember going to see him in concert in Berkely in the late 80's, was an excellent show. I wonder if he is still married to Linda Evans...

 

[Masonjar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ham Radio Nut /img/forum/go_quote.gif I know people 'rag on' Yanni hugely, BUT I was listening to his release titled 'Ethnicity' today, and I like it! It has a good female vocalist, lots of 'world' music, and decent electronica. The whole thing 'percolates' at a good pace. No cut is bad, and there are some outstanding pieces like 'Rainmaker', 'Written On The Wind', and 'Playing By Heart', and one song ('Almost A Whisper') even sounds like it belongs on a 'Bond 007' soundtrack! BTW, is it me, or were Yanni and Tony Iommi 'separated at birth'?

I doubt I'll be listening to a huge amount of Yanni, but I have been on a New Age kick as of late.. mostly Ray Lynch, Michael Hedges, Loreena McKinnit, Giles Reaves and a couple really good Windham hill Yoga compilations.. also the "Audio Visions" channel on XM.

I don't know why I'm so open to it now. Anyway, it's really helpful with stress

 

[Hermitt]

Ray Lynch is fantastic too! He is a local from around the Bay Area and actually lives up in Clearlake now. He has done most of his recordings at a studio in Petaluma. I recall one time sending some fan email to an addy that was posted somewhere and his wife actually took the time to respond. So cool. I've also had personal email corespondence with Steve Verity and with Peter Buffett, the author/artist of 500 Nations.

 

[vo328]

Yes, agreed... Yanni gets no love.

I'm a long-term Yanni fan and have to say that he's absolutely amazing to watch in concert. I've seen him twice live and really enjoyed it. What is it about him that people just seem to not like (besides the hair)?

For the folks that don't like him... any particular reason? Is it the music, or something else?

 

[FalconP]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hermitt /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ray Lynch is fantastic too! He is a local from around the Bay Area and actually lives up in Clearlake now. He has done most of his recordings at a studio in Petaluma. I recall one time sending some fan email to an addy that was posted somewhere and his wife actually took the time to respond. So cool. I've also had personal email corespondence with Steve Verity and with Peter Buffett, the author/artist of 500 Nations.

How's Ray Lynch doing? Last I heard he was hiding under his nest lest the millenium bug strikes.

 

[Hermitt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FalconP /img/forum/go_quote.gif How's Ray Lynch doing? Last I heard he was hiding under his nest lest the millenium bug strikes.

http://www.raylynch.com/

 

[Masonjar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hermitt /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ray Lynch is fantastic too! He is a local from around the Bay Area and actually lives up in Clearlake now. He has done most of his recordings at a studio in Petaluma. I recall one time sending some fan email to an addy that was posted somewhere and his wife actually took the time to respond. So cool. I've also had personal email corespondence with Steve Verity and with Peter Buffett, the author/artist of 500 Nations.

back in the summer of 1987, I was out west on a trip with my folks. At that point I hadn't heard much if any "new age" music. I was in a little shop somewhere either in Wyoming or Montana. All the stores had little New Age displays of cassettes, next to the country music, etc.. finally I picked up a tape, totally at random.. SKY OF MIND by Ray Lynch. I really became quite transfixed by the music.. it was especially nice to listen to it while riding through the mountains.. after that I picked up a few other things after listening to a few radio broadcasts of "Hearts of Space" - I never plunged headlong into New Age, but I've returned to that Ray Lynch album quite often over the years..

I just picked up NO BLUE THING from the library and I have to say that it's quite impressive, as is DEEP BREAKFAST, even though "Celestial Soda Pop" sounds like Blondie's "Call Me"

-jar

 

[Ampersand]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ham Radio Nut /img/forum/go_quote.gif I know people 'rag on' Yanni hugely, BUT I was listening to his release titled 'Ethnicity' today, and I like it! It has a good female vocalist, lots of 'world' music, and decent electronica. The whole thing 'percolates' at a good pace. No cut is bad, and there are some outstanding pieces like 'Rainmaker', 'Written On The Wind', and 'Playing By Heart', and one song ('Almost A Whisper') even sounds like it belongs on a 'Bond 007' soundtrack! BTW, is it me, or were Yanni and Tony Iommi 'separated at birth'?

Yes, Ethnicity is a great album, but I thought it deviated a little from his previous recordings. My first album was Dare to Dream (1992?) and I also enjoy In Celebration of Life. Yanni's Live at the Acropolis (with the PA philharmonic) is a wonderful album as well!

Anyone seen Yanni in concert? I was fortunate enough to see him about 3 years ago. It really was an exciting experience. If you can put your pride away for an evening, I would recommend it.

 

[musicmind]

Seems all of us got our Yanni exposure in the late 80s.
I heard his stuff for many years on TV shows as background music without knowing who it was, and much later came to realise it was Yanni.
I really like Standing in Motion and Keys to Imagination.

In similar style I like some of the late 80's John Tesh stuff too...I think some of their stuff is really creative but the synth sounds do date them quite a bit.

 

[GlendaleViper]

I think a lot of the Yanni and New-age hating in general is an artifact of the jokes made throughout the 80s and 90s, through popular outlets such as Saturday Night Live. When you get down to it, it really isn't much different than quality ambient IDM. My presumption is that it's managed to get so embedded culturally that new-age is fruity spirit world crap that people are just keeping the joke going without knowing what it's actually about.

Indeed, some of the old synth sounds don't likely help things. An 80s era mono- or poly-synth sounds like an 80s mono- or poly-synth no matter when you hear it.

That said, I'm fairly selective with the New Age I do listen to, so my experience with it isn't exactly deep. I can say this though: The drum solo in Yanni's Live at the Acropolis is bloody INSANE!

 

[jcn3]

i do like a lot of the stuff from the windhall hill artists -- the ones that are heavily acoustic (george winton, michael hedges, nightnoise, etc.).

yanni just doesn't work for me.

 

[musicmind]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ham Radio Nut /img/forum/go_quote.gif BTW, is it me, or were Yanni and Tony Iommi 'separated at birth'?

Hmmmm....

Now just pray Iommi doesnt come after you for saying that...lol