When I say "Yanni" what comes to mind?

This?

Or, perhaps...this?

And, we laugh. But, what do we really know about this Greek mustache man? As a professed lover of music, I must confess I know very little. Other than..that stuff's not for me.

A smidge of background...Yanni's been at it for almost 30 years. Largely instrumental work. And, quite acclaimed. Read more over at wiki's page on him for a quick overview.

The good folks over at One2One Network shipped Blondes, Poop & Mascara a copy of Yanni's latest album Yanni Voices for review.



(Look who tamed the lochs and shaved the stache)

After the first couple songs I realized Yanni was going to trash my preconceived notions. This album was a theatrical adventure for me. Beautiful melody and gorgeous voice. Lyrically, I don't gain much from it. Half of it is in language other than English. The words not requiring translation to my American ear didn't impress me much. I'm not sure they needed to. From an Italian starlit balcony to American Broadway to world beat to a sensual Latin beach - these tracks laid down a rich journey of melody for the taking.

I think what I like the most about this project is that Yanni teamed up with a solid (Grammy winning) producer in Ric Wake and just carried out a dream to put lyrics to his melodies. He took a major risk bringing four relative unknown singers (Nathan Pacheco, Ender Thomas, Leslie Mills and Chloe) to the studio with him. AND, told them to write the lyrics! 25+ years experience, played to 20+ million folks live, that's still a risk not often taken in the music industry.

There is some REALLY amazing music on this album. Preview most of them over on Yanni's website. Sure some of the lyrics are cheesy. And, I'm likely not going to load this on the iPod and jam out on my commute. BUT, as a live show, I bet this is truly outstanding stuff! Pick it up for around $13 or less most anywhere including a DVD. Heck of a deal there too.