Dare to Dream (stylised as DARE to dream) is the eighth studio album by Greek keyboardist and composer Yanni, released in March 1992 on Private Music. The album peaked at number 2 on Billboard's Top New Age Albums chart and at number 32 on the Billboard 200 chart in the same year. It went gold within two months of its release and was nominated for a Grammy.

Background

Yanni says that the title of the album, Dare to Dream, "comes from the realization that, people not only don't go after their dreams but they're actually afraid to dream at all. If you're afraid to dream, nothing will ever come to you". The album was followed by the sell-out, 65-city Dare to Dream concert tour which challenged audiences "not to be afraid to dream". On the concert tour, Yanni also advised the fans not to let their worries rob them of the joy of life, and encourages them to "dare to dream" - which is, of course, the theme of the album.

Album

Critical reception

In a review by Johnny Loftus, "Dare to Dream is Yanni's first new material in three years and finds the new age composer fitting his unflinchingly romantic arrangements into tighter song structures. The surging synth backgrounds, insistent piano lines and general grandiosity that mark Yanni's sound are still intact. But tracks like "A Love for Life" or "Nice to Meet You" harness that famously epic energy in smaller stables. This tactic works especially well on the latter track, which is led by the wail of an electric fiddle. Elsewhere, Yanni plucks the heartstrings with "In the Mirror" and "So Long My Friend" – two weepy ballads that cascade like sheets of rain on a lonely city street. The seven-minute "You Only Live Once" becomes the only really epic piece on Dare to Dream, and it's pleasant enough. However, it illustrates the main drawback to Dream, which is Yanni's reliance on the shifting sands of synthesizers to do his bidding."

Track listing

Personnel

(Personnel as described in CD liner notes.)

The Dare to Dream concert tour

Dates

April – June 1992

Cities

65 cities

Set list

Selections from Reflections of Passion, In Celebration of Life and Dare to Dream

The band and concert

Tour production

Tour dates

Miscellaneous

The music "Once Upon a Time" was adopted by TVB as the background music of world weather from July 28, 1991, to December 31, 2009.

Certifications