NOTES FROM THE PRODUCER'S DESK (from the album's liner notes)

This is a very special album that encompasses a broad selection of previously unreleased Lana Lane material created over the last several years. Echoes from the Garden came to pass through a suggestion from Naohiro Yamazaki, who has been a guiding force behind Lana Lane's career since 1995. The idea was to release a collection of alternate versions and new songs to quickly follow the release of Garden of the Moon in February of 1998 and to immediately precede the first Lana Lane tour of Japan in April of 1998.

The "Echoes Mix" of "Seasons" is perhaps closer to original Lane / Schiff concept of the song than the version that appears on Garden of the Moon. For Garden of the Moon, we elected to emphasize the Citron / Kern heavy rock guitar that is so characteristic of that album. But the original demo was more spacious due to the Chapman Stick rhythm part played by Don Schiff. The "Echoes Mix" features Schiff's original Stick rhythm part and theme as well as a new introductory Stick riff.

"Leaving Stardust" is a new track that was written by Neil Citron with lyrics by Lana Lane. It is an excellent example of Citron's strong blues influences juxtaposed with classic Lane ethereal lyrics. Citron's verse chord progression reminded me of Procol Harum's famous "Whiter Shade of Pale", so we emphasized that feeling with a familiar Hammond organ melody and similar drawbar settings.

"This Is Not America" is a song that was written for the film The Falcon and The Snowman in the early 1980's. The writing collaboration between David Bowie and Pat Metheny with his keyboardist Lyle Mays was particularly inventive and wholly original. I had always been a fan of this moody and atmospheric piece, so we worked up a new arrangement of it with the Los Angeles progressive rock band Rocket Scientists, particularly emphasizing the group's characteristic strumming acoustic guitar by Mark McCrite, who also carries the background vocal sound of this track.

"Coloured Life"and "Cold Outside" originally appeared on Lana Lane's first album, Love is an Illusion, which was released in 1995. I was never happy with the drum sound of these songs which were recorded in a very small room that was not well suited to the task. For Echoes from the Garden, I triggered excellent new samples of Tommy Amato's drums from the original tape tracks to improve the sound, and then I contracted my longtime friend, engineer Frank Anthony Rosato, to remix the songs for a fresh perspective.

The "Long Version" of "Evolution Revolution" adds an acrobatic progressive introduction to the song that does not appear on Garden of the Moon. Naohiro Yamazaki and I felt that this long introduction was not in the same spirit of the rest of the album which has a more hard rock feel. Although this instrumental section reprises at the end of the half - time bridge, the longer introduction with its acapella vocal break is of interesting novelty and is released on this album for the very first time.

Erik Norlander

Los Angeles, February, 1998

 

© 2003 Think Tank Media

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