Lana Lane - Echoes from the Garden Reviews

LANA LANE - ECHOES FROM THE GARDEN

REVIEWS

"A mini album to celebrate their Japan tour with all previously unreleased tracks / versions. Tracks 1 and 5 are from Garden of the Moon. Track 1 has a new guitar solo and keyboard solo and a more simple approach, and track 5 is the long version which features the keyboard introduction which didn't appear on the album. Track 2 is a new track that was originally written for a solo project for Neil Citron, and it shows a grandiose and sensitive feeling with the warm sound of the Hammond organ and Lana Lane's beautiful voice. Track 3 is a cover of a David Bowie song backed by the Rocket Scientists and here it sounds remarkably their own. Tracks 4 and 6 are both remixes from Love Is An Illusion. The rhythm sounds are more clear like their recent works and that gives more strong dynamics to the whole sound." Score of 84 points of 100.
[Yumiko Haba, Burrn! magazine, Japan, April 1998]

"Echoes from the Garden' as is mentioned in the booklet remarks by the composer, producer, arranger, keyboardist Erik Norlander has included songs and performances of the group that have not been released yet. It comes as a compliment to "Curious Goods" as lets say a foreshadowing of "Live in Japan". It includes a more accessible version of "Seasons", "Leaving Stardust" by Neil Citron (guitarist in the band), the "Coloured Life" and "Cold Outside" with different drumming, an extended performance of "Evolution Revolution" and a tender version of "This is not America" by David Bowie/Pat Metheny from the soundtrack of the film "Falcon and the Snowman"."
[Chris Kissadjekian, Metal Hammer magazine, Greece, December 1998 -- translated from Greek]

"Echoes from the Garden" was originated because of an idea by Naohiro Yamazaki who had been guiding Lana's career since 1995. It was decided to release an album after the February release of "Garden of the Moon" but prior to her Japanese tour in April. The result is a mini-album containing three remixes, a longer version of "Evolution Revolution" and two new songs. The remixed "Seasons" works particularly well, as there is more space than on the original version. The longer "Evolution Revolution" is also a winner, as is the atmospheric interpretation of "This is not America" which was originally written by David Bowie, Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays. As a taster for Lana, this works very well as an introduction, although the other new song "Leaving Stardust" is not really representative of her normal work, with a Hammond Organ taking the musical lead.
[Kev Rowland, Feedback Magazine, UK, January 1999]

"The Garden of the Moon album is very high profile and is attracting lots of fans. Before this album, Lana Lane was supported by a limited number of fans, but with her third album -- which has a great mixture of progressive rock and hard rock -- they were able to gain a larger audience. No matter what kind of music it is or who the musicians are, after all, if the music has quality and good sense and an original sound is established, fans will give the proper credit for the music. This notion is proved by Lana Lane's Garden of the Moon.

Lana Lane originally came from the progressive rock scene. Also in the band is Erik Norlander, who is also the leader of Rocket Scientists, an American progressive / symphonic band. Since their debut album in 1995, Love is an Illusion, he and the other members of Rocket Scientists have been supporting Lana Lane in terms of songwriting and playing. However, the reason Lana Lane did not end up in the progressive rock scene was because Lana Lane herself originally comes from a hard rock background, and she has been playing hard rock oriented music.

The promotion of the debut album, Love is an Illusion, emphasized the beauty of keyboards and a vocal which reminded us of All About Eve. And yet, unexpectedly, there was a lot of response from hard rock fans. Songs like "Through the Fire" and "Through the Rain" were the main focus of those hard rock fans. In that way, Lana Lane achieved success in getting into the Japanese fans' hearts. Looking back now within the rock scene, which is now categorized into so many styles the kind of music, that blend established their own unique style of music which is a mixture of progressive rock and hard rock. And there seems to be a lot of common factors in these two styles of music.

The fusion of these two styles has been attempted throughout history. These days, the success of Dream Theater with their fusion of technical and progressive rock makes it apparent that the relationship between progressive rock and hard rock is getting even closer. However, in Lana Lane's case, the main focus of the music is transparent to Lana Lane's voice because the sound is created around her voice which gives the uniqueness to the music. With Erik Norlander's production, all the sounds surrounding her voice enhance her voice which makes the music as a whole even more beautiful. That is especially obvious on Garden of the Moon. All the good things about progressive rock and hard rock are blended together which creates a big scale beautiful sound. Garden of the Moon will probably be one of the best albums of 1998, so you'll have to listen to it.

This mini album is released to commemorate the first Japanese tour of Lana Lane which consists of remixes and some unreleased songs. Please refer to Erik Norlander's liner notes for details of each song. Track one is one of the remixes from Garden of the Moon. It is a really different version than appears on the [Garden of the Moon] album. On the [Garden of the Moon] album, the guitar solo was played by Mark McCrite, which was replaced by Neil Citron [on Echoes from the Garden]. Don Schiff's Chapman Stick is featured here, and the keyboard solo at the ending is added. Track 5 has a long keyboard introduction which gives it an even more progressive rock feel. Tracks 4 and 5 are the remixes from the album Love Is An Illusion which now sound closer to how the new album Garden of the Moon sounds. Track 2 ["Leaving Stardust"] was originally written for Neil Citron's solo album, but was newly recorded for this mini album. Lana Lane re-wrote the lyrics, and Don Schiff uses a new instrument called the NS/Stick which is a combination between the Chapman Stick and an ordinary bass guitar. Track 3 ["This Is Not America"] is a cover song written by David Bowie performed by Rocket Scientists and Lana Lane. What I noticed by listening to this mini album is that when the influence from Erik Norlander is pushed forward too much is that the music becomes more progressive. They should remember that the instrumental parts should be there to support Lana Lane. It is interesting to hear this album which gives us an idea which would be the best balance between Lana Lane and the other musicians."
[From the album's Japanese liner notes by Masa Ito, April 1998 -- translated by Mariko Kawahara]