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Lane, Lana : Garden of the Moon, Special Edition
 One of the best of Lana Lane's earlier albums now has new life thanks to this super 2CD set, which combines the melodic Garden of the Moon album with select tracks from its follow-up, the EP Echoes from the Garden, plus a few other goodies. For the completist, this is a must have collection.
Disc One is chock full of classic melodic hard rock featuring Lana's lush and powerful vocals. Songs like "Destination Roswell" and "Moongarden" contain catchy and intelligent lyrics, slick guitar playing from Neil Citron, Danelle Kern, and Mark McCrite, and symphonic keyboards from Erik Norlander. While the songs on Garden of the Moonare not as heavy as some of Lana's more recent recordings, there is still a great mix of melodic metal and progressive rock here, as evident on the bombastic "Evolution Revolution." For a more poignant performance, check out Lana's gorgeous vocal strains on "Seasons" and "Under the Olive Tree", two breathtaking pieces that show another, mellower side to the singers repertoire.
Disc Two kicks off with a remixed long version of "Frankenstein Unbound", a heady prog-metal number that gets things into high gear quickly. Following are tracks from the Echoes from the Garden and Echoes from the Ocean EP's, plus two interesting tidbits; a cover of the David Bowie and Pat Metheny song "This is Not America", plus a live version of "Symphony of Angels" recorded with Rockets Scientists from Germany in 1997.
It is a pleasure to get so much diverse Lana Lane in one package. Here's hoping the US catches on to what Japan already knows, that this talent truly is a star.
Added: June 27th 2002
Reviewer: Pete Pardo
Score:  
Related Link: Lana Lane Website
Hits: 4279
Language: english
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Lane, Lana : Garden of the Moon, Special Edition
Posted by Murat Batmaz, SoT Staff Writer on 2005-04-09 08:28:37
My Score:
I've always liked Lana Lane's first three solo albums best. It's not that her other discs are weak or anything, but somehow I always find myself listening to her earlier releases, especially Garden of the Moon. This is Lane's third album, and her first to break in the international market. I haven't heard the reissue with bonus material that Pete Pardo reviewed above, so I'll address the original pressing with nine tracks only.
Garden of the Moon is perhaps the heaviest solo release from Lana Lane; the rhythm guitars courtesy of female guitarist Danelle Kern are very crunchy, particularly in the intro of "River of the Stars" and the last track "Garden of the Moon". It's like the album starts and ends with solid rhythm guitars, sort of like a unifying theme. Supporting Lane are her husband Erik Norlander who not only plays keyboards and synths, but he is also responsible for most of the songwriting as well as the mix and production. Norlander has always been a great keyboard player; his contribution to Garden of the Moon is tremendous. He plays from lush, symphonic synths to aggressive, face-ripping key solos that duel with one of the three guest guitarists on the album. Returning Lane's favour for singing on the Rocket Scientists discs are guitarist Mark McCrite who plays both acoustic and electric guitar, as well as Don Schiff. Schiff also co-wrote two of the songs on the album, the heavily prog rock flavoured "Seasons" and the folk-driven "Eternal Water". I really love the folky melody on this song -- it's almost ethereal and dream-like.
Lana Lane, as expected, sings songs that make statements of melody, style and colour. Her angelic vocals are extremely sweet, yet at the same time powerful. She does a phenomenal scream at the end of "Under the Olive Tree" that would put many a female singer to shame. "Moongarden" and "Evolution Revolution" are the highlights of the CD. "Moongarden" starts off with a harder-edged guitar riff and then moves into a more soothing ground with melancholic acoustic guitars. As the song continues to flow, Erik Norlander and Neil Citron on guitars go into a mindblowing progressive interplay. Norlander's tone is killer, whilst Citron amazes with his flawless technique. "Evolution Revolution" is even scarier! It is unquestionably the album's most diverse output. It beams with flashes of aggressive jazzy passages and crushing lead guitars that are interwoven around Lane's expressive vocal delivery. The song is over eight minutes and features mighty musicianship from everyone. Unfortunately Tommy Amato's drum sound is really weak, and I can see why Norlander wanted to remix this disc. The dynamics could be better, but I'm still happy with the album the way it is.
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