quinta-feira, janeiro 12, 2012

Lana Lane is back with her most powerful release to date, "El Dorado Hotel

After a four-year break since her last album, Lana Lane is back with her most powerful release to date, "El Dorado Hotel." The veteran symphonic rock diva delivers a 10-song tour-de-force of finely crafted original tracks in an audiophile production by husband/keyboardist, Erik Norlander. When asked about the long break between "El Dorado Hotel" and her previous release, "Red Planet Boulevard" (2007), Lane replies, "As an artist, you hope that you have something new to say with each record. This became harder and harder to do – especially when during some years, there were two or more new Lana Lane records released. I only want to release top-quality, sincerely crafted albums, and I certainly don't want to release an album just to release 'something.' After nearly 15 years of working non-stop, it was time for a little sabbatical. I needed a break from the pressure and time to gather some perspective on my craft."

"El Dorado Hotel" hosts Lane's usual broad spectrum of musical styles and genres with a cohesiveness that fans of the artist will recognize instantly. The opener, "A Dream Full of Fire," is a new Lana Lane classic that blurs the line between prog metal and jazz stylings in a melange that only she can deliver. "Maybe We'll Meet Again" is a European-styled melodic AOR radio anthem blending classic rock with modern sensibilities. The song, "El Dorado," is a Lana Lane epic with a soaring chorus reminiscent of her classic, "Queen of Ocean." The robust "Darkness Falls" introduces an Irish folk style combined with a gothic metal element with its haunting choral vocals and arena-crafted chorus. Then "Hotels" is an acoustic track that evokes jazz standards like "Autumn Leaves." The tracks, "Believe," "Life of the Party,"

"Gone Are The Days" and "Moon God" add further threads to the "El Dorado Hotel" tapestry. The album closes with the 11-1/2 minute opus, "In Exile" that producer Erik Norlander describes as a "vintage progressive rock epic." Norlander comments, "We've never done anything quite like this on a Lana Lane record before. 'In Exile' begins with haunting Mellotron strings that immediately sets the tone for this very cinematic piece of music with great dynamics and drama along with some odd meter bits that help to tell the story. The musicians are all working overtime on this one!"

The musicians of "El Dorado Hotel" are a top-notch group of artists including both new and familiar faces. Lane says about the musicians, "Both Freddy DeMarco and Mark Matthews did some fantastic work on Erik's solo project, "The Galactic Collective". I then had the opportunity to play with them both during some live appearances in 2011 when I sang with the band. After having played with the guys and getting to know them, I knew that I wanted them to be a part of this project as well. Then for John Payne, Jay Schellen, Guthrie Govan and Bruce Bouillet (ex-Racer X), as you know, Erik has playing with John Payne for about 5 years now. When the original 1982 lineup of ASIA reformed a few years back, John Payne formed his own separate band to continue all the work that he had done with ASIA during his 14-year run and many albums with them. So John and Erik tour as "ASIA Featuring John Payne," and they've probably played over a hundred shows together. Jay is the drummer in the band, and both Guthrie and Bruce have been the guitarists. Bruce is working with them currently. I of course go to a lot of their shows and have become friends with all of them. It is a great group of people, and they are all very talented musicians. Since we see them so much and Erik plays with them constantly, it was only natural to work with them on this album. And then finally for Mark McCrite, Neil Citron and Don Schiff, all three of them have been on so many Lana Lane albums going all the back to my very first album in 1995. It's great to continue working with them through all these years."

Songs for El Dorado Hotel were written by Lana Lane, Erik Norlander and longtime collaborator, Mark McCrite, who comments, "My favorite songs on the album are 'El Dorado' (with the fantastic Spanish guitar) and 'A Dream Full of Fire' - that's a really killer 'classic' Lana Lane track." You can hear those two songs from the album in their entirety at the Think Tank Media web site: www.thetank.com/lledh.htm

--
Progressive Rock & Progressive Metal - E-Zine