GEORGE LYNCH, VINNY APPICE, TONY FRANKLIN Featured On LANA LANE's 'Gemini' Covers Album

October 22, 2006

Symphonic rock vocalist Lana Lane and her keyboardist / producer / husband Erik Norlander have just completed a pair of covers albums for release this winter. It has been a tradition in Japan for the two to release a Lana Lane "specialty album" every two years. They started with the "Lana Lane Ballad Collection" in 1998, then continued with "Ballad Collection 2" (2000),"Covers Collection" (2002) and "Winter Sessions" (2004). Now for 2006, Lana and Erik have recorded not one but two albums for the winter season.

The first album is LANA LANE's "Gemini", an collection of classic rock covers from the '60s and '70s featuring the backing musicians Vinny Appice (drums),Tony Franklin (bass),George Lynch (guitar),Mark McCrite (guitar, vocals) and Erik Norlander (keyboards) along with Kelly Keeling (GEORGE LYNCH, BATON ROUGE, MSG) providing additional duet and harmony vocals. Gemini is the astrological symbol for twins, and since this is Lana's second album of all covers, the album carries the theme of "two" throughout. Lana recorded two songs by each classic rock artist for this release: a pair of songs each originally recorded by CREAM, PINK FLOYD, THE MOODY BLUES, HEART, JEFFERSON AIRPLANE and FOREIGNER. Of particular note is Lana's "Pink Moon Suite" that combines the song "Johnny Moon" — originally recorded by HEART — with songs from most of "Side One" of PINK FLOYD's landmark "Dark Side of the Moon" album.

The second album is ERIK NORLANDER's "Hommage Symphonique", a collection of progressive rock covers recorded by Erik along with Gregg Bissonette (drums),Don Schiff (bass),Mark McCrite (gguitar) with Kelly Keeling handling all of the vocal duties. Erik employed a small ensemble of acoustic instruments featuring Jon Pappenbrook (trumpets flugelhorn),Eric Jorgensen (trombones),Mike Alvarez (cello) and David Schiff (woodwinds). David is the brother of Don Schiff, and in addition to Don's NS/Stick work on the album, he also fills out the acoustic string ensemble with the new Bowed Guitar instrument. Erik's choice of covers reflects his own broad musical taste, performing songs originally recorded by ELP, ELO, YES, RICK WAKEMA, KING CRIMSON, PROCOL HARUM and JETHRO TULL and CHUCK MANGIONE. The last artist may sound the most surprising, but Erik's stirring rendition of MANGIONE's "Children of Sanchez" brings this jazz - fusion classic more into Erik's world of symphonic progressive rock supported by his seasoned and highly versatile band.

LANA LANE's "Gemini" and ERIK NORLANDER's "Hommage Symphonique" albums follow the already acclaimed 2-CD release "Revolution Road" from Erik's band ROCKET SCIENTISTS. The ROCKET SCIENTISTS musicians appear throughout these two new titles continuing the collaboration and bringing it to new heights. Like ROCKET SCIENTISTS' "Revolution Road", these two new CDs will be distributed in North America and Europe by ProgRock Records which continues another successful collaboration with Erik and Lana's Think Tank Media label. LANA LANE's "Gemini" and ERIK NORLANDER's "Hommage Symphonique" will be released on November 23, 2006 on the Avalon label in Japan and then on January 30, 2007 on Think Tank Media / ProgRock Records with advance sales starting in December 2006.

Track listings:

LANA LANE"Gemini"

01. White Room [4:58]
02. White Rabbit [2:25]
03. Long Long Way From Home [3:30]
04. You Can Never Go Home [6:02]

"Pink Moon Suite":

05. Breathe Introduction [1:15]
06. Johnny Moon [3:01]
07. Breathe in the Air [1:45]
08. On the Run [2:05]
09. Time [5:21]
10. Breathe Reprise [1:25]
11. Dream of the Archer [4:19]
12. Starrider [5:27]
13. Sunshine Of Your Love [4:55]
14. Wooden Ships [4:31]
15. Nights in White Satin [5:19]

Total running time: 56:45

ERIK NORLANDER"Hommage Symphonique"

01. Conquistador [4:08]
02. Sir Lancelot and the Black Knight [7:20]
03. Turn of the Century [7:38]
04. Pirates [13:32]
05. Clasp [4:51]
06. King of the Universe [7:09]
07. Children of Sanchez Overture [9:24]
08. Starless [12:04]

Total running time: 66:25

Both titles produced by Erik Norlander for Think Tank Media.

Find more on
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).