Lana Lane
Red Planet Boulevard Think Tank Media

by John Kindred
Staff Writer

Comments: After releasing Gemini in '06, a compilation of cover songs, Lana Lane returns in '07 with a new studio album titled Red Planet Boulevard. Lane continues her writing and recording partnership with her husband Erik Norlander who produced as well as performed bass and keyboards for the new record. Long time co-conspirators Peer Verschuren (g) and Ernst Van Ee (d) also join the fray.

Red Planet Boulevard contains 12-songs and pushes towards symphonic rock while subtly representing melodic hard rock. Recorded both in the Netherlands and in San Francisco, Calif. The music simmers with the best ambiance that both European and American locals have to offer. The music features soaring and defined instrumentation that you would expect to find on a Lane/Norlander collaboration.

Blessed with a band that comprises of seasoned musicians, Red Planet Boulevard is encapsulated with sonic tapestries of sound and never falters in pushing the symphonic envelope. Lane's voice glides above the music with a majestic quality lending to the appeal of the overall presentation of songs. Plenty of guitars intertwine with the keyboard passages of Norlander. While the bass and drums push and pull the music forward.

The 12 songs offers fans a diverse musical experience that is held together by Lane's vocals. Five songs were penned by Lane and Norlander, while Lane's dominates the remainder of the music, writing five of the remaining seven songs. The compositions are exactly what you would expect from the duo. The music is built upon lavish musical arrangements that produce atmospheric tension. The duos' musical dynamic is engineered by the fingers of Norlander and the voice of Lane. Plenty of songs on Red Planet Boulevard demonstrate the band's balanced musical approach. But they shine on the ballad "Jessica," "Stepford, USA," "The Frozen Sea" and "Angels and Magicians."

Lana Lane and Erik Norlander offer to music fans a quality and honesty of spirit within their songs that is lacking in the much misaligned industry of modern times. Providing the listener with not only high quality music, the duo know how to present the music with power and heart through instrumentation that relies on the soul of the guitar, melodies of the keys, the dynamics of the bass, the time keeping of the drums and the heart of the song, which is the voice of the vocalist.

Band Lineup:
Lana Lane (v)
Erik Norlander (k)(b)
Peer Verschuren (g)
Ernst Van EE (d)

Track listing:
1. Into the Fire (Norlander)
2. The Frozen Sea (Lane)
3. Capture the Sun (Norlander)
4. Jessica (Lane / Norlander)
5. Stepford, USA (Lane)
6. Shine (Lane)
7. Lazy Summer Day (Lane)
8. No Tears Left (Lane)
9. Save the World (Lane / Norlander)
10. Angels and Magicians (Norlander)
11. The Sheltering Sorrow (Lane / Norlander)
12. Red Planet Boulevard (Lane / Norlander)

HRH rating: 7.6/10