LANE, LANA
717460
CD
PROJECT SHANGRI-LA (+1 BONUS UNRELEASED TRACK-JAP)
SONG-BASED (PROG)The 6th studio album from America’s symphonic-rock diva, and talk about monumental – this has to be the best yet! It’s powerful, as you’d expect, but the seriously heavy rocking, so evident on the ‘Secrets Of Astrology’ album, has been enhanced, altered – but not by anything physical. The keyboard work too is a total sensation, showcasing some incredible moments from the Mellotron, Hammond organ and Moog Modular synthesizer. There’s an assured confidence to these performances, one that seems to have at the back of it some kind of determination to make the solid and intricately structured songs work like never before. It’s only when you read the sleeve-notes, to find that this album was actually being recorded during the events of September 11th 2001 that you suddenly see it all!
There’s almost a tension to the material on this album, as though the band were trying to deliver something that had as much feeling as you could possibly inject into an album like this without it coming out too schmaltzy at one end or simply not producing the results at the other, and in that respect, as in all others, this wins out to perfection. It’s not as immediate as its predecessor, you really do have to play it through first just to get the atmosphere and wallow in the lyrics, while the musicianship is much more textural. There is still plenty of thunder though, but with more of a flow - A river as opposed to a hurricane. Lana’s voice is the best I’ve heard it to date - There’s so much feeling and passion in her vocal tones, with pure emotion dripping from every note. Two songs feature Ring Of Fire’s Mark Boals as co-vocalist, while the bonus track (exclusive to this CD) ‘I Believe In You’ is a song especially written for Lana by John Wetton. Each and every song on the 11 tracks on the album is a solid, impeccably produced gem, including the phenomenal ‘Tears Of Babylon’, an emotive tribute to the events of Sept. 11th, capturing a mood of reflection determination and optimism, and setting a sight for the future – and Lana’s future is very bright indeed. Overall, ‘Project Shangri-La’ it’s a monumental album that deserves to be massive.(Please note: This Japanese version of the album carries an un-released bonus track. There is a slightly cheaper alternative version of this album available that you can order using stock number: 760287, but that version features a different, previously released bonus track!)
Weight: 150.00 g
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