Fledgling label "Think Tank Media" just released Rocket Scientists Earthbound in 1993 and before the finished product hit the streets the beginnings of a new career was in the midst.
Lana Lane was, for years, a session back-up vocalist and her husband had her guest on the Rocket Scientists' debut Earthbound. There he must have seen that the world needed to hear Lana on her own where her voice was the spotlight.
They both saw that it was musical identity not Lana's voice that needed to be found, so they had a mixed bag of songs for her debut Love Is An Illusion.
Songs were ranging from pop to classic rock fused with some progressive rock instrumentation (provided by husband/keyboardist Erik Norlander).
A stand-out track for me was "Coloured Life", which has both a psychedelic Beatles-esque vibe to it as well as a Zeppelinesque hard rock punch to it.
Rather tan creating a "band" per say, Lana & Erik surrounded themselves with various musicians to create the best music possible.
Amongst the musicians were Rocket Scientists' core band, Mark McCrite (electric, acoustic gtr), Don Schiff (Stick) and Tommy Amato (drums).
Love Is An Illusion's original release date was January 20th, 1995 which incidentally is Lana's birthday.
Since then it has been re-released twice, first in 1998 by new Japanese label Avalon and then again in 2001 for the first of many "Special Edition" series.
Both the 1995 & 1998 versions are pleasing to my ear. It's nice to hear the original then the re-mixed version. I however to get a feel for the history of Lana's music listened to the original version first.
Upon listening and by my first exposure to the Lana Lane sound of Project Shangri-La I have a greater appreciation for her beginnings with her debut of Love Is An Illusion.
Lana Lane is, in my opinion, the premier hard rock/symphonic diva and you hear the beginnings of such here!
Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on January 6th, 2003
