Sexual Astrology - Music : Covers Collection

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Rating: - Probably the best Lana Lane collection
Lana Lane and her husband/songwriting partner Erik Norlander have made a name for themselves in the symphonic/melodic rock arena based on Lane's impressive voice (a dead ringer for Heart's Ann Wilson) and Norlander's instrumental prowess. Unfortunately they're not the best songwriting team around. The average Lana Lane album has a couple of standout tracks, but there is a great deal of repetition and very little originality to be found. That's why this Covers Collection is so interesting. It lets you hear Lane and Norlander turn their talents towards some already well-written songs. Here's what they covered:

1. The Wall (Kansas) - I'd have preferred The Pinnacle, but The Wall is a great choice for Lane's style, and she executed it quite well.
2. Kashmir (Led Zeppelin) - An ambitious take on perhaps the most ambitious Led Zeppelin classic. Again, this was a great choice for Lane's voice.
3. Soaring (Aviary) - I confess to having never heard the original version. This actually sounds a lot like a better Lane/Norlander composition.
4. Hold Your Head Up (Argent) - This song, which I've heard covered by bands as varying as Uriah Heep and Mother Love Bone, just seems ill-suited to Lane's musical style. Smphonic style and dramatic vocals just don't work on a glam rocker like this.
5. Innocence (Enuff Znuff) - The fact that Lane elected to cover this underrated band is enough for me. That she does the song justice is icing on the cake.
6. I'll See You in My Dreams (Giant) - Here's another song I never thought to hear covered. It's an amazing power ballad, and though I much prefer the original, Lane's version is pretty solid.
7. Don't Try So Hard (Queen) - You can't go wrong with a Queen cover, and this is something of a "deep cut"
8. Northern Lights (TNT) - Wow, kudos to Lane and company for paying tribute to TNT, and they do it with style.
9. Still Loving You (Scorpions) - This is one of my favorite Scorpions songs, and is another good choice for Lane. It's interesting to hear the song sung without the heavy German accent.
10. Weep In Silence (Uriah Heep) - I'm always up for a Uriah Heep cover, especially if it's not the overdone "Easy Livin'". Good call by Lane and company.
11. Stargazer (Rainbow) - No melodic rock covers collection would be complete without a Rainbow cover, and this epic song is ideally suited to the Lane/Norlander sound.

Overall, Covers Collection is a first rate effort, and one of the best Lana Lane releases available. I'm more than a little surprised that there wasn't a Heart cover on the album, but perhaps that would have been a bit too obvious. This also would have benefited from a second disc collecting some of the cover songs Lane has previously released (Elton John, Steely Dan, the Beatles, etc).

If you're already a Lana Lane fan, you'll definitely want to pick this up. It's also a great collection for those of us who enjoy Lane's sound but find her regular albums a bit too repetitive.

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Rating: - Lana's best (unfortunately... read below)
This is without shadow of a doubt (at least in my mind) Lana's best work - why? simply 'cause for all Lana's wonderful vocal skills coming up with 10-12 attention-grabbing songs for an album was never something she and Erik could really do. Most I can count as good ones was 3-4 per album - "Love Is An Illusion" comes to mind here as an example of an album where most of the hits are her own not covers as on some of the other records. Anyways...hmm..what was I talking about? Oh yeah! back to this record - here she doesn't have to worry about writing ten good songs since other guys have taken care of that. Her versions of Stargazer, Kashmir, Still Loving You, Weep In Silence are great showcases for her stunning voice; almost all the songs here are highly listenable and enjoyable. Cannot give it a five since it's a covers compilation... also couple of numbers are close to mediocre but that's just my own picky self always trying to find some imperfection.

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Rating: - The Queen of Prog
Lana Lane's newest album, 'Cover's Collection' starts off with an amazing cover of Kansas' "The Wall". Her enchanting voice brings so much to the piece, it's almost hard to choose which version is better. And the great music doesn't end there.

'Cover's Collection' is just what it says, it is a collection of covers, done Lana style. The music is terrific, songs like Zep's "Kashmir" the relatively obscure Queen tune "Don't Try so Hard" and the Scorpions hit "Still In Love With You" feature some amazing playing from top notch musicians such as husband Erik Norlander on the keys, the drumming talents of Gregg Bissonette (David Lee Roth, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, ELO, etc.), Nick D'Virgilio (Spock's Beard) and Ed Warby (Ayreon, Star One), and the virtuostic axe slingers, Mark McCrite (Rocket Scientists), Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon, Star One), Neil Citron and Gabriel Moses. Also featured is the amazing bass playing talents of Tony Franlin.

As great as the music is, the highlight, as usual, is Lane's beautiful voice, which holds you in thrall the whole disc. Her voice shines on the amazing "Weep In Silence" Rainbow's "Stargazer" (which sounds the most like her material) and Argent's "Hold Your Head Up". She even manages to make an Enuff Znuff tune good ("Innocence").

If you have yet to hear Lana Lane, there are definetely better albums in her catalogue, but with the 'Cover's Collection', you are left with a pleasing set of some wonderful music as told by prog's reigning queen.

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Rating: - So far it's Lana's best
One of Lana's drawbacks is that the songwriting tends to be a bit monotonic - in the sense that after a while all songs begin to sound the same. Here, on this CD, she doesn't have that problem simply because... well, this is after all, a covers compilation, duh! Pretty good choice of originals combined with her wonderful hard-rock operatic vocals produced one of her best albums - perhaps simply the best. Let's just say that I really really liked seven (sic!) out of 11 tracks; cover of Rainbow's "Stargazer" is stunning. It's a pity that she didn't include her outstanding live cover of "In The Court Of Crimson King" here. I also want to say that Lana's fans are still waiting for a good Best Of collection; the one issued by Think Tank Media lacks musical diversity and, IMHO, simply doesn't include her best known numbers like "Queen of the Ocean", "Secrets of Astrology" or "Evolution Revolution", not to mention some great tracks from her later albums like "Project Shangri-La" or "Take A Breath", but then they only wanted to cover 1995 thru 1999. If only they polled the fans... I would advise her record company to hurry and issue a double-CD compilation which would include her best original songs as well as best covers.