OUTLAND
Long Way Home
Jeff Prentice – Lead Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards
Rob Nishida – Guitars, Bass, Keyboards, Vocals
With
Pat Torpey - Drums
Hard at
work over a year, Outland has finally re-surfaced with their second release, Long
Way Home. Building on the success attained with the release of Different
Worlds last summer, the follow up is the recording that Outland principals
Jeff Prentice and Rob Nishida feel, truly establishes the Outland sound and
provides the listener with the complete Outland experience.
“We
really went through an intensive writing period for this CD,” explains
Nishida. “As soon as we finished
mastering Different Worlds in May of
last year, we began writing like crazy. Inspired
by the positive response we got for the CD, we wrote over 30 songs in a period
of eight months and then went through the excruciating process of picking 12 for
Long Way Home, including the bonus
track for the Japanese release.”
Long
Way Home vividly
reveals every color on the Outland palette, from some of the most rocking tracks
Outland has ever done, including the opener “Boderline,” an Outland-ized
cover of the Thin Lizzy classic “Hollywood,” to the slow churning, fan
favorite “How Many Times” and the most tender ballad they’ve ever done
with “Somebody Just Like You.”
“I am a huge Thin Lizzy fan, so that song was a joy to record,” says
Prentice. On the other end of the spectrum, “Somebody” might be at home on
something like a Richard Marx record. Long Way Home should appeal to all
fans of Different Worlds, plus some fans of slightly harder rock as
well”
A notable
guest appearance on the CD is none other than ex Mr. Big drummer Pat Torpey, who
provides a solid foundation for all of Long
Way Home’s 11 tracks plus one bonus track “Love Of My Life,”
specifically recorded for the Japanese release.
“Having Pat play drums on this CD turned out to be a great decision”
Nishida says. “Lance Tamanaha,
the drummer on the last CD wasn’t available for the recording so I made a call
to Pat. He’s been a friend
for years; so having him play on the CD was very natural.
Also, being an accomplished songwriter himself, he knew instinctively
what each song needed, and played his heart out on each one.”
Long
Way Home was produced by
Nishida and Prentice and features the duos’ penchant for classic AOR elements
and a polished production style that made Different Worlds, 2003’s “one
of the best pure 80's melodic rock albums of 2003” according to Andrew McNiece
of MelodicRock.com.
“It’s certainly been a fun record to make. Aside from the fact
that Pat’s drumming just kills, this CD is definitely a huge step
forward production-wise for us,” says Prentice. "We know that Outland fans are expecting another
hook-filled, big chorus, huge guitar CD from us, and that’s exactly what Long
Way Home is.
"Our
ultimate goal is to continue with Outland as long as our fans want us to,"
Nishida says. “Outland is just a vehicle for Jeff and I to write, record and
play the type of music we both love. With
a little luck and with continued support from our fans, we’ll keep doing this
for a long, long time.”
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