LITA
FORD
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LITA
FORD
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Rosanna "Lita" Ford was born on Sept. 23, 1959 in London and moved with her parents to California when she was a small child. She first made a name for herself in the 1970's as the sexy teen guitarist for The Runaways, along with Cherie Currie and Joan Jett. After disappearing for a number of years, she returned in the early 1980's as the queen of heavy metal with albums like "Out for Blood" and "Dancin' on the Edge." Soon after she was given a makeover and became a big pop rock star, although she still retained her hard rock sheen, touching also on her glam roots. Lita has had a long and enduring career. She has also had a lot of well publicised romances with noteworthy men of metal like Tony Iommi, Nikki Sixx and W.A.S.P.'s Chris Holmes whom she married in 1989.
1. "Out For Blood"
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I was in high school when this album came out. A friend of mine purchased this CD. We were, of course, enthralled by the cover art. Lita looks fantastic in here leather duds and her disembowled BC Rich. For some odd reason when the CD version of this album came out some years later the cover was edited to the equally sexy cover pictured above. I guess someone felt that guitar abuse wasn't something they wanted to support. After all violent crimes against guitars such as those depicted on the original cover are unlawful. Pfffffft! OK, someone is either a bit too anal retentive or perhaps someone just thought the album would sell better with a less bloody cover, especially seeing as how by the time the CD came out Lita was a popular pop metal vixen. The cover art aside, this album wouldn't have been worth a nickle if the music wasn't good. I mean, we were already fans of The Runaways but if Lita had immediately chosen to go down the same route as fellow Runaway Joan Jett, we probably wouldn't have cared much. Rather, Lita wanted to play heavy metal. "Out For Blood" is 100%, 80's heavy metal. Her looks were equally matched by her chops and her sexy voice. The title track and "On the Run", both rock hard. Even the ballad, "Just A Feeling", is quite good. Especially noteworthy is "Rock 'N Roll Made Me What I Am Today", which is an autobiographical song about Lita's teenage years in The Runaways. This album was released long before her pop makeover in the late 80's. There are no big pop hits here just lots of raw energy. OK, the production is a bit uneven and in hindsight, the cover art was pretty tacky, but so what! This was how metal was in 1983. It certainly pulled me and my high school metalhead buddies in.
Unfortunately this CD is now out of print and sells for a premium on auction sites. Not even the 'best of' discs seem to include anything off this CD. Even Lita herself has sort of put this disc down, although from what I have read it's more the mix she doesn't like as opposed to the actual songs. However, it is unfortunate. For me and many other longtime fans, this was part of heavy metal history and certainly an important disc in Lita's career.
 Lita Ford - Dancin' on the Edge (Mercury) 1984 1. "Gotta Let Go" (4:39) 2. "Dancin' On The Edge" (5:00) 3. "Dressed To Kill" (3:45) 4. "Hit 'N Run" (3:54) 5. "Lady Killer" (3:40) 6. "Still Waitin'" (4:19) 7. "Fire In My Heart" (3:45) 8. "Don't Let Me Down Tonight" (4:42) 9. "Run With The $" (4:21) |
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I was a fan of Lita in the Runaways and also enjoyed her first solo album "Out For Blood" when I bought it as a new release. For some reason after that I sort of lost interest in Lita's solo career. It was over a decade later when a friend of mine suggested I give this CD a listen, stating it was better than anything she had done before it. After finally scoring a copy, I do agree that it is a worthwhile listen, although I am not sure I would place it on the same pedistal as "Out for Blood" or the classic Runaways material. Lita's sophmore release is still chock full of meaty hard rock and heavy metal axe slinging, although it is most certainly a transition record for her as well. She had not yet reach the point in her career where she was a chart breaking pop star. "Gotta Let Go" is crunchy, raunchy rocker and one of Lita's finest tracks ever. Likewise "Ladykiller" is a signature cut complte with a chainsaw. Even the power ballad "Don't Let Me Down Tonight" is a good song without being cheesy and sappy. However, other tracks like "Run with the $" and "Hit and Run" are most certainly more radio oriented and remind me a bit of Loverboy or Toto. This may be a bad thing to most metalheads, but I actually enjoy these songs as well, if I am in the right mood for them. "Dancing on the Edge" is one of the forgotten nuggets of the 1980's. It's melodic, sexy, heavy and fun.
Lita Ford - Dangerous Curves (BMG/RCA) 1991 
1. Larger than Life (3:54)
2. What do Ya Know About Love (3:53)
3. Shot of Poison (3:31)
4. Bad Love (4:20)
5. Playin' With Fire (4:08)
6. Hellbound Train (6:06)
7. Black Widow (3:31)
8. Little Too Early (2:58)
9. Holy Man (4:43)
10. Tambourine Dream (4:53)
11. Little Black Spider [instrumental] (1:47)
After releasing a couple of successful pop albums in “Lita” and “Stiletto”, Lita returns to playing rock and roll. The Tom Werman produced “Dangerous Curves” is still very commercial and has a pop appeal, but is much less focused on Lita’s sex appeal and more on guitars and songs. As one might expect from a Tom Werman produced album, this overall sound here is very glossy and overly produced. Had the guitars had more bite to them much of this album would have been among Lita’s hardest rocking. Still, despite the squeaky clean production, there are some very good songs and it’s good to hear Lita attempting some real hard rock again. “Larger than Life”, “Black Widow” and “Hellbound Train” are all fun, straight forward rockers. “Shot of Poison” is a nice pop rocker that should have been a hit, if it wasn’t. “Playin’ with Fire” is an ultra-catchy song and sounds like it could have been on Kiss’ “Crazy Nights” LP. This song definitely would have held up better over time had it not been drenched in those 80’s keyboards that drown out the guitars. As would be expected there are the obligator ballad as well in “Bad Love”. All in all, “Dangerous Curves” is a nice fusion of Lita’s rock persona and her more commercial, pop side.
