With a vintage organ intro and a shouted rant from one of Ford’s ex’s – Chris Holmes, Lita Ford’s new album follows hot on the heel of her tell-all book and attempts to capture the spirit of the late eighties with songs that originated back in the day and recorded on analogue tape that Ford rescued and has reworked. Does it work? Well it starts well with a nice mid-tempo duet with Jeff Scott Soto, as the pair tackles a laid back rocker with a nice catchy refrain. It’s the sort of song that creeps up on you and you’ll find yourself humming before long.
‘Killing Kind’ that follows it (with a few seconds of mandolin courtesy of Dave Navarro) sounds like vintage Lita Ford for us – mid-tempo, melodic, searching and with a tent firmly pitched in the eighties. It’s a cool song augmented by some cool backing vocals from Robin Zander and Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick who to be honest add far more than Dave’s mandolin. So far so good.
Another low key start introduces ‘War of Angels’ keeping the foot off the pedal, it’s a nice ballad, moody, atmospheric but lacking that really memorable lyric or killer refrain and in truth when it does burst into life it does so much too late.
Finally ‘Black Leather Heart’ adds a bit of grit, and even though it’s distinctly tongue in cheek and still mid-tempo it starts the shift to the rockier numbers. It’s OK, it tries hard and in honesty grows on you, but it seems like a paler imitation of Ford’s earlier material chasing shadows and not quite getting there. ‘Rotten to the Core’ on the other hand (with bass by Gene Simmons and second guitar by Bruce Kulick) does manage to catch those shadows and rocks along nicely, but again without managing to break any speed limits.
Then after the half way point things turn relatively odd, I mean Hendrix’s ‘Little Wing’ doesn’t really need to be covered does it, it’s a glorious tune we all know; but then to follow it with another instrumental ‘On the Fast Track’ which just sounds like a run of the mill demo before vocals have been added – what is that saying? Sure there’s some nice guitar on there but memorable? Well I’ll let you decide…
‘King of the Wild Wind’ is again a slower number that’s nice, drifting, but somehow seems like two songs in one as it kicks into life after three and a half minutes. The second half of the song is actually much more interesting and could have stood up on its own expanded.
The album rounds out with the dirty swagger of ‘Mr. Corruption’ (presumably left in the archives due to the chorus) and ‘Anything For the Thrill’ – which closes the album with the first real pacey rocker – it’s a great song, has some nice guitar and aside from the opening pair is probably the best here – it certainly smells of the 80’s.
What I wanted most here was a few real rip-tearing ‘cat out of the bag’ rockers, aside from the closer what you get is a series of mid-tempo rockers some of which get close to capturing the vibe and feel of Ford’s earlier work, but none of which match her previous highs. The ungracious might say that the tapes might have stayed in those suitcases, but in truth this is a grower, a real grower and the more we play it the more we like it. It may not be Ford’s best work but hopefully it might rekindle something that will drive her forwards again.
TRACKLIST
TRACKLISTING: 1. Intro | 2. Where Will I Find My Heart Tonight | 3. Killing Kind | 4. War of the Angels | 5. Black Leather Heart | 6. Rotten To the Core | 7. Little Wing | 8. On The Fast Track | 9. King of the Wild Wind | 10. Mr. Corruption | 11. Anything for the Thrill
LITA FORD live 2016 – US/Canada – April
01 Reading, PA – Reading Eagle Theatre (with Halestorm)
02 Hampton Beach, NH – Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom (with Halestorm)
05 Huntington, WV – Big Sandy Superstore Arena (with Halestorm)
06 Lexington, KY – Singletary Center (with Halestorm)
07 Raleigh, NC – The Ritz (with Halestorm)
09 Biloxi, MS – Hard Rock Live “Biloxi” (with Halestorm)
11 Springfield, MO – Gillioz Theatre (with Halestorm)
12 Tulsa, OK – Club Brandy (with Halestorm)
13 Wichita, KS – Cotillion Ballroom (with Halestorm)
15 Fargo, ND – Fargo Civic Center (with Halestorm)
16 Sioux City, IA – Hard Rock Live “Sioux City” (with Halestorm)
19 Huntsville, AL – Mark C. Smith Concert Hall (with Halestorm)
20 Spartanburg, SC – Spartan Memorial Auditorium (with Halestorm)
21 Johnson City, TN – Freedom Hall Civic Center (with Halestorm)
24 Ladson, SC – 98 Rock Fest (with Breaking Benjamin and Halestorm)
Europe
08.-11.06. SE- Sölvesborg – Sweden Rock Festival
13.-14.08.B-Kortijk – Alcatraz Festival
