BGO's 2013 two-fer pairs
Lita Ford's biggest album, 1988's
Lita, with one of its successors: 1991's
Dangerous Curves.
Dangerous Curves marks where
Ford started to slide back down the charts, but
Lita was where the ex-
Runaway blew up big time, scoring two major hits with "Kiss Me Deadly" and "Close My Eyes Forever," a duet with
Ozzy Osbourne.
Mike Chapman, initially known as a bubblegum producer with his partner
Nicky Chinn, used what he learned from working with
Pat Benatar to create the template for
Lita, but he also showed his savviness by enlisting
Motoerhead's
Lemmy Kilmister to co-write the breakneck "Can't Catch Me" and brought in
Nikki Sixx to co-write "Falling in and Out of Love."
Sixx's presence underscores how, at its heart,
Lita is a Sunset Strip record and, years later, it still sounds as if it was stitched together with fishnets, hairspray, synthesizers, locked tremeloes, and high heels. That's not a problem: not only does it embody its era but the overblown, overdriven rock of the late '80s fit
Ford like a glove and, thanks to
Chapman's keen ear, she had her best set of songs ever. That perfect storm didn't strike again for
Dangerous Curves. Produced by
Tom Werman -- a vet of the Sunset Strip, helming records by
Moetley Cruee and
L.A. Guns --
Dangerous Curves is a heavier record than
Lita; it has a duller edge, a bigger thump, and not as many hooks. Nevertheless, this is an expensive relic from the bronze age of L.A. studio rock: this is still a time that plenty of money was poured into the creation of these monster rock records, and if the end result is kind of anonymous, it's also kind of a fun time machine. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
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