Lita Ford - Dangerous Curves

After working with power-pop hero Mike Chapman on Stiletto, Lita Ford switched producers on Dangerous Curves and joined forces with another in-demand studio ace, Tom Werman. The result is a decent collection of slick, commercial hard rock that isn't much different from its predecessor. Glossy pop-metal cuts like 'Black Widow,' 'Hellbound Train' and 'Playin' With Fire' aren't the gems that Ford is quite capable of delivering (anyone familiar with her work with the Runaways knows just how talented she is), but they're fun and spirited. 'Bad Love,' meanwhile, is a noteworthy example of her dramatic ballad style. Ford gets in some nice guitar solos, reminding us that she definitely has solid chops. 11 tracks. 2001 remastered reissue. Album Description

One of best of late 80s pop metal albums

I would place this as Lita's most overall enjoyable album, despite the fact that there are some bigger hits and very memorable songs on both Lita and Stiletto. This may be a bit slick for some tastes, but to me it is just an enjoyable listen from beginning to end. Shot of Poison seems to be every bit as good as Kiss Me Deadly. Bad Love is a good ballad. Virtually every song has good hooks. She plays her badgirl image for all it's worth. I find it every bit as good as the best albums by Poison, Bon Jovi,Crue,etc. And she's sexy. And she can play guitar just as well as the guys in those bands. If you like catchy pop metal, doubt you'll be dissapointed. September 16, 2004

Beautiful and Deadly...

My recollection of Lita Ford derives from the time I saw her in concert at The Country Club in Reseda with My friend Rick at the time, and our dates. She wore a skin-tight silver lame' body suit with a plunging neck-line, a studded belt around her waist with a huge belt-buckle inscribed with the word "Bitch" thereupon - and after the show, she actually leaned down towards the front row invariably displaying lovely cleavage, and bearing a bottle of wine or champagne to share with her fans in the front row.

I recall her fling with Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue primarily, her previous band The Runaways, and of course, that unforgettable duet with Ozzy Osbourne "Close My Eyes Forever"; her music contained a couple of catchy tunes from time to time, but it really derived a more distinctive character with the addition of the keyboards. Then it tool on a more dangerously erotic appeal accentuating her femme fatale persona - "beautiful and deadly" as she fancies herself. This took place with her prime release "Kiss Me Deadly" {containing the afore-mentioned Ozzy duet}. "Dangerous Curves" also certainly carries that theme to the hilt with songs like "Shot of Poison", "Playin' With Fire", "Black Widow", and "Little Black Spider" would indicate. Dangerous Curves has its moments, but it definitely comes in second to "Kiss Me Deadly" in most respects. Of particular mention, I did enjoy "Hellbound Train" with witch-cackles and all.

She actually did initiate what perhaps may be described as "dance metal" {which would rally not be Metal in actuality, but more in the lines of "hard rock"}, and serves as a passionate encounter with a lover, or stripper music for erotic performers. There certainly is an energetic quality to her music that makes one want to move and gyrate, especially in the bed chamber "in a super-sized bed", as it were.
August 1, 2004

If Stiletto was a stiletto, Dangerous Curves is a sword!

Or should that be scimitar? Where the diluted Stiletto, Lita Ford's followup to her breakthrough Lita album, only had a few songs to recommend it, such as "Lisa," Dangerous Curves shows Lita Ford back in top form, showing even more teeth than she did on Lita, teeth meaning her ferocious lead guitar and powerful vocals that belts out lyrics in songs like "What Do Ya Know About Love".

The chugging and hard-driving "Larger Than Life" with its visceral 80's drum and pulsing guitar attack demonstrates that she still teeth sharp enough to take on many male metal rockers. This is by far the heaviest song here. And if Cinderella and Britny Fox took heed, they would've come up with something like "What Do Ya Know About Love." Well, maybe not, as Lita's asking the question to the stereotypical macho type in snakeskin boots who's spreading himself all over town at the cost of little girls cryin' out loud.

The single "Shot Of Poison" isn't as hard-driving as "Kiss Me Deadly," with the same synths and guitar combination, only more radio-friendly. With Jim Vallance as co-songwriter and Heart's Howard Leese providing extra guitars, it was sure to make the Top 40.

"Bad Love" is a hauntingly stark and bitter ballad, with tempered keyboards and fiery guitar, even better than "Lisa." It's the end of the road with this song, with "I could never forgive you/and I damn sure won't forget/in heaven or hell every tear that I've cried/will come back to haunt you yet" being a pretty cold way to say "end of story." With the keyboards, I can picture Heart doing this on their 80's Ron Nevison albums.

"Playin' With Fire," also co-written by Jim Vallance, is another slamming tune, that could've been a single with the catchy chorus. "Little Too Early" is another singleworthy tune due to the lighter sound (at least compared to the other songs here).

The chugging rhythm section in the beginning does indeed mimic a train going down the tracks in the Bon Jovi-ish "Hellbound Train," with the wild as all-out protagonist's baggage being a devil in the brain, a fistful of whisky, a suitcase full of sin, and my favourite, "a thousand nasty habits underneath my skin."

"Black Widow," a throwback to harder-edged 80's metal, with the multiple backing vocalists in the chorus, is a chilling look at a seductive human equivalent of that deadly spider. Best lyrics: "Making love on a suicide bed/once you taste that poison darling, you're dead."

"Holy Man" begins with Lita and company singing the chorus a capella a la Bon Jovi's "You Give Love A Bad Name," but with a melody like Belinda Carlisle's "Heaven Is A Place On Earth." The similarities end there, and there's a reverse theme going on in the religious motifs. She demands to be lead into temptation, fair enough, but the analogy is completed when "You made the darkest night in my life into Judgment Day," which is a dark equivalent of "you made the brighest night in my life into heaven." She really catches fire for this one--pun intended.

"Tambourine Dream" is a mid-paced song, while the closing "Little Black Spider" is a short quiet electric guitar instrumental.

This album should have been another musical hallmark for Lita Ford, so why was it overshadowed? In looking at its release date, 1991, the answer comes in two words: grunge, Metallica. March 10, 2004

LITA ROCKS!!

Yes this sounds like what it is: a fun CD from a bygone era when Rock & Roll still rocked and everybody wasn't depressed in flannel shirts or into quasi-disco pop crap. Lita was tough, and sexy and could play the guitar and had humor and attitude and guts that Avril and Britney and that ilk can only dream about. God Bless You Lita and ROCK ON!! February 19, 2004

A bit dated and too-slick, but Lita's got the grooves

I recently put this on at a party and everyone was groaning, "what year is THAT from?" I guess it does sound like a relic from the Poison/Ratt/Twisted Sister era, but Lita's got some great grooves on this CD, beginning with the sinful "Shot of Poison" on down to the hellacious "Hellbound Train". "Holy Man" and "Tamborine Dream" show off a nice, commercial hard-pop sensibility, and "Little Too Early" is a ferverishly catchy ditty(co-written by one of Lita's heroes, Ritchie Blackmore). But "Black Widow" and "Bad Love" don't measure up as the "slower" songs(not really ballads)and I didn't much care for "Larger Than Life" which is trying too hard for pop single status. B+ overall, and the blurry-blue shots of Lita in the booklet are menacingly sexy. January 24, 2003

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