Ms Ford ...

[uwe]

Even back in her Runaways daze, I always thought lovely Lita geetar maid a little corny, she didn't have Cherie's teenage hooker on drugs appeal and didn't look as mindlessly cool as Joan (Sandy already looked back then like boys weren't among her top priorities and Jackie with her TBird looked like she really didn't want to be there). She was very much the all-American cheerleader in too tight hotpants wielding an Explorer - not my type at all. This was slightly unfair, I admit, as Lita was probably the best musician and certainly the best instrumentalist in the band, Joan Jett for all her cool never progressed much over that one bar chord she once learned and has made a career of moving around on the first 12 frets during the last three decades without ever quite mastering Johnny Ramone's ingenuity with that particular chord! Also, Joan never dated Ritchie Blackmore, Lita did, so there.

I didn't follow what Frau Ford did in the eighties either, anybody managed by Sharon O I tended to stay away from, I guess I heard that duet with Sharon's hubby once or twice. Last I heard, leathür Lita was married to an SM-obsessed realtor and released an album lauding her kinked up love life with him.



She was hit hard in the reviews too for that - her penultimate - album (I still write "album", I know it gives away my age).

Fast forward to today, the kinky realtor is history, Frau Ford has had a divorce and a broken heart, the old girl probably needs the money I thought so I bought her new album CD  after it had a favorable review in Classic Rock. "Living like a Runaway" 'tis called.

And what can I say? I like what I hear, she still is a competent guitarist (very European by the way, you can still hear how Blackmore was one of her idols), more tasteful than shreddy today, not afraid to add twin leads in thirds for good measure, but not overdoing it. She has recorded a nicely melodic hard rock - not heavy metal - album which won't change the world but shows good craftsmanship and a sense for a hook or two. Me like. And she'll never be Janis Joplin or Karen Carpenter, but I prefer her voice to Ms Jett's which I still find grating after two or three tracks to this day (and my fave Cherie could never sing, she just sneered into the microphone at best, but that with great attitude). Does remind me of Heart sometimes.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v55BqMZm7f4&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JV2ilEwQng&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myZMKmNHtZo&feature=relmfu

I know. I really should be too old for this kind of music. To my credit, I no longer have that poster here hanging in bed room, ok, though it did good service for a while.  

[Big_Stu]

I might research a "3 degrees of separation" theory as regards Slade & all things musical,
exhibit (a) your honour....



Sorry, I'll get my coat on the way out..............

[uwe]

Nobody ever added much to that song, The Runaways certainly couldn't - except off key singing by Joanie babe - , but these guy didn't fare much better:





Noddy's rumbling rhythm guitar is the key, singing/screaming/fog-horning in tune helps:

[Big_Stu]

I'm glad you used that last example for Nod; it's their Earl's Court gig in '73, they debuted their second song to go straight to the top of the UK charts that night, had won every award that was open to them & knew they were unbeatable live; the other tracks available from that gig are just prime Slade.
You can hear at the end that Nod was about to launch into Cum On Feel The Noize, which Quiet Riot still get writing credits for by some on Youtube. 

I've tried finding out as much as possible about those weird amps they had then, bought in late '71; made by SNS, tranny heads & Slade were their only name sponsors. Jim didn't use his for long, he split them between Nod & Dave and went on to 4 x Acoustic 361s, as can be seen in that film.

Oops! Another thread hijack by me......   

[godofthunder]

 Ugh those other versions are pure crap. Stu, thread hijacking barley goes noticed here, it seems that if it isn't hijacked it's not a successful thread. Can you tie WWII aircraft in to this one?

[uwe]

For all their musical qualities, Slade were an ugly bunch, that part of the Runaways' crown remains untouched, hijack all you want  , the yanks here are usually dumbfounded with Messrs Holder, Lea, Hill and Powell anyway. It's like Status Quo to them. Or Wishbone Ash!

Scott is the lone ranger here, but even he can't get his band buddies to play a Slade song unless he sold it to them as a Quiet Riot one.
And Mark, but he's just relieved that Dave Hill's mum was even more aghast about her son's stage outfits than his mom is about Mark's sartorial splendor.

Dave (W. not Hill) doesn't like stadium rock and Slade didn't even really get there in the US unless they were an opening act for someone else.

[Big_Stu]

Can you tie WWII aircraft in to this one?

Hmm, I'll work on it, but for now you may have to consider this...........



With REAL close-ups of a certain bass!

IIRC it was filmed on stage by a film-crew to a play-back track before they went on to play a full gig later on.
The story of the song is true - for those who haven't heard AND can make out the lyrics thru their accents............
... when Slade lived in the States for a couple of years trying to crack it ('75-'77) Nod & Jim were due to appear at a radio station in SF. As they neared the airport the pilot announced problems, so they had to circle, & jettisoned the fuel into the harbour until the problem miraculously fixed itself. Nod & Jim were quite happy however, the air-crew were giving out free drinks.....marred only by "the honk" (as Nod used to introduce it live) from those passengers who were scared & hadn't made it to the rest-room.

Midlands Misery was the bands nickname for Jimmy, after a fan noticed him being a doleful creative & only happy when he was miserable - and described a picture of him that way ........ Nod, Dave, Don, Midlands Misery.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

I've always loved Lita ever since her BC Rich ads with the thong ushered me into adolesence. "Kiss Me Deadly" actually got seriously airplay around here when I was younger. I'm gonna have to pick up the new one.

[gweimer]

I got to interview Lita for The Illinois Entertainer.  I saw her on two different shows, sparsely attended, and she gave it her all.  She had Randy Castillo on drums, which helped.  I thought she was a good guitar player then, too.
The interview was fun.  She looked even better from close up than her videos.  Her opening line to me was "You wanna drink, you wanna smoke, you wanna f**k?".  I think Tony Iommi was out in the tour bus waiting for her.  If I have it right, she was married and divorced from WASP guitarist Chris Holmes before she became famous.

[Highlander]

I just did not get them at all when there was material like this around...



Lemmy has a keen interest in WWII, don't ya know...

[Big_Stu]

He's also interested in WW1 too. His cross is a WW1 one he's said. But in some areas of WW2 his knowledge in encyclopedic, such as the conversation he has about a German armoured car in his movie & seems to argue whether it's a 250 or 251???


In my youth - and my naivety - I bought a WW2 German belt-buckle, which I meant to give him at the last meet, but being keen to get a pic with him I forgot it was in my other pocket .......... next time!
M'head were my second obsession as a late-teenager; first saw them in late '77/early '78.

[Highlander]

Pretty much the same for me... saw them a few times in '77 and onwards - the only vinyl I kept was the original Motorhead 12" - I had the Hawkwind version (violin solo ) on the B of Kings Of Speed bought when released but that went back in '89 when I decided to subsidise a new stereo system...

[Big_Stu]

Can't remember if I posted this on here before;   (don't worry - I won't post the pic of me breaking in Lemmy's amps at Marshall for him - again!) but at my first gig of theirs Lemmy rode up the stairs of the venue on a motorbike & up to the stage. Story was that he was late, but I guess it was a stunt, hooked me though.
I've got ..... Hammersmith on vinyl and the 7" singles up to No Class; though for me they're definitely way way better live than in a studio.

[ack1961]

Close your eyes and listen to Bomber...sounds just like Vim Fuego.
Don't make me post a video to prove it.

[Rob]

"penultimate - album (I still write "album", I know it gives away my age). "  Uhhh Uwe penultimate gives away youe profession