Description

Limited double album on red vinyls with gatefold cover, 2 bonus tracks and the entire 10 track version of the album on cd format as bonus Like almost all Lita fans, I bought Wicked Wonderland and thought what da …!!?? Then I read of Lita's personal despair and that she announced a new album that was going to be very personal and, as she said – `back to her fans'. This is it! Strong 80s rock has never died and now it is reborn through Lita's cathartic, beautifully strong album. I thought last time that her husband was way too heavy handed in the making of ‘Wicked Wonderland’ and, as it turns out, many other things as well according to Lita herself. It's a shame about her marriage and all the upheaval that's occurred since then, but great pain often results in great art. I believe that getting her feelings out in the process of making this album should help the healing begin in earnest. All that being said, this is a damn fine album (definitely a top three in her discography) that to me sounds like a cross between the vibes of "Dancing on the Edge" and "Stiletto". Lita is hungry again and has something to prove and it shows in spades. The title track is breezy and fun but still has a tinge of sadness to it that gives it even greater weight. "Luv 2 Hate U" has a similar vibe musically with different subject matter and producer Gary Hoey does a nice job sharing vocals with Lita on it. (He did a hell of a job producing this cd as well). "Mother" is this album's equivalent to "Lisa" from Stiletto with the writers perspective changed and musically it's quite similar as well, both beautiful and wistfully sad. Much of the rest of the album is the hungry, angry, I-will-overcome side of Lita. "Devil In My Head" is the pinnacle of the angrier tracks and rocks with a fantastic heavy groove to it. "Branded", "Hate", "Asylum", the mysterious sounding "The Mask", "Relentless", and "Bad Neighborhood" all thrive on the upraised-middle-finger-with-conviction-behind-it vibe. Lita ends the album with a rousing rendition of the Elton John classic "The Bitch Is Back" that really wraps things up on an upbeat note. Part of an interview done by Chad Childer for Loudwire.com You’re being as open and honest as you can be on this album, so why was this the time to basically lay it all out there for everyone to hear? Well, it’s something that I’ve really wanted to do for a long time. I wanted to make this record and I was having problems at home with my ex-husband and I wasn’t really able to function properly. He really held me down and once the divorce was done I was just able to just be Lita. The music was rolling off of me. It was unbelievable. I couldn’t stop writing. [Producer] Gary Hoey and I hooked up and Gary really brought the best out of me unlike anybody else. It sounds like the old Lita, but it sounds current, which I think is really difficult to do these days. I think Gary really added a lot to my vocals because I’ve gone places with my voice that I’ve never gone to before. It was just so real, this album, so emotional and angry and heartfelt at the same time. It says in the bio that I’ve been through a lot of emotions on this record and there were times where we had to stop tracking because I was literally crying and then we would come away with some of the best material we had ever written. Getting into the music a little bit, mother and child relationships really play into this record. You’ve got a song like ‘Living Like a Runaway’ that kind of talks about your mom’s advice to you. And on the same side you’ve got ‘Mother,’ which is talking to your own kids. Can you talk about both relationships and how your experiences with your mother informed your parenting? This song ['Mother'] for my kids is a little bit different than ‘Living Like a Runaway’ because my children have been alienated from me in this divorce. And the father refuses to let me have anything to do with my kids. I can’t get them on the phone. I can’t text them, they don’t respond. I can’t e-mail them, and if I go over there and knock on the door, I’ll probably end up having to physically fight a 300-pound testosterone monster. So I don’t have any relationship with my kids and the only way I have to reach out to them right now, except through attorneys, which I’m f—ing sick of, is to write them this song. They don’t know what happened in this divorce and the father is making them believe it’s all my fault. Mommy’s the bad guy. So I wrote them this song, so hopefully one day they’ll hear it and they’ll know that I love them and they’re my life. The tune ‘Song to Slit Your Wrists By’ has got a great industrial feel to it, and Nikki Sixx had big hand in that song? Actually Nikki wrote that with Dave Darling and they wrote that 15 years ago, and it was a song that he dedicated to his ex-wife. I heard it and it actually popped up on my desktop on my computer, and I looked at it and I thought, ‘Song to Slit Your Wrists By,’ Nikki Sixx, and I thought, ‘I don’t have any Nikki Sixx songs on my desktop. Where the hell did this come from?’ And I listened to it and as soon as I heard it I went, ‘Whoa! I gotta do this. It’s perfect.’ It would just fit perfectly on this record. So I sent Nikki and e-mail and asked him what it was, what is this song, cause it wasn’t a Motley Crue song. It was a 58 version, and I didn’t recognize the voice. So I asked him if it was something he did for his book, and he said, ‘Oh, it’s a 58 version. You can have it if you want it.’ So I said, ‘Yeah, I do, I wanna do a remake.’ So I said, ‘If you were gonna do a remake of it Nikki, what kind of vibe would you give it?’ and he suggested Nine Inch Nails and we went with his idea, and we played around with it, Gary played around with it in the studio and he came out with this ballsy track. It doesn’t sound anything like the original. They’re very, very different. Do yourself and Lita a favor and buy this album. If you liked her before, you can't possibly go wrong here. This deserves to be heard….and thank you for a great album Lita. Vinyl track listing: 1. Branded 2. Hate 3. The Mask 4. Living Like A Runaway 5. Relentless 6. Mother 7. Devil In My Head 8. Asylum 9. Luv 2 Hate U 10. A song To Slit Your Wrists By-58 cover 11. Bad Neighborhood 12. The Bitch Is Back-Elton John cover Cd listing: 1. Branded 2. Hate 3. The Mask 4. Living Like A Runaway 5. Relentless 6. Mother 7. Devil In My Head 8. Asylum 9. Luv 2 Hate U 10. A song To Slit Your Wrists By-58 cover