Living Like a Runaway (Deluxe Version)

Here, Lita Ford returns to the solid hard rock that made her a successful solo artist back in the '80s. The album's title is, of course, a nod to her role in the pioneering all-female rock band The Runaways with Joan Jett, though the title track itself is a balanced pop song much calmer than the whirlwind of emotions elsewhere. Her ugly divorce from her longtime husband fuels the best material here. "Mother," a ballad written to her two estranged sons, is a lament and a message of love. "Devil in My Head" drives with visceral intention and a solid hook. "Hate" expresses Ford's extreme personality with a tough metal lick, a catchy chorus, and a tale of mass murder. A cover of "A Song to Slit Your Wrists By" (originally by Mötley Crüe's Nikki Sixx's long-ago side project 58) perfectly slots into this album, which is heavily concerned with emotional turmoil and impossible reconciliations. Ford has returned to the heavy and pop metal that made her a star, with guitar tones that prove she's back in the arena where she belongs.