Traci Lords

Radioactive

She’ll never, ever be anything other than a “former underage porn star,” but give Traci Lords credit for doggedly pursuing a career in, er, legitimate entertainment. After all, she’s played a slut in several B movies, a slut in a TV movie, a slut on Roseanne, a cult nut’s concubine on Melrose Place, and she kicks off her new techno-dance opus 1,000 Fires with “Control,” a tune that finds her assuming the role of—you guessed it!—a slut. What’s surprising here is not that Lords finds other things to sing about (“Father’s Field” discusses rape) or that she is co-credited as a writer on many of the tracks, but that Fires is a worthwhile dance album. Tracks like “Control” and “Okey Dokey” offer brisk, bubbly rhythms, while “I Want You” and “Fly” follow a smoother, funkier path. Sure, Lords had production help from several techno luminaries (Jesus Jones frontman Mike Edwards among them), but the disc’s superior mix coupled with Lords’ own silken vocals make 1,000 Fires suitable for any bump ‘n’ grind.