LEE AARON: Radio On! (ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Alongside Doro, Lita Ford, Joan Jett or Robin Beck, Lee Aaron is one of those metal queens who set our teenage turntables on fire in the 80's (but not only). At almost sixty, the (still) beautiful Canadian could aspire to a quiet retirement but, as her male colleagues of the same generation do not seem ready to hang up, why would she deprive herself of continuing her career?

Listening to "Radio On!", it's hard to imagine that it's a 59 year old woman who is behind the microphone! What health, what energy, damn it! It swings, it rocks with the Canadian who, always flanked by her drummer husband John Cody, captured this sound in the middle of Covid and especially in live conditions which dictate this devastating vitality doubled by a refreshing authenticity.

And "Radio On!" does not lack good ideas, distributing with largesse the hymns in power, cut for the airwaves. Under the leadership of the master Mike Fraser, emblematic producer of this blessed and past era, Lee Aaron regales us with twelve songs which, as thirty-five years ago, have the good taste to balance between power and emotion, the mid-tempos dominating the whole. Starting with 'Vampin', a fiery opener that immediately vamps the listener and launches the listening in the most racy and nervous way. A mixture of strength and sweetness in the voice, a lumberjack rhythm and a solo that hits the bull's eye feed this hit worthy of Aerosmith's great hours ("Pump" is not far).

The rest of the album is just as good ('Cmon') and makes you want to swallow the kilometers on board of a robust mechanic through vast expanses ('Radio On' and its discreet arrangements full of feeling) or to hug with 'Wasted', 'Twenty On' and even more the huge 'Devil's Gold', a dramatic and bewitching breath of six minutes long Like reminiscences of "Diamond Baby Blues", the album often flirts with the blues whose sap flows in the vocal lines of the feline mistress of the place who has lost neither her ardour nor her voice, as witness the 'Soul Breaker', 'Mama Don't Remember' or even 'Soho Crawl'.

Nostalgic without being dusty, "Radio On!" wiggles between rock burns and romantic bloodletting, plunging us back into the 80's with its impeccable collection of songs. There's nothing to throw away, especially not Lee Aaron, who is in better shape than ever! - Official website

LEE AARON

RADIO ON!

METALVILLE

ROCK