I must admit I have always been a long-time fan of Lee Aaron’s music, many of the songs bring back incredible memories, over 15-albums a career rocking 40-years that just rocks my world with smiles, a wonderful way to groove life away. She’s really done it all, rock, blues, some metal not like that of Lita Ford, rather hard rock, hell she even released a Christmas album. She unleashed a covers record from Metalville, featuring 11 killer tracks but with some that are slightly different than the originals and not the overdone songs everyone else does, she expanded the range, and that’s cool. The first time for anything is very special, but she and her band work to polish these songs, never forcing the music just allow it to come easy.
First, I gotta thank Baron for the opportunity to review her latest record, a cover version I think everyone enjoys when a band they like cues up their rendition of influential song as a bonus. All bands play a song by a famous musician in their sets when they pass onto the great beyond. Cause life, art, music still influences us, it moves us to feel emotions deeper than before, again way cool, that classic energic emotion of Lee, easily heard in her vocals, just can sense the fun from the entire album, during the recording process, the passion of the music. The selection of classic to little-known songs really pays tribute to her career, it is a lasting painting of how she motivated her style and finding her own voice.
I thought “Are You Going to Be My Girl” originally by Jet, an Australian band, was wickedly fun, the style Lee gives it as it was a male singer the first around, and then her twist, makes a big splash. Next was Heart‘s “Even It Up” another great version, but really for me, it had to be the fourth song Led Zeppelin’s “What Is And What Should Never Be” the rendition is sultry to start and then kicks it up ton of notches as the band drives the acoustic charm making a bond with the chords, riffs and just drips in that hard rocking 70s groove. I blared and blasted the song from the speakers; cause being honest metal bands have combined these styles effectively well. Alice Cooper’s “is It My Body?” was offered as a suggestion by Lee’s husband it had captured the humor and magic of that peculiar track, hearing her voice to Alice’s was ooky. Fleetwood Mac‘s “Go Your Own Way” was okay, I prefer the original harmonies from Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, just seals it, the style doesn’t ruin the overall effort, sometimes with covers a song will not hit the way you ideally want it to. Then Lee drops the bluesy rocking mellow track of “The Pusher” from Nina Simone done in 1974, purrs long with a really, fabulous sensibility, you can feel like being a darkened smoky room listening to this. Hey, just to note to y’all, it was original written by Hoyt Axton, his 1968 Home Demo Edition is deep and psycho-scary and found itself given psychedelic rock rendition by Steppenwolf, another cool band. A very modern song from Courtney Love’s Hole band called “Malibu” followed by Elton John’s “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” a vocal performance from Lee, I went to listen to Elton version, and it contains backing vocals, sorry but Lee rocks it better, another wonderful gem discovered; her band gives a cherished performance. The album closes out with a track called “Teenage Kicks,” which was from a band called The Undertones, from 1979, and band nails once again, just as they did with the opening song Tattoo.
Track Listing:
Tattoo
Are You Going to Be My Girl
Even It Up
What Is And What Should Never Be
Is It My Body
Go Your Own Way
The Pusher
Malibu
Somebody Saved My Life Tonight
Connection
Teenage Kicks
Line Up:
Lee Aaron – lead vocals
Sean Kelly – guitars
Dave Reimer – bass
John Cody – drums
It’s easy to see the entire project appears wickedly fun, a labor of passion and dedication, with fantastic high productions best was that Aaron never did songs that everybody else covers giving fans a diverse style to enjoy, embracing the art from others. The bottom line for this album is that Lee and her band mates brought the music which they were fans of to a new level with their renditions and interpretations, and tunes do rock. Lastly, in the multiple interviews to support her latest work, Lee gives many lessons for any artist to understand and respect, which I feel is best summarized this way, if you can’t make the song at least as good or better, than the original doesn’t bother.
Vincent’s Rating: 4.0/5.0
Band Links:
www.instagram.com/leeaaron.music
www.facebook.com/LeeAaronMusic
www.youtube.com/user/LeeAaronTV
Label Links: