Lee Aaron
Bodyrock

A story like ours, I believe. High school, long-haired friends, lots of heavy metal. Musical echoes of adolescence translated into a heavy and rather dark debut. That's why she sang the ominous Metal Queen. And there we are. An inconspicuous presence in the diverse North American music scene of the 80s. Then something happens. Adolescence steps aside and the girl emerges from the cocoon transformed into a woman. A woman cheerful and positive, enriched with emotional experiences, but the normal kind, after all. I imagine the stories, the band, the music, her great passion.

Receptive, sensitive, and endowed with a leonine femininity, she decides to make the leap into the hard rock savannah of those years and succeeds in 1990 by releasing a historic album for enthusiasts.

"Bodyrock" is a blend of pure emotions, which connects people because it tells stories of ordinary daily life, in which everyone can identify. By uprooting the violent and self-destructive vein of the genre from her music and its content, Lee Aaron decides to align herself parallel to the path of politically correct rock, transmitting a desire for life and fun. Examples of fully successful tracks in this sense are "Nasty Boyz", a glam opening track, "Watcha do to my body", "Hands on", "Gotta thing for you", sparkling songs full of electric energy. It is explosive and engaging rock, which if it were up to me, I would define as power rock.

The album contains a wonderful cover of the debut album of pioneers Montrose: it is the faithful to the original "Rock candy", which with Lee Aaron's powerful and passionate female voice winks even more. Another well-crafted track is "Yesterday", the second one, still in line with the previous descriptions. The two gems of the album (which I imagine played live was the delight of many people because it is so suited to live performances) are nonetheless two ballads. The first, and in my opinion the most intense, is the hard "Sweet talk". Listened to with headphones plugged directly into your brain, you can well imagine how much physical and emotional participation there was from the singer. You can perceive the movements of the phalanges gripping the microphone, the elastic movements of the eyelids depending on the singing, the bodily postures. An album so carnal could not miss this track. The closing of the 12 tracks is, instead, the other ballad "How deep", which with an atmospheric opening sound slightly reminiscent of the rising sun, tackles the difficult aspect of a love story. At the peak of the track, the dam's gates open and electric guitar cascades pour down. A good work.

"Bodyrock" cannot be forgotten. It has a special place among the special albums of the anachronistic, as many say, leopard print/cotton candy period. It doesn't look out of place at all in front of the second album by Vixen and in my opinion, it's even better than those by the more famous Lita Ford. Certainly, the traceability of Lee Aaron's career doesn't tell us about an artist, shall we say, consistent, but about a woman in continuous evolution who, after practicing so much rock and constantly refining it, has now reached jazz shores. But I think it will take some time for me to get used to this idea. Lee Aaron is an 80s sticker. And that's how she will always remain for me.