Lee Aaron: pop music in leather trousers, and not in as good way

Canadian ‘Metal Queen’ Lee Aaron gets a fresh polish, 40 years after her debut

Lee Aaron - Elevate cover art
(Image: © Metalville)

You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.

After dalliances with jazz at the start of this century, Lee Aaron now continues in the rock vein with which she launched her career 40 years ago. Well, almost. 

Not far into opener Rock Bottom Revolution you begin to hope that she missed the memo that suggested artists put the album’s best track first. The next song has you worried that she did. The Devil U Know gets things back on a rockier track, but really these 10 songs are underwhelming at best. 

It sounds crisp and clear (no doubt thanks to Mike Fraser’s role as recording and mix engineer), but it’s all way too poppy, pedestrian and lyrically puerile. 

On the plus side, Aaron’s voice is still good, and easily strong enough to carry a tune – witness the soppy ballad Red Dress. The problem is writing a song that can be passed off as anything other than a pop song in leather trousers.

Neil Jeffries

Freelance contributor to Classic Rock and several of its offshoots since 2006. In the 1980s he began a 15-year spell working for Kerrang! intially as a cub reviewer and later as Geoff Barton’s deputy and then pouring precious metal into test tubes as editor of its Special Projects division. Has spent quality time with Robert Plant, Keith Richards, Ritchie Blackmore, Rory Gallagher and Gary Moore – and also spent time in a maximum security prison alongside Love/Hate. Loves Rush, Aerosmith and beer. Will work for food.