LEE AARON‘s impact on Canadian music is undeniable. Over her career she did metal, melodic rock, AOR music to jazz and classic rock, always with her distinctive voice exploring new music colors. Lee was the ‘Metal Queen’ in her origins getting attention with the album of the same title.
In the mid-Eighties American / Canadian metal started to morph to a more accessible sound, and Aaron with her partner John Albani (a great, underrated guitarist) wrote a bunch of catchy melodic songs for the next LP.
Originally issued 1985, Lee Aaron’s third album “Call Of The Wild” still sounds metal, however with an appealing hard rock groove and catchiness ready for rock radio and MTV. The production is muscular anyway, some kind of the sound Twisted Sister and Quiet Riot (‘Condition Critical’) adopted as well: heavy rocking and commercial.
As requested, here’s the only remastered version of “Call Of The Wild“, now out of print, which sounds fabulous. To make it more interesting, we added as extras the maxi-singles “Rock Me All Over 12″ (only vinyl)” and “Barely Holdin’ On 12″ (only vinyl)”, including songs from the album but remixed in single versions, plus the non-album track ‘Call Of The Wild’, which oddly wasn’t included on the original album final track list but released as B-side into one of these 12″.
“Call of the Wild” is Lee Aaron post-hit album, the kind that doesn’t have her most famous song on it, but proves she can still make some really good rocking music. This LP is just as fun and well-crafted as its predecessor, and it might even be better in some ways. For many people, “Call of the Wild” is Aaron’s finest hour, a blend of heaviness and catchiness.
To gain impact, the LP follows the same structure as its predecessor: start with a potential monster hit in ‘Rock Me All Over’ (a terrific tune), then a softer song this time more radio friendly, another metallic anthem, then a power ballad with Lee’s cover of Silver Condor / Joe Cerisano penned “Barely Holdin’ On”, some other metallic hard rockers, and end with a fun track with “Rock” in the title.
But aside from similarities, the songs themselves are absolutely impressive.
“Rock Me All Over” is the first track, and wow, what an opening. It’s not about a metal queen, rather about a girl’s unrequited love for a rock star, but Lee gives it such great emotion with her powerful and intense singing. And it has a real monster of a hook.
On most of the album she’s always giving it her all, going over the top, making the album feel so ’80s epic and energetic. It has some absolutely powerful metal anthems, like “Champion”, which might have some of the heaviest riffs her band has ever played, and being one of the most bad ass songs she’s ever made.
Written by talented Bob Halligan Jr., “Line of Fire” is another crunchy melodic hard rocker where she plays a stalker who’ll never get tired of chasing you. Just like “Rock Me All Over”, it’s one of the most grandiose tracks on the album.
“Evil Game” brings some intensity to this heavy track about living in a dangerous world. “Danger Zone” is a pretty fun song about riding at full speed, and as on most the album, the guitar work kills. “Beat’em Up” is another pure mid-Eighties kick-ass song also written by Halligan Jr. (covered by Blue Oyster Cult as well), and there’s augmented catchiness to “Hot to be Rocked”.
Even ballads can be really intense, like the amazing cover of Silver Condor / Joe Cerisano “Barely Holdin’ On”, where Lee’s screaming her lungs out as she’s singing to this character who’s losing everything.
More commercial material can be found on midtempo “Paradise”, and the very 80s synthy “Running From the Fire”, bordering AOR. Then Aaron made her version of Canadian band Spider / Holly Knight “Burning Love”, just much more melodic hard rocking.
This album packs the true power of the ‘metal queen’: while at the time the scene was dominated by male vocalists, she can sing all the metal cliches with authenticity, and make it feel just as powerful and fun. And that’s because her songs are really good, with great riffs and hooks for days.
“Call of the Wild” proves just how many amazing songs she can make. Sure, it’s not the album that featured her big hit, but still deserves to be remembered as one of her finest moments.
HIGHLY Recommended
Call Of The Wild remastered:
01 – Rock Me All Over
02 – Runnin’ From The Fire
03 – Champion
04 – Barely Holdin’ On
05 – Burnin’ Love
06 – Line Of Fire
07 – Beat ‘Em Up
08 – Paradise
09 – Evil Game
10 – Danger Zone
11 – Hot To Be Rocked
Extras:
Rock Me All Over 12″
12 – Rock Me All Over (Single Version)
13 – Line Of Fire (Single Version)
14 – Evil Game (Single Version)
Barely Holdin’ On 12″
15 – Danger Zone (Single Version)
16 – Call Of The Wild (B-side)
Lee Aaron – lead vocals, backing vocals
John Albani – guitar, backing vocals
Simon Brierley – guitar
Bob Ezrin – keyboards, percussion
Jerry Mercer – drums
Spider Sinnaeve – bass
Chris Brockway – backing vocals
Walter Zwolinski – backing vocals
Dick Wagner – backing vocals