Stan Bush – Dare To Dream
Label: Cargo Records, UK
Release date: 20.11.2020
Website: stanbush.com
STAN BUSH is one of the most popular and commercially sucessulful song-writers of the 80’s AOR/ Stadium Rock era and thankfully, he follows this path as well on his own solo recordings which usually are pure AOR bliss. “Dare To Dream”, his 14th solo album in total, makes no exception here and marks another highlight in Bush’s solo career.
The promising advance single “The 80’s”, which was released in advance last year and also performed live at the 2019 edition of the H.e.a.t. festival in Ludwigsburg, Germany, set the expectations very high, and most of the tracks on “Dare To Dream” easily match with these now. Some may say here that the music on “Dare To Dream” is too close to the sounds of the 80’s – and my personal first impression was that this is really damn near – but over-all Mr. Bush can see this a compliment as he definitely has managed to re-create the big sound of that era. Huge choruses, big melodies, a majestic vocal performance, massive keyboard work and skilled song-writing unite here. “Born To Flight” for example, which recently was used by Netflix for one of their series, is very close to SURVIVOR, i.e. their “Rocky” era, “A Dream Of Love” comes as typical 80’s Power ballad in early BRYAN ADAMS-style and other uptempo tunes such as “Never Give Up” and “Heat Of Attack” (huge chrous with a bit of a MAGNUM touch) prove that AOR music still can sound fresh & possessive in the year 2020.
“Dare To Dream” is a true highlight for any fan of 80’s AOR orientated music and shows again why Stan Bush, next to the greats Jim Peterik or Desmond Child, for sure is one of the 80’s best song-writers out there!
9/10
Birgitt Schwanke
Track Listing:
1. BORN TO FIGHT
2. DARE TO DREAM
3. THE TIMES OF YOUR LIFE
4. A DREAM OF LOVE
5. THE 80’S
6. LIVE AND BREATHE
7. HEAT OF ATTACK
8. DREAM BIG
9. TRUE BELIEVER
10. NEVER GIVE UP
11. HOME
