There’s much I’m thankful for this Thanksgiving. If you’re reading this, I’m thankful for you. Of all the pretentious and long winded metal review sites you could be reading right now, you chose this one. All kidding aside, if you had told me when I started this site as a glorified blog in January that it’d expand to what it’s become today, I wouldn’t have believed it. That would not be possible without you and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I’m thankful for heavy metal because in the words of Zebraman of Heavy Metal Parking Lot infamy, “Heavy metal rules!” I’m also thankful for the other two genres that make up a large portion of my listening diet, progressive rock and AOR. Today’s review falls in the latter category.
A good AOR album will put a smile on your face, no matter how down in the dumps you are. A very good AOR album will put a smile on your face and sound straight out of 1985. And a great AOR album will put a smile on your face, sound straight out of 1985, and stay stuck in your head for days and weeks to come. Stan Bush’s new album, Dare to Dream, is a great AOR album.
Bush is one of the most revered names in AOR. The only songsmith of the genre held in an equal or higher regard is Jim Peterik. Much like Peterik, Bush writes as if the 80s never ended. He’s stuck to his guns his entire career, even when it was unfashionable to do so. While other acts of the era spent the 2000s and early 2010s atoning for their modern rock/grunge sins, Bush continued releasing cohesive and compelling AOR gems. It’s no surprise Dare to Dream continues this tradition.
Dare to Dream is a well rounded album. There’s a variety of sounds and styles, but without alienating its intended fanbase. For example, there’s the opening “Born to Fight” and “Heat of Attack”. Both are heavy as hell slabs of melodic metal, loaded with intense riffs and the triumphant lyrics that put Bush on the map. These teasing glimpses into his metal side make me wonder just how awesome a full metal outing from Bush could be.
The musical backbone of this and just about every AOR album is guitars and synthesizers. However, Bush has fine tuned the amount of both so neither overpower the other. We end up getting a marriage of retro synths/keys and blistering lead guitar work on tracks like “The Times of Your Life”, “Dream Big”, and “Never Give Up”. The icing on the cake is Bush’s voice: miraculously untouched by time after 40+ years in the game.
I could go on and on about what an excellent release this is, but my best advice is to check it out for yourself. This is a must have for any AOR fanatic’s collection. And if you’re not too familiar with AOR, Dare to Dream serves as first-class primer for both the genre and the man who helped make it. Dream on Stan Bush. Dream on.
9 out of 10
Label: L.A. Records
Genre: AOR
For fans of: Pride of Lions, Survivor, Foreigner