Stan Bush
Dare to Dream

Stan Bush thinks that we should dare to dream, and why shouldn’t we? It is from dreaming we might actually create something exciting, unlike the previous offering from Stan Bush that was pretty good but also really generic. This one looks dramatic, like the cover artist dared to dream a little. But did Stan? He has been around for a while, done quite a few albums, won an Emmy, been heard in movies and television, he is a relatively big name – legendary according to the press material that also states that this album is a masterpiece, but is it really?

It is a fairly typical AOR type album with catchy songs, very polished production, strong melodies, good vocals – nothing we haven’t heard before. There are no surprises here, the songs are of the variety that can be expected from an album in this genre. And, also as expected it is a really well produced album, very solid effort, it is quite obvious that Stan knows his craft, but I am not sure that he is as good a creator as he is a craftsman.

Dare to Dream is a good album with good songs, some excellent songs and strong melodies as well as choruses. The problem is that the album isn’t really standing out from the creative standpoint but as there are some really strong hits like The 80s and the title track Dare to Dream it is great album to listen to. So, I give it high marks but it is not really possible to drop the notion that it is a pretty generic album that is made great by some excellent songs. So, I really like it but I highly doubt that it is an album that will be remembered when 2020 ends – it is really enjoyable but no matter how good Stan is, it is also true that there are already hundreds of albums that are equal or better than this one.

Had this one arrived in the eighties it would have been fantastic, now it is well above average and very far from the fantastic. It is too generic and too cowardly to really make a mark, Stan Bush makes great music, but he does it like most others do and if you get tons of albums like this each month it is hard to be very ecstatic about another strong showcase of how to polish someone else’s concept. I like this album but can’t help wishing that Stan Bush dared to dream.

HHHHHHH