Stan Bush
The Ultimate
LA Records
2014
Stan Bush has always been a very consummate AOR musician almost consistently delivering high quality tracks with only a period from the late 90s to the mid-00s being a little more ropey and kinda boring. In the past couple of albums, Bush, had recaptured his songwriting flair and overall feel-good vibe, so the results were nothing sort of spectacular. Enter “The Ultimate...”. While the title would have you thinking that this might be some sort of “Best of”, this is a new collection of songs, alight.
On towards the album now. “The Ultimate” continues, in pretty much the same path that its two predecessors, 2007s “In This Life” and 2010s “Dream The Dream” did, ie offering some pretty dynamic and pompous AOR, with really heartfelt and passionate melodies, but its production values, seem to be lacking somewhat when compared with those two, maybe due to the “severance” with the bigger company and probably a decidedly smaller budget allocated for recordings, this time around, but it’s not to the point where things become annoying, it’s just that, the mix is not that “clear” as before... And while previously, the songs where really all totally exciting and exhilarating, now on occasion, there might be some moments that bring to mind the somewhat “weaker” 2004s “Shine”...
From the opening track “Something to Believe” with its sure and bold guitar tones and smooth melodies until the very end of the album with
The almost exotic “The Touch” (power mix) with its jungle drumming and bizarre falsettos making it a rather unusual choice for a closer, the album seems to have a good number of highlights. The title track, is definitely among them, with its keyboard hits and strong vocal entries registering a residency in your memory during the chorus.
“Heat of the Battle” might have a cliché title as they come and its melodies might be something that you might have heard before, but yeah, I’ll admit it felt like a guilty pleasure...
“Love Again” is an obligatory ballad, quite well-done actually.
“Stand in the Fire” registers one more of those cliché titles, but is probably one of the best songs of the album, bringing to your memory the best of Dare, around “Blood From Stone” …
“Unstoppable” is a pompous bit, that has a way too modern orchestration and just didn’t do much for me, sounded a little too silly really…
“Thunder in Your Heart” is a certain improvement, with a catchy chorus, and passionate vocals and a good riff, but by this point the steam seems to be slowly running out… a fear that “The Journey” sort of actually proves not to be unfounded, as it is a melodic mid tempo composition that seems to be going through the motions, using, well known forms and ideas, more than a great melody to carry itself…
“The Memory of You” is a ballad, that initially seems to be going no-where, but ultimately, Bush manages to make quite endearing by the sheer passion of his delivery. And just before the end there’s just another ballad, the proper tearjerker “If I’m not Loving You” that actually, is worth the wait... the second portion of the album is clearly and decidedly weaker than the first and the sequencing, I’m not entirely sure if it helps it…
Well after a couple of nearly phenomenal albums in a row, Stan Bush returns with a more average attempt, but it still contains a number of quite decent songs. Only problem is, that this thing, is only gonna be available online, I suppose, since I’ve only seen a couple of places actually stocking such releases... Anyhow…
On towards the album now. “The Ultimate” continues, in pretty much the same path that its two predecessors, 2007s “In This Life” and 2010s “Dream The Dream” did, ie offering some pretty dynamic and pompous AOR, with really heartfelt and passionate melodies, but its production values, seem to be lacking somewhat when compared with those two, maybe due to the “severance” with the bigger company and probably a decidedly smaller budget allocated for recordings, this time around, but it’s not to the point where things become annoying, it’s just that, the mix is not that “clear” as before... And while previously, the songs where really all totally exciting and exhilarating, now on occasion, there might be some moments that bring to mind the somewhat “weaker” 2004s “Shine”...
From the opening track “Something to Believe” with its sure and bold guitar tones and smooth melodies until the very end of the album with
The almost exotic “The Touch” (power mix) with its jungle drumming and bizarre falsettos making it a rather unusual choice for a closer, the album seems to have a good number of highlights. The title track, is definitely among them, with its keyboard hits and strong vocal entries registering a residency in your memory during the chorus.
“Heat of the Battle” might have a cliché title as they come and its melodies might be something that you might have heard before, but yeah, I’ll admit it felt like a guilty pleasure...
“Love Again” is an obligatory ballad, quite well-done actually.
“Stand in the Fire” registers one more of those cliché titles, but is probably one of the best songs of the album, bringing to your memory the best of Dare, around “Blood From Stone” …
“Unstoppable” is a pompous bit, that has a way too modern orchestration and just didn’t do much for me, sounded a little too silly really…
“Thunder in Your Heart” is a certain improvement, with a catchy chorus, and passionate vocals and a good riff, but by this point the steam seems to be slowly running out… a fear that “The Journey” sort of actually proves not to be unfounded, as it is a melodic mid tempo composition that seems to be going through the motions, using, well known forms and ideas, more than a great melody to carry itself…
“The Memory of You” is a ballad, that initially seems to be going no-where, but ultimately, Bush manages to make quite endearing by the sheer passion of his delivery. And just before the end there’s just another ballad, the proper tearjerker “If I’m not Loving You” that actually, is worth the wait... the second portion of the album is clearly and decidedly weaker than the first and the sequencing, I’m not entirely sure if it helps it…
Well after a couple of nearly phenomenal albums in a row, Stan Bush returns with a more average attempt, but it still contains a number of quite decent songs. Only problem is, that this thing, is only gonna be available online, I suppose, since I’ve only seen a couple of places actually stocking such releases... Anyhow…