Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Bush, Stan
Label: LA Records
Released: 2014
Running time: 45:55
Rating: 4.5/5
Going by the title, the studio outing »The Ultimate« from the splendid American composer, producer, singer and multi-instrumentalist Stan Bush could well be his last. First, a quick primer for anyone wondering who Stan Bush is. He made his name mainly with songs that ended up on movie soundtracks, like Dare and The Touch for the 1986 animated film »The Trasnformers: The Movie«. Don’t overlook the songs for »Kickboxer« either, Never Surrender, Streets of Siam and Fight for Love, or the tracks for the soundtrack of the action flick »Bloodsport«, Fight to Survive and On My Own – Alone. House Of Lords fans definitely know Stan Bush too, since he wrote Love Don’t Lie back in 1987. It’s a gorgeous ballad that turned into a minor hit in 1988, when House Of Lords covered it and recorded their own version. On top of that, the man is of course armed with a whole sack of studio albums, every one of them marked by refined, infectious musicality in the songwriting, thoroughly radio-friendly by eighties standards. And naturally with guitar playing front and center. Stan Bush is considered a top-notch arranger in the AOR world..
»The Ultimate« keeps up the exceptional creative charge carried over from its predecessors »In This Life« (2007) and especially »Dream the Dream« (2010). Clearly, gaps of three to four years are just the right interval for ideas to ripen to perfection.
»The Ultimate« is a textbook example of the »west coast« approach to AOR. If you get fired up by bands like Survivor, you’ll be best buddies with Stan Bush’s style in no time. »The Ultimate« is packed with outstanding melodic rock anthems built on that classic graduated rise in mood, peaking in the choruses! They’re again so strong that they practically fight each other for your attention. Whether it’s the fantastic Love Again, which barely trails the famous Love Don’t Lie, if at all, or the outstanding bombastic AOR anthems Heart Of The Battle and Stand In The Fire, and especially The Journey. Stan Bush has pulled off another remarkably dynamic, living and breathing album with a warm, sensual production. His vocals, which once again don’t skimp on bringing real passion and emotion to the lyrics, are wrapped in arrangements modeled on the backing of a »mini orchestra«. The guitars are of course pushed up just a notch in the mix in the phrases, but they’re slyly balanced by harmonic vocal melodies that grab you by the ears »first time through« in venomously catchy choruses. And the atmosphere is contrasted and deepened at precisely measured spots by those typical synth sounds that eighties AOR gave us.
For this album Bush once again called on his old co-writing buddy Lenny Macaluso, with whom he co-created Bush’s big hit The Touch! This time Macaluso co-wrote the title track, and Bush made the interesting decision to rework and re-record Thunder In Your Heart. This excellent pomp AOR march, written by Gloria Sklerov and Leny Macaluso, was part of the soundtrack to the 1986 film »Peklenska steza BMX« and was performed in the original by John Farnham. In Stan Bush’s updated take, it’s definitely the album’s treat of its kind!
Toward the end we run into the album’s second ballad, If I’m Not Loving You. A superbly seasoned piece with orchestration in the »mid eight«. It’s right here that the delicate touch of Stan Bush’s outstanding vocal interpretation is laid fully bare once more. Singers like Jimi Jamison, the aforementioned John Farnham, John Parr and so on would fit a song like this masterfully. It’s songwriting on the level of aces like, say, Jim Peterik. At the close of the album we return to Lenny Macaluso. He contributed a remix for the new version of The Touch, where the rhythm is of course underpinned with extra samples and the song picked up a few additional orchestral frills. This revamped track is tacked on at the tail end of the album, which is the only sensible place for it, since it sticks out sharply from the rest of the record.
»The Ultimate« is a lost AOR gem of the eighties. With the upgraded production juiciness of modern times, of course. With it, Stan Bush keeps up his remarkable creativity and inspiration. From album to album he gets more refined and sophisticated in his arranging and producing, which reflects the great maturity and rich experience of this artist! »The Ultimate« is an outstanding piece of work that every devotee of the west coast AOR approach will snap up in no time, and I’ll go out on a limb and say it’s already on the shortlist for best AOR album of 2014!
Line-up
Stan Bush – vocals, guitar
Rocket Richotte – guitar
Holger Fath – guitar
Dirk Nagel – keyboards
Lance Morisson – bass
Matt Laug – drums
Production
Stan Bush
Track list
1. Something To Believe
2. The Ultimate
3. Heat Of The Battle
4. Love Again
5. Stand In The Fire
6. Unstoppable
7. Thunder In Your Heart
8. The Journey
9. The Memory Of You
10. If I’m Not Lovin’ You
11. The Touch (Power Mix)
