Bob Pressner: “American Dream” – a relevant and vital work

“American Dream” is a disenchanted look at the current state of affairs in the country today. A champion of the free thinking man, Bob Pressner is acutely aware of the vanishing middle class. The poor are still poor, the rich are using their money to make more money and the working man is going under for the final time. In his words, he has always been aware of the difference between American reality and the American dream, but now things are worse. I think the inspiration for the track comes from Pressner’s dismay at the political crisis in the Trump era. He is frustrated that people have lost their will to dream in this climate of threats, restrictions and resignation.

But Pressner’s knowledge of the “American Dream” probably also comes from his days as a Wall Street Trader – before a truck bomb was detonated in New York City in 1993 underneath the World Trade Center. Pressner left his job and began his career as a troubadour, performing throughout the USA, and has been a regular featured artist for the XFINITYSessions on Comcast’s “Sessions at Willow Grove”.

The new single is a relevant and vital work, a fierce and triumphant knee to the balls of anyone taking the present situation lying down and forgetting about what the “American Dream” once meant and should still mean.

Some solid guitar noodling turns into a riff and opens the track ushering in Pressner’s extraordinary gravelly and well-timbered voice. A true craftsman, Pressner goes into lyrical auto-pilot in his call-to-arms.

Yet “American Dream” transcends cliché because Bob treats work with honesty, loving care and seriousness. This track represents statement of purpose second to none from Bob Pressner, backed by a relentlessly tight band that stays with him through every musical and lyrical twist and turn.

Vivaciously channeling the gulf between the American dream and American reality – this is a rock n’ roll stunner from the opening chords until the fade-out.

However, it’s the song as well as the sound which make this record such a runaway cracker. It’s a hard driving rock-radio single which doesn’t dispel subtle pop notions in its catchy and anthemic chorus.  Ultimately it is a track of modern sounds and pleasant surprises. Full of lush harmonies and Bob Pressner’s fiery voice, and totally devoid of pretense, self-consciousness, or the shallow rock trappings of the day. Bob Pressner has rarely done better!

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