Ganging Up / Sun [Import]

Guster represents all that is right about American indie-rock today, music made for the love of music and not some calculating hit making machine. The music is wonderfully textured with harmony and style, fully realized and expertly crafted. Imagine Wilco, Spoon, Death Cab for Cutie and Coldplay blended together and you get some idea of the sound Guster has achieved.

In truth, there is not one cut on the disc that is not first rate, I am never tempted to hit the skip button. Moods range from the rockin'; "The Beginning of the End" and "The New Underground" to the quiet; "Dear Valentine" and "Hang On" to the epic; "Ruby Falls." In between are pop gems like "Satellite," "Manifest Destiny," and "One Man Wrecking Machine." "C'mon" and "The Captain" add the alt-country tinge to the disc which rounds out the sound to perfection.

Lyrically the band is sharp, full of catchy phrases and clever lines. For example: "I want to pull it apart and put it back together / I want to relive all my adolescent dreams / Inspired by true events on movie screens / I am a one man wrecking machine." Or perhaps this gem, "Hang on / When all is shattered / When all your hope is gone / Who knows, How long / There is a twilight, A nighttime and a dawn."

You won't find a better set of songs anywhere. It's is all here, songcraft, production, mood and that elusive "sonic something" that separates good from really good. Guster is certainly in the really good category and maybe even hedging towards great. You can listen to this music over and over, always finding something new and interesting. It will draw you in, quietly at first, but once it has you it won't let you go.

At times the new Guster CD has the very pleasant feel of some sort of poppy Americana or rootsy pop. At other times it becomes more ambitious, with a grander, fuller group sound. This is evident in the Pink Floyd-ish scope of a song such as "Ruby Falls" and also on "Empire State," which is nearly sung a cappella. The focus on "Empire State" is all on Ryan Miller's pure, melancholy vocals, with only muted, atmospheric background accompaniment. The effect is powerful. Despite that song's understated tones (and others'), the new disc as whole does tend to rock out more often than the band's clientele may be accustomed to. This includes a full-bore "rock star" turn on "The Beginning of the End," featuring a sizzling electric guitar solo. After listening to Ganging Up a couple of times, I can already tell that it will yield a few of my favorite Guster tunes, particularly the well crafted "One Man Wrecking Machine."

Like many reviewers here, I've been a HUGE Guster fan since their early days, and I waited so long to get this album. Sadly, I'm not all that pleased with it. The sound on this album seems to try to be very British-pop and uninspiring.... I'm not gonna complain about Brian's switch over from bongos to drums that occured a couple albums ago because that's old news, but with it, the original Guster sound which we all grew to love is in the past. Also, I love Joe in the band; he's an amazing musician and I was hoping his musical influence would affect this album in a great way, and I don't know how much of the song-writing he contributed to, but it's not as good as I'd hoped.

Why do bands with two lead singers always have to consolidate into one lead singer? It's usually the record companies that force this to make the music more radio-friendly. Same thing happened with Vertical Horizon. I love Adam's voice, and I'm whole-heartedly disappointed that Adam sings lead on ONLY ONE TRACK. I love Ryan and all, but his voice does get a bit whiney when it's not balanced out by Adam's lower, fuller voice, so when you have an album of tracks almost entirely sung by Ryan's high nasal voice (and he does sing particularly high on this album), your ears start to ache a little....

On to the tracks: At first, I loved Satellite, but after a number of listens, I realized it is very tedious and repetitive. Lightning Rod is just boring and a bizarre way to open up an album. Manifest Destiny and One-Man Wrecking Machine are decent songs, but way too poppy and radio-ish. The Captain is a pretty good song, touching on the same feel as Jesus On The Radio. The New Underground is a pretty cool song, having a real 80's punkish feel to it. Ruby Falls is trying to be the Come Downstairs & Say Hello of the album, but unlike Come Downstairs, it is very slow-moving and unmelodic. The tune of C'Mon sounds like it was designed to appeal to teenage girls, and I dont think it should be anything more than a B-side (and it drives me crazy how Ryan sings the word like "C'maawn" as if he's a New Yorker). Empire State is another slow-moving track. Dear Valentine is a good song, and the last two are OK....

All in all, this album is VERY slow-moving and unexciting. I will continue to love Guster and I don't care that their sound is evolving, but I wish they would go back to the more exciting song-writing of the previous 4 albums...