Guster Ganging Up On The Sun. Release Date : June 20, 2006. Label: Reprise. Rating: Heart. (Screw points. To each his own!) Guster is a happy-sounding band. It's like good classic pop rock with the tiniest sprinkle of hippy-happy mixed in. It's big and fun and unabashed, no matter what the subject matter is. This is the release! And the new Guster record is no exception to the sound that's made these guys such a favourite in the musical world. Full of fat pianos and horns and soaring vocals, you're just going to feel purged after listening to it. It creates a need to dance, the dance flushes out the bad. Sing, bop, enjoy. It's definitely good times. The cute nostalgia of "One Man Wrecking Machine" not only brings us back to our collectively youth lyrically, but sonically, the tune sounds like something based on a tune from a '50's high school dance. And yes the '50's are a bit before Guster's time, but that feeling is the same no matter what. The feeling of 'heyday' - carefree, nothing mattered except being cool and having fun. It's a great sounding album. Bits of dim country skim over it here and there - a little like 16 Horsepower without the sheer danger. Fans of Matt Mays + El Torpedo would like this. "The New Underground" has a reggae-meets-new-wave sound. Maybe that's the point. Wading through the mire of this ilk of bands. I also am chilled (in a good way) by the Elbow-like lilt of "Dear Valentine." So all told, great ranging nod-to-the-forefathers-of-pop album. Dig it! Song of choice : LOVE the jivey, fun, Sgt. Pepper-y flounciness of "Manifest Destiny." -Andy Scheffler Elsewhere Guster website Published : January, 2007.