I’ve known about Guster for some time. The hardened Barenaked Ladies fan will know them as they have played with BNL a few times, and accompanied them on the Ships and Dips cruise, as well as had various working relationships with each other over the years.
I’ve always meant to look into them more, and find out more about the band and their music. There’s a lot of common ground in terms of the fan base, and the music genre, so I thought I’d have to have a look. The only Guster song I’d (knowingly) heard was from an album called For the Kids, a charity album produced a few years back by Nettwerk for a VH1 kids charity. The album features covers (and some originals I think) of some well known songs by various well known artists, including BNL and Guster.
I bought For the Kids recently, and was listening to the Guster track, I’ve Got To Be Clean and it stuck me how good it was. So I duly went off to Amazon and picked up a copy of Guster’s latest, Ganging Up On The Sun.
I’m quite impressed with it. It’s the folk-rock jamboree I was hoping for. More folk than rock I think, but that’s nice as BNL are more rock than folk these days, so I can see how they balance each other out. There’s plenty of jangly guitars, mandolin bouncing in and out, and VERY tight vocal harmonies. If there’s something I do love, it’s good harmonies. They catch my ear big-time.
Must say, I look forward to getting some more Guster albums.