Artist: Guadalcanal Diary
Album: At Your Birthday Party
Label: Omnivore Recordings
Release Date: 7.13.18
Oddballs in a fertile mid-1980s college-rock scene that prized cryptic eccentricity, the wildly original Guadalcanal Diary was largely ignored by the mainstream, unlike fellow Georgians R.E.M. Whatever the reasons why, whether they were too weird or just plain unlucky, the cult favorites—typically Southern, with their affinity for twangy, off-kilter guitar jangle and friendly hooks, native spirituality and strange characters touched by madness—did, however, garner a devoted following that didn’t take their 1989 break-up well at all.
Remnants of Guadalcanal Diary’s scattered tribe enthusiastically packed two sweaty, rip-roaring reunion shows at Smith’s Olde Bar in Atlanta in January 1998 that were captured on tape for the self-released live album At Your Birthday Party. Gifts of new artwork and insightful, if all-too-brief, commentary from frontman Murray Attaway freshen this updated reissue, now available far and wide. All that aside, it’s Guadalcanal Diary’s swaggering, full-throttle musicianship, infectious energy and the sweeping, idiosyncratic tunefulness of irresistible gems like “Trail of Tears”—not to mention the high-quality, well-balanced sound—that make it desirable.
Never letting up for a second, Guadalcanal Diary take great pleasure in bashing out a well-chosen set of 16 songs from all four Elektra LPs, plus the unexpectedly fun and engaging “Pau Pau,” only available here. Crashing, careening rockers “Country Club Gun,” “The Likes of You,” “Whiskey Talk” and “… Vista” run hot, as gleaming, slashing guitars attack from impossible angles and varied, shifting rhythms hold on for dear life. And they have enough left in the tank for one last manic run through a delirious version of “Watusi Rodeo,” their most enduring song, to close things out, after “Newborn” and the minor alternative-rock hit “Litany (Life Goes On)” negotiate the kind of tricky six-string figures that made Peter Buck a hero.
With unabashed zeal, the quartet of Attaway, Rhett Crowe, John Poe and Jeff Walls gives its dynamic and inventive source material a tune-up, and the results are exciting, enhancing the immediacy and passion that drive their best tracks. Writing liner notes for this release, Attaway states “… we got excited to do a live album, as we never quite got our sound on record accurately, because you never do.” Guadalcanal Diary came pretty close on this one.
—Peter Lindblad
Great review! Thanks for getting it.