Guadalcanal Diary - Always Saturday: The Best Of Guadalcanal Diary (1989)

Murray Attaway and Jeff Walls became friends in high school, and had played together in a punk band called Strictly American, which also included Curtis Crowe, the future drummer of Pylon. The two decided to form a new band under the name Emergency Broadcast System, and as Attaway's close friend Rhett Crowe, the sister of Curtis, was learning to play bass with guidance from Walls, he joined the new band. They named themselves Guadalcanal Diary, referencing the 1943 war memoir of that same name, and after auditioning several drummers, Walls enlisted multi-instrumentalist John Poe who agreed to play drums "temporarily", but stayed permanently. Guadalcanal Diary quickly attracted attention with its frequent live shows in the Athens and Atlanta music scenes, and in 1983 they recorded and released a four-song EP called 'Watusi Rodeo' on the small Atlanta indie label Entertainment On Disc. Despite the title of the EP, the song 'Watusi Rodeo' (one of their most famous songs) was not included on this release as Attaway hadn't written it yet. In 1984 the band signed with DB Records and began recording with Don Dixon, releasing their first full-length record, 'Walking In The Shadow Of The Big Man', which was well received by critics, and enjoyed significant airplay on US college radio stations, drawing comparisons to fellow Georgia band R.E.M. After touring heavily across the US in support of the album, the band was signed by Elektra Records in 1985, who wanted to immediately record and release new material, but the band convinced the label to first re-release 'Walking In The Shadow Of The Big Man' due to the feeling that the initial DB release had not had wide enough distribution. 

In 1986 the group released their second album, 'Jamboree', produced by Rodney Mills and Steve Nye, and although initial reception was not as enthusiastic as their debut effort, with some critics noting a weaker production, the album eventually gained retrospective appreciation among fans. They decided to work again with producer Don Dixon for their next album, '2 X 4', and when it was released in 1987 it featured a harder-hitting sound and greater diversity among the songs, becoming the band's most successful album up to that time. In 1988, Jeff Walls and Rhett Crowe married, and Rhett gave birth to a daughter, Lillian, the following year, after which they recorded again with Don Dixon, and 1989 saw the release of the band's fourth and final studio album, 'Flip-Flop'. While the music video for 'Always Saturday' saw rotation on MTV, critics noted that the album lacked some of the consistency of their previous albums, perhaps due to the band's busy touring schedule. However, with all members contributing to the song-writing, it took on a more diverse and upbeat sound, compared to darker themes of their previous works. Due to new family commitments and exhaustion from heavy touring, the band began to drift apart, and so they chose to break up in order to preserve their friendships. In the early fall of 1989, they played their collective final show in a free performance at Legion Field on the University of Georgia campus, and organized by the Tau Epsilon Phi fraternity's Nu Chapter. Despite initial comparisons to R.E.M., Guadalcanal Diary never achieved the same success as their fellow Georgians, although they certainly deserved it, and they retain a loyal following to this day. I hope that this collection of some of their best work will extend that fanbase.  

Track listing

01 Watusi Rodeo (from 'Walking In The Shadow Of The Big Man' 1984)
02 Always Saturday (from 'Flip Flop' 1989)
03 Jamboree (from 'Jamboree' 1986)
04 Litany (Life Goes On) (from '2 X 4' 1987)
05 Trail of Tears (from 'Walking In The Shadow Of The Big Man' 1984)
06 Cattle Prod (from 'Jamboree' 1986)

07 Under the Yoke (from '2 X 4' 1987)

08 John Wayne (from the 'Watusi Rodeo' EP 1985) 

09 Sleepers Awake (from 'Walking In The Shadow Of The Big Man' 1984)

10 I See Moe (from 'Jamboree' 1986)
11 Pretty Is As Pretty Does (from '2 X 4' 1987)
12 Why Do the Heathen Rage? (from 'Walking In The Shadow Of The Big Man' 1984)
13 ...Vista (from 'Flip Flop' 1989)
14 Where Angels Fear To Tread (from '2 X 4' 1987)
15 Pray For Rain (from 'Jamboree' 1986)