After the musical and commercial disappointment of
Guadalcanal Diary's second album, the overcooked and overproduced
Jamboree, the band took a simultaneous step back and leap forward on their third long-player, 1987's
2x4.
2x4 found the band working once again with producer
Don Dixon, who had captured their mingled punch and jangle on their debut, 1984's
Walking in the Shadow of the Big Man, and the happy irony was that
Dixon was able to give the band the tougher and more detailed sound they failed to get on
Jamboree. At the same time,
Guadalcanal Diary rose to the occasion with a batch of songs that merited
Dixon's more muscular treatment;
2x4 isn't short on pop smarts, but
Murray Attaway and
Jeff Walls put a lot more weight behind their guitars on this set, and bassist
Rhett Crowe and drummer
John Poe weren't afraid to keep up with their wall of sound. "Things Fall Apart" and "Litany (Life Goes On)" proved
Guadalcanal Diary could have their cake and eat it too, holding on to the obtuse Southern accents of their earlier work while introducing plenty of Big Rock swagger to the mix, as "Little Birds" and "3 a.m." offered reassurance that the band still knew how to turn down their amps when circumstances demanded. If
Guadalcanal Diary succumbed to the stereotypical sophomore slump with
Jamboree, they managed a far stronger third-inning rebound than the majority of their peers on
2x4, which sounds like the group's strongest and most confident album. ~ Mark Deming