2×4 (Guadalcanal Diary album) explained

2×4
Type:	studio
Artist:	Guadalcanal Diary
Cover:	Guadalcanal Diary 2X4.jpg
Recorded:	1985–87
Genre:	Alternative
Length:	43:16
Label:	Elektra Records^[1]
Producer:	Don Dixon^[2]
Prev Title:	Jamboree
Prev Year:	1986
Next Title:	Flip-Flop
Next Year:	1989

2×4 is the third album by Guadalcanal Diary.^[3] It was released in 1987.^[4]

The album peaked at No. 183 on the Billboard 200.^[5]

Critical reception

Trouser Press called the album "smashing," writing that the band members "dip into their shadowy art-rock pasts ... to finally create music as distinctive as the lyrics."^[6]

AllMusic wrote that 2×4 "sounds like the group's strongest and most confident album." Paste included the album at No. 64 on its list of "The 80 Best Albums of the 1980s".^[7]

Track listing

1. "Litany (Life Goes On)" (Attaway) – 3:41
2. "Under the Yoke" (Walls) – 4:28
3. "Get over It" (Attaway/Crowe) – 3:00
4. "Little Birds" (Attaway) – 3:57
5. "Things Fall Apart" (Attaway/Poe/Walls) – 2:44
6. "Let the Big Wheel Roll" (Walls) – 2:40
7. "And Your Bird Can Sing" (Lennon–McCartney) – 2:07
8. "Where Angels Fear to Tread" (Walls) – 3:13
9. "Newborn" (Attaway) – 4:41
10. "Winds of Change" (Walls) – 2:55
11. "Say Please" (Attaway) – 2:10
12. "3 AM" (Attaway/Walls) – 4:12
13. "Lips of Steel" (Attaway/Walls) – 3:28

Bonus tracks

1. "Home [Joe Blaney Mix]" – 2:42
2. "Shango" – 4:29
3. "It's Time" – 2:30
4. "Carrying the Torch (demo version)" – 2:56
5. "Just an Excuse (demo version)" – 3:03
6. "Lips of Steel (demo version)" – 3:36
7. "Under the Yoke (demo version)" – 3:04
8. "Winds of Change (demo version)" – 3:21
9. "Get Over It (demo version)" – 2:18
10. "3 A.M. (demo version)" – 3:53
11. "Tutti-Frutti (demo version)" – 1:52

Personnel

• Terry Allen – photography
• Murray Attaway – guitar, harmonica, vocals
• Joe Blaney – mixing
• Rhett Crowe – bass guitar
• Don Dixon – producer
• Guadalcanal Diary – artwork
• George Pappas – engineer
• John Poe – drums, vocals
• Dan Vaganek – engineer
• Jeff Walls – guitar, keyboards, vocals, kalimba, lap steel guitar

Charts

Album

Billboard (North America)

Notes and References

1. Book: MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide . 1999 . Visible Ink Press . 512.
2. Book: The Encyclopedia of Record Producers . 1999 . Billboard Books . 188.
3. Web site: Spins. SPIN. 17 March 1988. Google Books.
4. Web site: Guadalcanal Diary Biography, Songs, & Albums. AllMusic.
5. Book: Whitburn . Joel . Top Pop Albums . 2010 . Record Research Inc. . 329 . 7th.
6. Web site: Guadalcanal Diary . Trouser Press . 17 January 2022.
7. Web site: The 80 Best Albums of the 1980s. 12 January 2020. Paste.