The 1986 Listening Post - Guadalcanal Diary - Jamboree

Guadalcanal Diary - Jamboree

#271/1396 LISTENING POST ADMIN DISCOVERY

1986 Housekeeping

Guadalcanal Diary

Jamboree

Genre: This isn’t REM???

4.75 out of 5

Highlights:

Pray for Rain

Michael Rockefeller

Spirit Train

Please Stop Me

Cattle Prod 

I know I said this when reviewing Walking in the Shadow of the Big Man but…how did REM become a thing and not Guadalcanal Diary? They are on the obvious same tracks and the songs are not only similar but interchangeable. Harmonies, instrumentation…even the timbre of Murray Attaway. He could be Michael Stipe’s vocal doppelgänger. 

This album is all joy, how it wasnt a staple on College Radio escapes me. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/jamboree/59389785

The 1984 Listening Post - Guadalcanal Diary - Walking in the Shadow of the Big Man

Guadalcanal Diary - Walking in the Shadow of the Big Man

#282
October 1984
Guadalcanal Diary
Walking in the Shadow of the Big Man
4.5 out of 5

Highlights:
Fire From Heaven
Gilbert Takes the Wheel
Ghosts on the Road

First off...Guadalcanal Diary wasn't a hardcore punk band?!? What? But their name! It's...how is this not a punk band's name??
Secondly...right off the bat I'm reminded of The Long Ryders. And, of course, R.E.M. and The Byrds. And all of that in a very good way.
How was this not blaring out of every dorm room in 1984? This has college rock written all over it.
I'm sad I missed this when it came out and super glad to have discovered it now.
While listening to "Heathen Rage" I now want to collect all the bands I played alongside, (The Andersons, The Piper Downs, Jeddrah, The Shakers, Four Star Mary) and have them record a tribute album to GD.
Peters out at the end with an overlong instrumental and......"Kum Bay Ya"?
Ummm....hey, I did a punk version of "B-I-N-G-O" right around this time.'
I approve.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/walking-in-the-shadow-of-the-big-man/76148919