Next up in our classic reissue department is Guadalcanal Diary’s 2x4. Sounding like a much less annoying and much more quirky version of southern alternative peers R.E.M., and in fact with R.E.M. producer Don Dixon at the helm, 2x4 arrived in the heart of the 80s as a breath of fresh air. With standout tracks like Under the Yoke and big rockers like Let The Big Wheel Roll and Litany (Life Goes On), this third album by Guadalcanal Diary was certainly their most confident. It was on 2x4 that vocalist Murray Attaway and guitarist Jeff Walls were finally able to let loose the guitars and free themselves from the slicker production of their earlier work. 2x4 had some flesh wrapped around its cattle prod, and the songs arrived sounding meatier, while still being rooted in the spiritual/ southern themes of their previous two releases. The listener is subsequently treated to some of the most inventive music coming out of the Athens/ Atlanta scene that at the time sported acts like Let’s Active, Pylon and of course R.E.M.. Litany (Life Goes On) would arguably become the band's biggest “hit”, though they were by and large relegated to the smart-pop subgenre and would break up after releasing one more album, the aptly-named Flip Flop.

Nearly 20 years later Rhino Handmade, a division of Rhino dedicated to releasing overlooked, rare and unusual releases, have released a remastered, expanded version of 2x4. They hit the vaults hard with an additional 11 tracks that almost double the disc’s original running time. Included in these bonus tracks are five tunes heretofore unreleased in any form- Home, Shango, It’s Time, Carrying The Torch and Just An Excuse. It is in these five tracks that the collector will find real value in this release, as each of the tunes are solid and worthy of having been on the original release. The demos seem like latter stage versions, and do not differ much from the released tracks, and can therefore seem redundant. The remastering of the previously released versions are clean with nice separation and no fiddling with what was already there. All and all it’s just about everything one could ask for from a reissue, as has been the case with this series.

2x4 is released in a very limited number run of 2500, so I’d suggest grabbing a copy while there are still some to be had. Let’s hope Rhino follows with Guadalcanal Diary’s classic Jamboree next. Keep your eyes on www.rhinohandmade.com to see what they come up with next.