GUADALCANAL DIARY”Flip-Flop.” Elektra. ** 1/2One of the...

GUADALCANAL DIARY

“Flip-Flop.” Elektra. ** 1/2

One of the most underrated, overlooked and inaccurately compared to R.E.M. bands around doesn’t offer much to change that on its fourth album. While the Georgia quartet’s playing is often as powerful as its impressive concerts (the opening “Look Up!” comes off like the Jefferson Airplane at its aggressive best), the smart, sardonic humor that carries the shows is only sporadically evident. On the plus side, “ . . . Vista”--built around a children’s nonsense rhyme--makes a fine successor to the group’s longtime signature version the campfire fave “Cumbayah.”