The Walkabouts confronted the spectacle of what grunge’s commercial breakthrough had done to their scene and town on one of their most fiery numbers, “Grand Theft Auto.” But New West Motel in general was much more than that, showing the band well on its way to claiming its own dark-shadowed space in what could later be called Americana, with song-stories like “Jack Candy” depicting a landscape of lost souls and desperate measures, all while the music suggests escape and possible solace, somehow.

– Ned Raggett