The Dharma Bums' final album sounds like the Portland, OR, quartet is paying more attention to what was happening one state north of them during the early '90s than was actually good for them. Most of Welcome consists of intriguing slices of moody jangle pop and country-tinged alt-rock that are all the more refreshing for the fact that none of them particularly sound like
R.E.M.. Songs like "Incestuous" and "A Push Me Pull Me" unfold slowly without sounding overlong, with
Jeremy Wilson's vocals and Eric Lovre's warm, ringing guitar lines twirling around each other in a manner that -- no kidding -- sometimes recalls
Peter Gabriel and
Steve Hackett in the more wistful moments of early
Genesis as much as it does more fashionable forebears such as Downy Mildew or
the Church. Elsewhere, tunes like "Favor" and the terrific "Wreck Around Town" are bright and energetic power pop closer to their first album, 1988's Haywire: Out Through the Indoor. The problem is, clunkers like the opening "The Light in You" and "Porch Song" are misguided attempts at grunge pop that sound like they were forced on the band by A&R executives hungry to cash in on
Nirvana's sudden success. They don't work and they drag down what could have been a very good record. ~ Stewart Mason