Travis
Good Feeling

THE REVIEW

Who are Travis? Is it that band that in its most famous video clip (Sing) turned a peaceful English dinner into a pie fight war? Many will stop there, but Travis are also the ones who in 1997 released one of the most interesting albums of the British rock scene. Yes, indeed, this "Good Feeling" is a rock album, and for those who (like me) got to know them from their latest "12 Memories," it will sound a bit "strange." Premises: it is not as deep and intense as the subsequent "The Man Who," which remains their best work, nor is it semi-acoustic like "The Invisible Band," which is their worst work, but it sounds a bit like early Radiohead (and no offense to the fans of the "radio head honchos"). Here, frontman Fran Healy doesn't talk about war, violence, etc., but about girls, music, love, in short, things already written about.

However, just listen to tracks like "U16 Girls" or "Midnight Summer Dreamin'" to understand what kind of music we are talking about: rock! Everything begins (not coincidentally) with "All I Want To Do Is Rock" which starts off tired and ends with a bang with a good dose of distortion. "U16 Girls" is an excellent track with a chorus and a refrain that hooks into your ears and won't let go. "Look at me, I'm so disgusting..." sings in "The Line Is Fine," a good pop-rock song. In "Good Day To Die," singer Fran gives us a taste of where his voice can reach; here's "Good Feeling" starting with bass and drums, then a piano enters with just a few touches and finally a guitar joins in with the inevitable "Laaa la laaa laaa la la"; after a charged bridge, the piano emerges with an excellent solo. "Midnight Summer Dreamin'" is the most rock: the drums pound, the sound is reminiscent of early Oasis (the end of the intermission resembles the riff of "Cigarettes & Alcohol"); the terribly noisy ending with those screams is utterly unnecessary. "Tied Of The 90's" is a carefree song that plays on the words "tied" and "tired" to talk about the '90s; it's one of those songs to sing drunk, with friends joining you with a curt "EH!" after every line. With "I Love You Anyways," you can already hear the Travis of "The Man Who"; after the negligible "Happy," here we are at the intense closing trio: those who have listened to Starsailor's latest album, "Silence Is Easy," will immediately notice the similarity in sound in "More Than Us"; "Falling Down" is a thrilling piano song that a certain Chris Martin would now write with his eyes closed; while "Funny Thing" may seem like an acoustic song, an electric guitar in feedback appears, and at first listen, it makes me think of a song by REM or U2.

This concludes a remarkably good debut album to listen to on any occasion, which, however, went unnoticed and deserved more attention than "The Invisible Band," which introduced the band to the general public despite not being anything exceptional.