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Rating:
A grand comeback for Travis, the Scottish band that characterized an important phase in late '90s British pop, thanks mainly to 'The Man Who' and 'The Invisible Band,' two albums considered (especially the first) as clear examples of songwriting that inherited the melodic tradition ranging from the Beatles to the gloomy Scottish bands of the '80s (Deacon Blue, Aztec Camera, etc.) up to Radiohead and Coldplay (who took more than a hint from their bestseller).
A group that has never liked being in the spotlight and has always chosen a low profile from an image standpoint, Travis nonetheless created truly remarkable songs that connected a certain generational fringe not easily definable but that hasn't abandoned the band over these years of lesser media exposure following the failure of '12 Memories,' a dark and not very immediate album made amidst various personal problems of the musicians.
After almost 4 years of silence, their new album is released these days, titled 'The Boy With No Name' (dedicated to the singer and songwriter's son, the newly minted father Fran Healy) that marks a "return to roots" for the band towards the sounds of 'The Man Who,' the album for which they are still remembered and which has been an inevitable benchmark for all subsequent works: already the single Closer (and its positive video complete with a cameo by Ben Stiller) shows a detour from the sadness of '12 Memories,' and the other tracks previewed on their MySpace sound melancholic but sunny, arranged and produced divinely (after all, with Nigel Godrich's production and Brian Eno's oversight, which is very clear in tracks like The Big Chair, quality is guaranteed) and above all with inspired songwriting, thanks especially to Healy's talent, here at his best vocal performance.
The album opens with 3 Times And You Lose, a wonderful opening track with a very '70s wall of sound (an acoustic ballad in the style of The Band with female choruses à la Leonard Cohen) which I consider to be the most ambitious track ever made by Travis, a song that is epic and understated at the same time and conveys a sense of magic, truly exceptional.
It proceeds with Selfish Jean, a very catchy and infectious track that rests on a classic and very familiar Motown beat that we've heard a thousand times (You Can't Hurry Love, A Town Called Malice, Walkin' On Sunshine) but that, for a mystery that I still can't solve, never tires and you could listen to it ten times in a row without becoming bored...melodically I feel there's a certain influence of the more poppy Belle & Sebastian, the classic "cheerful pop mood even though it's been raining all week", which is naturally a delight to my ears.
The already mentioned Closer, is a ballad with high radio potential and is the classic "grower" (a bit like Sing was), those tracks that at first listen don't say much but then, by the fourth or fifth time you hear them on airplay, they stick and you can't get them out of your head until another one comes along... I must say that, however beautiful the song is, it doesn't represent the album which, despite expectations, isn't insincere at all but sounds genuine and even inadvertently touching at certain moments.
The Big Chair is for example a very unusual track developed over an enveloping bass line and proceeds with a lot of slightly minimal arrangements that make it interesting to listen to on headphones... among those I've listened to, it's the track where Eno's touch is most felt while the ending is pure Godrich (with a deafening whistle, an idea he's used several times in the past, almost to "dirty" a clean sound with a completely out-of-context noise from the song). In any case, the album's highest point is in the central part, with the sequence Battleships, Eyes Wide Open, and My Eyes (possible single), three songs truly perfect in their immediacy and characterized by enveloping melodic textures, with Healy inspired like never before... Travis excels when aiming to create melancholic atmospheres while infusing a sense of serenity at the same time, positive vibrations that mix with that slightly nostalgic aftertaste suggested by references to music of the past (Beatles, Kinks, Bob Dylan, Smiths) and by harmonics with a high emotional rate but never artificial or banal.
Also noteworthy is the cameo by KT Tunstall (little more than a quick appearance really) in Under The Moonlight and the concluding New Amsterdam, a romantic and suggestive homage to both New York City (now Healy's permanent residence) and the singer's personal heroes (Jean-Michel Basquiat, Francois Truffaut/ Robert Zimmerman and De Niro/ Paris, Texas/ End of the world... and they meet/ on Blaker Street/ or the Park that is Central).
In short, 'The Boy With No Name' reveals itself as an elegant, refined, intelligent and poetic album, showing a band that has finally returned in great form after a moment of difficulty and has undoubtedly created the most mature work of their entire career, beyond the comparisons that will predictably be drawn with The Man Who.
But we are still on truly excellent levels.
On the other hand, how better to conclude than to leave the final word to good old Fran: "I took note of what the famous designer Paul Smith once told me, a person I very much admire: there's no need to make revolutions in art, just small progressive shifts. If you stray too far from your path, you risk going off on a tangent and shooting off, instead you have to maintain a recognizable line, consistent with what you've done before.... from here to sixty years, I hope that some of our songs are still around and know how to move people. I want them to remember our music, not our faces. ‘Why does it always rain on me?’ has already become a classic, and so has 'Sing'.... It happens by chance, you don't realize until you play them live and record the audience's reaction: among the new ones, it's been 'My eyes', so far, that has been the most successful in concert. You can make an entire album of beautiful and original songs like those of The Good, The Bad And The Queen and probably in ten years no one will remember it. At least that's my impression... Certain records are like newspapers that last for a day, others are like novels that last forever."
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
02 Selfish Jean (04:01)
Cheers
Thanks for everything
You hung me out by my heart
You're just so selfish jean
Yes you are
Hey you
Threw it all away
By holding everything in
Hey Jean don't rock the boat
When you can't swim
With a perfect understanding
Of the finer things in life
A quite alarming knack of knowing
When to twist the knife
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
Selfish Jean
Here's to you
Who read everything
Left it out on the shelf
There's no one else to blame
Except yourself
Well a perfect combination
Of good etiquet and charm
You keep the chocolate biscuits
Wired to a car alarm
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
Selfish Jean
Well i'm standing on my own
And this house is not a home
It's so sad to see you go
Things are high, things are low
And it's good to know you know
If you've got nowhere to go
Well you could spend the night with me
There will be no guarantee
That I'll be here
In the morning
Or any time that you call
I hear you snoring Jean
Through the wall
So hey
Here's to everything
To peace and love in our time
Ah Jean the slate is clean
I guess we're fine
Well I don't expect a miracle
Not asking you to change
If you can't see me happy
Well just look the other way
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
Selfish Jean
Aaaaaaaaaaaaah
Selfish Jean
Jean
Oh yeah
Jean
03 Closer (04:01)
I've had enough of this parade
I'm thinking of the words to say
We open up unfinished parts
Broken up
It's only love
And when I see you then I know it will be next to me
And when I need you then I know you will be there with me
I'll never leave you
Just need to get
Closer, closer
Lean on me now
Lean on me now
Closer, closer
Lean on me now
Lean on me now
Keep waking up (waking up) without you here (without you here)
Another day (another day) another year (another year)
I seek the truth (seek the truth), we set apart (we set apart)
Second dance
A second chance (a second chance)
And when I see you then I know it will be next to me
And when I need you then I know you will be there with me
I'll never leave you
Just need to get
Closer, closer
Lean on me now
Lean on me now
Closer, closer
Lean on me now
Lean on me now
Lean on me now
And when I see you then I know it will be next to me
And when I need you then I know you will be there with me
I'll never leave you
Just need to get
Closer, closer
Lean on me now
Lean on me now
Closer, closer
Lean on me now
Lean on me now
Lean of me now
Closer, closer
Closer, closer
05 Battleships (04:12)
When will you carry me home
Like the wounded star in the movie
When will you carry me home
Take it back to the start when you knew me
'Cause when you talk to me that way
I'll be a million miles away
I guess it's just another day
In love
We're battleships
Drifting in our wee river
Taking hits
Sinking, it's now or never
Overboard
Drowning in a sea of love and hate
But it's too late
Battleship down
When will you figure it out
That you're not always right little darling
When will you figure it out
That it's not worth the fight little darling
'Cause when you can't think what to say
You go and throw it all away
I guess it's just another day
In love
We're battleships
Drifting in our wee river
Taking hits
Sinking, it's now or never
Overboard
Drowning in a sea of love and hate
But it's too late
Battleship down
But you're too smart
And I'm too dumb
With no heart in the middle
We're battleships
Drifting in our wee river
Taking hits
Sinking, it's now or never
Overboard
Falling into the ocean
Ship to shore
Drowning in a sea of love and hate
But it's too late
Battleship down
07 My Eyes (04:08)
Deep in my heart
There's no room for crying
But I'm trying to see your point of view
Deep in my heart
I'm afraid I'm dying
I'd be lying if I said I'm not
Welcome in, welcome in
Shame about the weather
Welcome in, welcome in
You're welcome
It's a sin it's a sin
We're birds of a feather
Are welcome to land on you
Ya ya yay
Ya ya yay
You got my eyes
We can't see what you'll be
You can't disguise
Either way
I will pray
You will be wise
Pretty soon you will see
Tears in my eyes
As each day goes by
Makes way for another
We discover that we're not alone
And each day we try
The best we can to recover
All the feelings that we left below
Welcome in, welcome in
Shame about the weather
Welcome in, welcome in
You're welcome
It's a sin it's a sin
We're birds of a feather
Are welcome to land on you
Ya ya yay
Ya ya yay
You got my eyes
And we can't see what you'll be
You can't disguise
But either way
I will pray
You will be wise
Pretty soon you will see
Tears in my eyes
Welcome in, welcome in
Shame about the weather
Welcome in, welcome in
You're welcome
It's a sin it's a sin
We're birds of a feather
Are welcome to land on you...
Ya ya yay
Ya ya yay
You got my eyes
We can't see what you'll be
You can't disguise
But either way
I will pray
You will be wise
Pretty soon you will see
Tears in my eyes
Pretty soon you will see
Tears in my eyes
Oh pretty soon you will see
Tears in my eyes
10 Out in Space (03:36)
Oh my friend
We have spent
So much time looking for someone to blame
'Cause we're the same
And jealous games
Take up time we could spend on other things
Oh my friend
If it ends
Let us go and then not look back again
We can't be
You and me
Taking ourselves much too seriously
But out in space
A million miners work upon the nights coal face
And all I see is black
And the stars look back at me
Oh my friend
What a friend
I'd have thought you'd have stayed here till the end
To take a bow
Draw the crowd
We're just words in the sand at high tide
But out in space
A million miners work upon the nights coal face
And all I see is black
And all the stars look back at me
Oh my friend
We should spend
Some more time looking from the other end
'Cause we would see
So clearly
We blame ourselves as much as we blame we
We blame ourselves as much as we blame we
We blame ourselves
11 Colder (04:07)
I'm in love with everything
With every face I've ever seen
And every place I've ever been
Has left it's mark upon my worries
I colour in the world I see
I pick apart the melody
'Cause maybe there's a symphony
Caught inside but there's no way out
And the sky is falling down and there's an angel on the ground it's getting colder
I'm standing looking down there's not a sound around the town it's getting colder
Colder
I would show you everything
But everything is too extreme
We'll wait and see the entropy
At the end when we all start flying
But the sky is falling down and there's an angel on the ground it's getting colder
I'm standing looking down there's not a sound around the town it's getting colder
The sky is falling down and there's an angel on the ground it's getting colder
I'm standing looking down there's not a sound around the town it's getting colder
The sky is falling down and all the people on the ground are getting colder
I'm standing looking down again but you can't help me now I'm getting colder
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Other reviews
By GrantNicholas
The Boy With No Name disorients in a nearly indecent manner right from the first notes of the sumptuous "3 Times And You Lose."
"Big Chair" is perhaps the best Travis song since "The Man Who," a phenomenal mix of delicate yet frantic drumming, subdued yet incisive singing, and flashes of piano and strings.
