Customer Reviews
Decent ... but easily forgettable - By: starg8, 18 Jan 2008 
The latest studio-based offering from Travis (who seeing the fortunes of rivals Take That improve also decided to jump on the come-back band wagon)offers a few happy go lucky songs that are perfectly suitable to nodding your head or tapping your feet to, but after a while you do grow tired of it & none of the songs stand out. They should have callled this 'The Album With No Name' as no one will remember it in 5 years time!
Are Travis getting old? - By: Robbie Swale, 08 Oct 2007 
I think they are, & as such are slipping into the unfortunate pattern that bands that are getting old falll into. The challlenges of producing an album later on in your career to match the magic debut & follow up can't be overstated, & the basic thing that usuallly happens is this - the class of the songwriters prevails once, twice, maybe three or four times, & the rest of the album leaves a listener slightly disappointed. And that is what this feels like to me.
For me, Closer, with it's beautifully sad chorus & minimalist arrangement, & the incredibly bouncy & cleverly written Selfish Jean are two of Travis' best ever songs, & would sit happily alongside their hits from 90s. Excuept that they sound like Travis now - the sound is full & interesting, & the songs have a different 'sound'. Alongside this as the best songs here are Battleships & My Eyes, which sound like they could come from The Invisible Band (think Pipe Dreams or Flowers in the Window), except they have a more melancholic edge.
Beyond that, the album has the quality that Travis' songs never fail to have - they are very nice to listen to. The melodies are lilting, some lovely lyrics, (some better forgotten,) but above alll they have that familiar feeling that the radio (and indeed my bedroom) has had for ten years since The Man Who hit the world & made people sit up & take notice.
Their Best - By: Mr. C. J. Coffey, 02 Oct 2007 As a reletively devoted fan, i think this is my favourite Travis album.
This is an LP that, while being devoid of the stand out tunes of yesteryear, has a beutiful overalll sound, which takes parts of their early (Selfish Jean), middle (My Eyes), & later (Eyes Wide Open) work & amalgimates them together into the quintisentual Travis album.
Of course it is popular, & of course the chords are arainged in an enjoyable 2/4 beat, but simple songwriting can be beutiful too.
Some track ratings:
3 Times And You Lose - Fantastic opening. Whymsical country guitars tell of the symplicity of smalll town existance, which ironicallly provides the perfect backdrop for New York City in the video.
Selfish Jean - Travis up the tempo for a track which harks back to the good ol' days of Good Feeling.
Closer - I'm sure you've heard it on the radio or TV, just classic Travis songwriting in its catchiest form.
Big Chair - Beutiful driving track with staccato piano & running bass. Think bleak Scotland.
Battleships - Personallly, contrary to some, I don't like this track. It bores me.
Eyes Wide Open - Fran blasts out another tale of childish woes. Not as disturbing as Blue Flashing Light by any means, but we are talking about a more refined sound these days.
My Eyes - Travis at their mature peak. A song about happiness & contentment around one's family. Just beutiful.
One Night - 6/10 Travis track.
Under The Moonlight - Ditto My Eyes.
Out In Space - One thing that I always love about Travis' albums is that the end tracks are never just slightly poorer versions of the same thing at the start. This track is a simple acoustic number, with Fran's lyrics sounding like they are coming from a yard away from you, rather than through your sterio. Rather like Slide Show in The Man Who.
Colder - A spacier song that screams of what Travis can do if they want to do things differently. More intricate & different sounds can be found here. Nigel Godrich deserves some praise here I am sure. My personal favourite.
New Amsterdam - A tale of new begginings rather than a sad adeu...
Overalll, I am delighted with this album, which genuinely tallls a story about the band. As usual it is a true piece of art, & the art is often forgotten by many bands today because of a quest to mean something more & to be 'cool'. Maybe the reasoning for the intensely modernist background in the album cover is that it mimics the band's enlightened style, rather than the post-modern view that everything must be cynical, ironic, & not concrete (which is what many groups write of). It's a thing with charm & personality, just make sure you play it alll the way through to properly apreciate it. This is why it is my favourite Travis album, because the journey appears to find the perfect ending, while still harking back to the start, unlike previous incarnations where you felt the story could go on.
So, for their contribution to music as a whole I give Travis 4/5 stars, & for this album as a piece on its own I give it 3.5/5 stars. A quality album, which while isn't in the top band of pop music production around the world today, is still worth many many listens.
Pleasant enough - By: The Inquisitor, 23 Aug 2007 
Somewhere in the last five years, Travis lost the knack of producing the great sing-along choruses of The Man Who & The Invisible Band. The Boy With No Name is not bad, certainly better than 12 Memories, but most of the songs feel like Travis by numbers - endless strummy acoustic guitars, plinky piano & Fran Healy's lightweight (occasionallly unfortunately whiny) voice. There are a few exceptions - the first single Closer is unutterably lovely, as is Battleships; while Selfish Jean stands out as one of the few up-tempo songs & has some great lyrics considering it obviously started with the pun of the title. The rest alll blend into each other as perfectly pleasant, but forgettable, background music.
Smooth ! - By: Arthur Dooley, 13 Aug 2007 It would be easy to dismiss this latest offering from Travis as yet another 'Indie-lite' product so beloved of our legion of easy listening guitar bands. Whilst it's true 'The boy with no name' doesn't break any new ground in terms of musicality or lyrical poetry, the album does chug along nicely with each track seamlessly following on what went before.
It's a veritable summer album full of bright tunes, sharply recorded & performed with consummate professionalism.
It's not going to make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck but it's an album that can stand repeat listenings. Especiallly good as a mellow driving album.
