Music Under Fire

Photo courtesy of imseeingred.com

Rating: 6.5/10

There couldn't be any album more obvious for the UK public to look forward to given Travis' prior credentials. Ode to J. Smith entered the UK Album Chart at #20, which is uncharacteristic considering their towering #1 releases over the past 10+ years. As far as this album goes, I'm not going to bore you and speak of Travis' infectious pop sounds or melodies, which have made them quite a household name over in the UK. I won't even dive into Fran Healy's vocals, because really, they're virtually the same throughout every album. He has that Erlend Øye complex where he'll just never really escape his own vocals and expand to something different, which in the case of Ode To J. Smith is what is most apparent here.

Ode To J. Smith, released under their own Red Telephone Box label, is Travis' sixth studio album. This time around the band is shedding all of their old skin, going against everything they once did and breaking out of their shell from the other hugely successful albums they've made prior to making this album their "loudest and edgiest yet''

So how did it fare? How did the band, who took over the charts with the release of every album over the past eleven years, hold up to their new sound and to their enamered fans who have been waiting for more of the same year after year? You may have heard the comparisons already. There are Radiohead comparisons for a few songs, and rightly so. Tracks such as "Broken Mirror" has the murky rhythm and ambience similar to Radiohead's "Lucky" from their OK Computer days. The band's composition has certainly changed in terms of guitar pedals and riffs used as well. If you listen to "Long Way Down", you'll realize this is indeed the rockiest and loudest Travis you've heard.

But however far the band may have pushed themselves in terms of experimenting, part of the album is quite lamenting if you took interest into their 2007 A Boy With No Name (which was not well received). This is apparent in their song "Quite Free", which carries their traditional melodical layering. If you enjoy more of the old, same style Travis is so well known for, you will also take an interest in "Song To Self".

Overall, this album surprisingly does not run the same threads as their previous albums did, and as Fran and Co. were not lying when they said they were going to try something new. Incidentally, their two week recording stint with Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick did the trick. Their managed to break out with their single "Something Anything" and pushed their limits even bringing in a choir for the finishing touch on their title track "J. Smith".

Every song is not a pure gem, however. The album is riddled with a few bad apples, which includes "Long Way Down", "Get Up" and their over-the-top closer "Before You Were Young", but overall, the album is full of pleasant, upbeat songs making it placating to the average listener. The reason for many of the bad reviews you will find out there are hugely based on this variance away from Travis' traditional melodies and yearning for the old, captured by his first four albums and perhaps too much experimentation with this new sound. OTJS does not appear not flawless either; there are no clear-cut singles to be found other than "Something Anything". In fact, nothing on OTJS could be compared to 2007's winner "Closer", or come close to my favorite "Big Chair". Indeed the band has moved on and experimented and in my eyes it is well-accepted. However, Ode To J. Smith will not be on my greatest albums of this year.

Check out Travis' cover of Britney Spears' "Hit Me Baby One More Time" recorded live in the Radio 1 Lounge. We'll admit, its much better than the original...

MP3: Travis - Hit Me Baby One More Time (Britney Spears Cover)

Ode To J. Smith was released in the UK on 9/29/2008 and was released in the US on 11/4/08. OTJS is not currently available for digital download on US iTunes, but if you would like to purchase it through UK iTunes, go here.

Official - http://www.travisonline.com/
MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/travis

Travis is back at it again after soothing their fans last year with a Boy Who Had No Name, an album witten about lead vocalist Fran Healy's newborn son. Now that they're back on track after a 4 year lull prior to 2007. Their first single will be "Something Anything" off of their own and newly established Red Telephone Box label. Even more exhillarating is that their sixth album, Ode To J. Smith, will be bouncing off the walls one month from now (September 29th).

The Ode To J. Smith tracklisting will be:
01: Chinese Blues
02: J. Smith
03: Something Anything
04: Long Way Down
05: Broken Mirror
06: Last Words
07: Quite Free
08: Get Up
09: Friends
10: Song To Self
11: Before You Were Young

Healy and Co. added that this will be their edgiest album yet, and they may just be right judging from the video below. Their first single from the album, "Something Anything" features our guitar pal (Andy Dunlop), perplexed as he stares at his trusty guitar, only to soon grow 10+ feet tall and wail on the best guitar solo I've heard from Travis to date. Who knew they were capable of such raw guitarwork?

Healy added comments about the album name in a mixblog:

"The album is called Ode to J. Smith partly giving a heads up to the key song and partly because all the songs are written about nameless characters or to nameless characters."