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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Soulful, edgy and rockier than before., November 4, 2008
This is their first to be written on electric guitar since "Good Feeling" and sees the band returning to their roots.
"It's like the clock has gone full rotation," says Healy.The CD was "born out of a rush of creative urgency; a need to make a record, it has to be amazing".
"It was recorded very quickly. Two weeks, he says. "Which, compared to the two and a half years it took to do "The Boy With No Name" is not bad going. We haven't recorded an album that quickly since "Good Feeling" in 1996. We wrote it pretty fast too. And wanted to capture the excitement we felt about the new songs that were coming out".
It's business as usual for Travis's sixth long player - a run of ten typically grandiose songs from the heart of Fran Healy.
In a nod to their humble beginnings, the band release "Ode To J Smith" on Red Telephone Box, the label they created to release first single "All I Want To Do Is Rock", funded by Healy's mum for British £ 600.
This album is certainly rockier than ever before, "with a subtle string arrangement from composer Joby Talbot"* and a freakish choral section as well.
It's their most experimental yet, full of electric guitar-driven, old-school riffs.
However it's also more than rock - this is an eclectic, experimental mix.
Just over a year after "The Boy With No Name" failed to ignite critics, the Glasgow group are going it alone with this edgy and soulful release.
"The band have abandoned the acoustic ballads and decided to rock out.
Fans shouldn't worry, though - the band are still about as aggressive as a scatter cushion. Beneath the squealing blues guitar and clanking bass lie characteristically amiable tunes".-Telegraph
Unlike early melodic hits such as "Driftwood", "Ode To J Smith" is more about the sound, while Fran Healy's voice fades into the background on all but the most normal Travis tune, "Quite Free".
On the title track, the instrumental dominates before a choir surprisingly ends the song.
The opening track "Chinese Blues" has a guitar riff which echoes "Sympathy for the Devil".
The first single "Something Anything" - a sing-along chorus with riffy guitars that's reminiscent of their superfans, Oasis - is one of the highlights, and the country styled "Last Words" - a very bittersweet tune, and probably the most traditionally "Travis-y" song on the record- show they're not afraid to reinvent themselves.
As said before, "the CD's sound is more brittle than their last album, the rather dour "The Boy With No Name", more akin to their debut.
It's also brief, clocking in at just over 36 minutes"*.-Simon Rueben
No filler tracks.Quality over quantity.
You will like it.
The Boy with No Name
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Ode To J. Smith, November 4, 2008
Ode To J. Smith is an interesting record with a rather interesting issue surrounding its release. Despite being received very positively by critics in the UK, the album failed to match the sales of Travis' previous, successful records. A lack of promotion is likely the culprit, as it turns out some of that critical boasting actually holds up.
The weaker-than-usual sales are an odd issue, considering that Ode To J. Smith is an interesting and mostly well-done record for the band. The sound on the record is much more aggressive and edgy than previous Travis albums, recalling classic post punk and garage rock acts such as The Ramones, as well as some newer favorites like The Strokes and The White Stripes. A restrained touch on guitar effects and the occasional haggard scream make this a fairly interesting and dynamic record, especially for a band that, like its contemporaries Coldplay and Keane, is constantly at risk of becoming just another stale adult alternative band. I think I even heard some banjo on "Last Words," which must be a first. Ode To J. Smith manages to negotiate the pitfalls of reinvention gracefully, managing to sound like classic Travis while doing something decidedly new for the band.
It's a short record, but that can be a serious boon in a time when mainstream rock albums are becoming more and more bloated with filler and extras. Better to rock out for 37 minutes than flounder for an hour, wouldn't you agree?
8/10
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic Travis, November 4, 2008
This is classic Travis, Coldplay took all their cues from this band, dont miss it! Song to Self...amazing.
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