Sorry, Paul, But I love every single song of Ode to J Smith.
Especially, Chinese Blues, Before You Were Young, Quite Free, Last Words, Something Anything...Almost half of the album. and rest of it are also my favorite.
The album is great. I think Get Up is not suited well in order..though...It would have been better to change the order or remove it from the album....
However I also like Get Up if I listen to it separatly.
:D
Sorry, Paul, But I love every single song of Ode to J Smith.
Especially, Chinese Blues, Before You Were Young, Quite Free, Last Words, Something Anything...Almost half of the album. and rest of it are also my favorite.
The album is great. I think Get Up is not suited well in order..though...It would have been better to change the order or remove it from the album....
However I also like Get Up if I listen to it separatly.
:D
That is a very good point about Get Up. Not massively keen on it anyway but as a song it is ok. Not a bad song at all. But when surrounded by such great songs... it really doesn't help it. :)
Am i the only one who doesn't really get the big deal with this album?
...Before when a new Travis album has been released, i've been hooked. But not this time.
There's gotta be someone out there thinking the same...
Oh, I see what you mean!
I haven't got the album yet, but judging from what I've heard online so far I can't say it's grabbed me either.
Though I do love quite a lot of songs like Friends, J Smith, Last Words etc. They could do a lot better, to me; perhaps it's something to do with having done it so quickly. Maybe it's just me, but if I were new to Travis this wouldn't be quite the right album to start me off.
BUT. Possibly after I get the album and have a few listens, it'll start to grow on me and I'll wonder why I ever judged it like this!! So time will tell.
I love J. Smith, Something Anything and Quite Free, they're good tunes, but I'm bored of the rest already. When they played the album on the short tour earlier in the year I wasn't grabbed at all. The album doesn't seem to have the melody and charm of a traditional Travis album, which makes it a strange listen. All this is probably just because 12M and TBWNN are my two favourite albums of theirs, tough act to follow.
I like the fact that the rockier Travis is back, but I kind of feel that the album would need some more depth, like a Love Will Come through or More Than Us...
About the songs:
Chinese Blues (Fantastic start, reminds me of Quicksand on 12 memories)
Something Anything (Simple and rocky)
J. Smith (Maybe a bit too experimental)
Long Way Down (Love this song, back to Good Feeling)
Broken Mirror (I don't like this at all, sorry)
Last Words (Good one, love the last bit)
Quite Free (Quite good)
Get Up (This is like a strange mix of some odd Beatles song and Eyes Wide Open, weird)
Friends (Lovely little tune, great guitar-playing from Andy, but I don't like the lyrics that much)
Song To Self (A masterpiece in every way)
Before You Were Young (In fact I think Sarah would have been a better choice, I think this one is really simple in a bad way, sorry)
Frankly speaking, it's my favourite Travis album at the moment. The whole album's totally impressive and experimental. I think it's not only energetic, but also quite deep. Well, everyone has their own opinion, though. ;)
Of course there is no right or wrong here, and everyone is entitled to their opinion.
I happen to disagree with yours, paulc, but that's ok - I'll let you off!!! ;)
I've made similar comments to this in another thread, but here are my thoughts on the whole new album vs older albums issue, and where Ode fits in within the Travis catalogue:
There appear to be two roughly divided camps of Travis fans. This is a loose description, so don't take it too literally please.
One sort (which I fall into) has a strong preference for loud and rock-led Travis.
The other seems to be happier with the gentler melodies and ballady tracks.
In other words, and for an example, the fans who adored The Boy, don't seem to like Ode anywhere near as much, and vice versa. (again, it's an approximation, and there will be exceptions).
Moving on: I have a theory. The first album you hear which turns you on to any band, is the one by which all future (and earlier, if it's not the first release) albums are judged. In many, if not all cases, it will always remain your favourite.
That's not to say that you won't like the rest. Far from it. But it is the benchmark. Because that's when you and the band were on "honeymoon", and they could do no wrong in your eyes.
Travis has almost completely reinvented itself during the creative process between the Boy and Ode. So the result is inevitably going to split opinion. And anyone who first heard of Travis when The Boy was released is going to be wondering where all the songs like Under the Moonlight and My Eyes are, and why have they been replaced with much more strident rocky tracks.
To my ears, Ode is far more enjoyable, simply because I loved Good Feeling and The Man Who, which were the albums I fell in love with Travis to, and it reminds me of them. Consequently, I'm a happy fan.
Anyways, make of that what you will. It's just a theory! :)
I somehow think Fran might have intended to respond to this thread in his blog entry.
"To get the most out of this record, you should listen to it like you would read a book. It works as individual songs but there is also a narrative present."
Of course there is no right or wrong here, and everyone is entitled to their opinion.
I happen to disagree with yours, paulc, but that's ok - I'll let you off!!! ;)
I've made similar comments to this in another thread, but here are my thoughts on the whole new album vs older albums issue, and where Ode fits in within the Travis catalogue:
There appear to be two roughly divided camps of Travis fans. This is a loose description, so don't take it too literally please.
One sort (which I fall into) has a strong preference for loud and rock-led Travis.
The other seems to be happier with the gentler melodies and ballady tracks.
In other words, and for an example, the fans who adored The Boy, don't seem to like Ode anywhere near as much, and vice versa. (again, it's an approximation, and there will be exceptions).
Moving on: I have a theory. The first album you hear which turns you on to any band, is the one by which all future (and earlier, if it's not the first release) albums are judged. In many, if not all cases, it will always remain your favourite.
That's not to say that you won't like the rest. Far from it. But it is the benchmark. Because that's when you and the band were on "honeymoon", and they could do no wrong in your eyes.
Travis has almost completely reinvented itself during the creative process between the Boy and Ode. So the result is inevitably going to split opinion. And anyone who first heard of Travis when The Boy was released is going to be wondering where all the songs like Under the Moonlight and My Eyes are, and why have they been replaced with much more strident rocky tracks.
To my ears, Ode is far more enjoyable, simply because I loved Good Feeling and The Man Who, which were the albums I fell in love with Travis to, and it reminds me of them. Consequently, I'm a happy fan.
Anyways, make of that what you will. It's just a theory! :)
Hmmmm, looks exactly like what i mentioned to u in another thread u little opinion stealer. you.http://www.travisonline.com/board/view.php?t=10087
when I first listened to it, I thought eh !?! what's that?? It struck me as uninventive and just raw and loud.
Quite Free, Friends and Before You Where Young I liked on first impulse but that's maybe because they are more what we are used from Travis. Now listening to it non-stop, I find all sorts of incredible nuances and I'm really taken by it, Broken Mirrors for example is so not a conventional Travis song but it's truly amazing and so is the rest, I really love it. I think it's a major stepping stone in Travis' musical history.
