I dunno if I can say there is a band I believe it better than Travis. There is something classic about them for me and I have sooo many memories with each song. Bands I hold highly are Glasvegas, Iron & Wine, the Beatles, etc. Travis is still #1 tho. Always will be :0)!
Personally I don't take music so seriously.. I can compare artists..some of the bands just happen to be better than others..
I think there are many great bands around there, but to me Travis will be always "The Band". For me everything started from Travis and they'll always have that special place in mi heart.
Travis have slipped a bit more to the outside of my radar lately, since I first posted in this thread. Gotta be honest. The main reason for that is that I've discovered Belle & Sebastian. I never really got into them before - back catalogue too intimidatingly huge, no really obvious starting point - but I was completely startled listening through Tigermilk and then If You're Feeling Sinister to really, there and then, fall in love with a band. Since then I've got to know pretty much all their stuff and I adore it.
Not saying they're necessarily better, but the last and only time previously that I've fallen head over heels in love with a band's sound and music was, ofcourse, Travis. It's a great feeling. Getting to the end of a track and just thinking "wow", humming it in the shower, listening to it constantly, then moving onto something even better and just feeling every second of it. I got that with Travis only I dunno, I was younger then and had less of a broad taste/knowledge of the kind of music I like. I spent a while wondering if Travis were essentially just the starting point and I'd outgrown them, hence not posting here for ages.
Then I was at work some weeks ago and in the classroom next to mine, they were playing The Man Who. I propped the door open, walked down the corridor and heard Turn vibrating along the corridor and suddenly it reminded me everything that made the love I had for Travis so real. That never really fades I think, you just have the odd hiatus then when you come back to it, it feels just as fresh if not more.
If they're one of two bands that I really feel that strongly about, then I guess that's not bad going at all.
I've came into this thread quite late so only read the first few pages... to be honest, there's a big difference between the bands that are out there now than 10 years ago. Everything is on downloads and I think a lot of the bands that come out now are a little flash in the pan... (slap me if you think I'm wrong), there's not really much of a build up to them and its just kaboom, they're all over I-Tunes, big write up about them, they disappear and take out another album and it gets panned. Which is a bit of a shame. I'm trying to think of a few examples of bands like that and for the life of me I can't think as I'm feeling a bit ill just now (they will come to me). With Travis, 9-10 years ago, they'd been around in the background, The Man Who came out and catapulted them and then they had their successful third album... I've never ever fallen out with their music and they have inspired me throughout the past 10 years. To be honest, the only really great band I'd say we have just now is KOL and I'm falling more for Biffy... I like Mumford and Sons but I'm a little scared they're going to be what I was describing. There's little music out there just now that says I'm going to go into town and buy that album... I think the last one I bought was The Law, that was just because I saw them support The View in 2008. I don't know but I can't really name much bands that top Travis now... KOL is one, I still love the Foos but they've been on the go for years...
The Beatles is the only band that I can say are undoubtedly "better" than Travis, if only because I think no band will ever beat the Beatles with regard to not only popularity, but musical impact, creativity, etc.
I think the question of what bands are "better than" Travis is extremely personal and is probably better phrased as "which bands do you like more than Travis".
So to answer that question, I would say that Travis was one of the first bands that I ever loved, and they'll always be one of my favourites. That being said, I sometimes love Coldplay and Muse just a wee bit more than Travis... but only sometimes. In certain moods, Travis is all that I want to listen to.
Hey all! Snow Patrol, Muse, Radiohead, Keane or Coldplay aren't better than Travis!!- Singer from Muse looks like hamster, Snow Patrol are old, Keane are kids on playground and Chris Martin is radio pop star all over the world! and that's all.
Travis will always have a special place in my heart, not just for the music ...
I don't think they've ever bettered The Man Who and maybe, like Franz Ferdinand will never have a bigger hit than Take Me Out, that fabulous success so early on in their careers is more of a hindrance than a help. I dunno, Fran et al may disagree.
At the moment I think Doves are getting better with every album. Their performance on the BBC's Electric Proms was amazing.
