What Will Come - It's funny. Fran stated that during the recording of the song that Dougie one day rearranged the tracks and the album made more sense to him. I must politely disagree. For me I'd have Magnificent Time as the album opener. I enjoy the song, but for me it's the weakest on the album. 6/10
Magnificent Time - Fantastic song. Travis what they are best at, stomping chorus and great lyrics and verses. It feels like Selfish Jeans little cousin. The video is class. Embrace the silliness of it! Neil's dancing is fucking awful, which is amazing. 9/10
Radio Song - Another that I've really really enjoyed. For me the best on the album. Could easily have been off Good Feeling. Love the gnarly guitar from Andy and the lyrics are great too. Wonder if the line "How do u sleep at night" is aimed at a specific music critic.. Maybe. Or Dave Cameron. 10/10.
Paralysed - Seems like the choir used for Ode To J. Smith have been given more work. Love it. Love the baseline and the lyrics, also the drums. Love the Kardashian line specifically. 9/10.
Animals - I fucking hope this is played at the BBC Symohony Orchestra show at The Barras! The strings are beautiful. Another big stomping chorus. 5 songs in and it's a belter of a wee album! 9/10
Everything At Once - Wasn't sure about this one on first listen but I TOTALLY love it now. Something entirely new from the band, and it's very good. How Fran will sing these lyrics live will be a treat to watch! Best song Dougies ever written. This is a song in its own right that probably wouldn't fit on any other album in the back catalogue. 9/10
3 Miles High - Again, at first was slightly put off. But after more listens it's totally grown on me. Like the synths and the "hoo-ha" lyric. The plodding baseline is great to bop along to. Probably the most "Travisy" sounding on here. 8/10
All Of The Places - Feels like it could've been written during the Invisible Band sessions. Dreamy wee acoustic number that's growing on me more n more. Lovely wee song. Frans voice is lovely. 8/10
Idlewild - Not so sure about it. Dunno if I like the female singer in it. I'll give it a chance though. 5/10
Strangers On A Train - Great finisher. If Andy wrote it then it's his best effort. Big bombastic almighty end to a cracking album. Could easily be a Killers song. The chorus is fantastic. Again, something new that can't be placed on anything previous to this. 9/10
Overall 9/10.
A magnificent return to form. I'd rank it as the 4th best behind The Man Who, 12 Memories and Good Feeling. Good work guys!
Animals is from a different planet. Can't get enough of it! Also I bloody love Idlewild... it's one of the coolest songs Fran has written and it reminds me a lot of "Sing me to sleep".
The album gets a solid 10 from me. Looking at all songs it's the best album since The Man Who.
Happy to hear you're enjoying the new album so much! Sadly I really can't get into it so far.
Being album 8, it's obvious that the guys know how to write a song like the back on their hand by now. But for me, that's the problem. I read a review saying "large chunks of Everything At Once sound dishearteningly workmanlike", and I have to agree. It's a functional pop album certainly, but large parts of it feel all-too formulaic to me, and missing the emotional soul or edge than their old work has in bucket-loads.
Still, my two favourite songs are Radio Song and Everything At Once. The former sounds like it was taken from the 90's - I could almost imagine its working title being RadioHEAD Song as it sounds like something from The Bends era! And Everything At Once is just refreshingly different. Love the almost robotic delivery of the verses, and the fact Dougie sings the chorus. First hearing this song, I got excited about the new album in much the same way I did with "Another Guy" before Where We Stand, because it suggested an interesting direction. Only to find, on both occasions, they were the most interesting songs on their respective albums (for the record, "Boxes" was my other favourite on their last album. Beautiful song).
Goes without saying, this is just my opinion, and I really hope most of you love it. Sadly I'm becoming one of those "their early stuff was the best" fans! I'd like to see them do something more experimental for album 9. Maybe they should work with Nigel Godrich again!
Congratulations Fran, Dougie, Andy and Neil.
You have produced my favourite Travis album ever.
Packed with singles.
Think the song Everything at once, is one of the best songs from Travis in all your years together.
Radio song is brilliant and what will come is a good Travis song of the type we have become accustomed to in previous albums, but then this album steps up a gear.
Think 3 miles high is my favourite travisy song of all time,and shows Fran can pull a sing or closer out the bag anytime. It's the perfect Travis song
Magnificent time, is a classic feel-good song in the same way sing, flowers, closer, selfish jean and now 3 miles high is.
Special mention for big and ballsy Paralysed which is massive in sound and meaning with a epic bond type feel to it
Special mention too for Animals, same level of brilliance as paralysed.
Everything at once (song) tops the scale, as mentioned earlier. Sheer f*****g genius.
All of the places is beautiful emotional and a song for today's generation along with Paralysed.
Idlewild, is sublime piece of work with an epic air to it that wraps' you up in a dreamy like velvet.
Strangers on strain closes the album with light and shade that transforms as you listen taking you on a lovely journey,as does this entire album. This is the album I have been waiting for.
I think Travis fans will love this album, but I think it has a wider audience to reach out to, if brave enough to release more of its gems as singles.
Which ones will be a hot topic of debate.
And I think we will need to hear 7 of these songs live.
Overall summary, great album.
Classic Travis.
Another fantastic addition to their back catalogue. What Will Come, Animals and All of the Places are my favourite but I'm struggling to pick a bad song on the album. I think it's one of their strongest albums. Given time it might become my favourite Travis album!
