Ok, I’m going to try and write my review for The Boy With No Name. I know the album has been out for ages now – ok 4 weeks, but we heard a lot of the songs several weeks earlier – still, truth is it was difficult to work out what I thought of the new material. It’s still difficult now to be honest. But hey, I’ll try.
The songwriting quality on this album is top-notch, as we’ve come to expect. Lyrics, music composition, it all fits together beautifully. The variety in styles can be seen as both a pro and a con. Personally, albums where all the songs sound the same bore me, and one of the reasons I love Travis so much is their ability to write such different music. The thing is, and it’s been said many times before, the variety here could be a little too much. As individual songs, they’re great. As a whole album…hmm, well it’s never really able to kick off an ‘atmosphere’. The feel of The Man Who or Good Feeling is distinct, but The Boy With No Name doesn’t have that same flow. This doesn’t take anything away from the songs, but it’s still a point worth mentioning.
I think the first three tracks are great. Three Times and You Loose has a great style about it, with the guitar and this kind of country sound. The lyrics create a cool image as well, with what I imagine to be a desolate far-western town. Selfish Jean is amazing, bursting with energy and more brilliant lyrics. I’m also a big fan of Closer, although the song seems hit and miss with some folk. There are points on the album however where the quality is almost too polished. What I mean is, I feel some of the tracks need to be more raw and edgy. Eyes Wide Open is one of those tracks. It feels like it has great potential, and it sounds so much better live, but the recording still needs more umph for me. Y’know, like Good Feeling style umph. In fact, one of my main criticisms of the album is about sometimes having a lack of energy or feeling. Sometimes the energy is there, but other times it all feels a bit bland to me. My Eyes as another example – it’s a great song, but I still want something more from it. It flows and sounds pretty, but once I got over the initial catchiness of it, it’s starting to bore me a little. Whereas Flowers in the Window (which I’m just using as an example, seeing as it’s often been compared to My Eyes) I can still listen to over and over. But then I do think FITW is melodically stronger. I don’t want it to sound like a dislike My Eyes though – I do like it! It’s difficult to point out negatives without sounding like you’re slating it, lol.
Under The Moonlight. Should it have been on the album? Short answer – no. That’s my opinion anyways. Great song for a b-side, but it doesn’t sound like a Travis song…and of course it’s not…which’d kinda explain it. This is the track I’m most likely to skip. I’ve babbled on about that before on the old board anyways. Now perhaps my favourite tracks are actually at the very end of the album – that is, New Amsterdam, Sailing Away, and (if you count it as on the album) Perfect Heaven Space. I think I like them because they’re melodically and structurally simple. They just sound the most Travisy to me. Somehow they seem to have more passion in them too. Yet they still took a few listens to grow on me – or New Amsterdam and Perfect Heaven Space did at least. And that’s always a good sign. They’re usually the tracks that have the greatest longevity, and that’s crucial.
So, a fine collection of songs, and probably the most well-rounded Travis album to date. The only thing is, I think I like the extremities of the other albums a bit more. I like the sheer passion and energy of Good Feeling, and I like really mellow and atmospheric Travis songs like you get on The Man Who. Where exactly it comes on my list of favourite Travis albums I’m not sure, but it doesn’t top The Man Who. For me, that album takes some beating.
