Travis "The Man Who"
Listening to this album kind of confirms for me what I've always thought
about Travis. That some of their songs are good, but overall
I'm probably never going to be a rabid fan or buy their albums.
Travis had released their slightly rockier debut "Good Feeling" to
reasonable sales but not blistering success. After a tour with Oasis,
the band got together with Radiohead's producer Nigel Godrich... I hate
to say it, but you can tell. The track "As You Are" has a
Bends-esque quiet-to-loud guitar build-up, and singer Fran Healy's high
voice hits some rasps over the big distorted chorus that instantly
brings Thom Yorke to mind.
For the most part, the album is ballad-heavy. there are a lot of
acoustic and clean guitars with Healy's voice going for a more gentle
tone. It seems to be a similar Radiohead-lite vein mined by Coldplay a
year or two later. Melodic and inoffensive but not really
earth-moving.
The single "Why Does it Always Rain on Me"
helped to launch the album commercially, and it ended up selling a
ridiculous number of copies and making the band (at least briefly) one
of the biggest around.
The album features (as was the style at the time) a hidden track at the
end of the CD after a long stretch of silence. It's quite foul mouthed
and makes a nice departure from the overly tasteful, and radio-friendly fare of
the album.
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