The Boy With No Name - Travis

Travis hold a special place in a personal trivia quiz kind of way, mainly due to two "university" moments. Number one, The Little Crown pub had the song U16 Girls on it's jukebox (and as we were usually the only people in there when we went in we had no problem playing what we wanted - no wonder the pub is now closed) and secondly I once won a Travis promo CD at our student uni quiz. Actually I've just thought of a third university link. Dave Proud. I'd explain it, but I'm already boring the one other person who reads this site that might know what I'm on about so I'll crack on with the proper business.

Good Feeling would have passed me by if it wasn't for another of those "3 quid in WH Smiths" things, and whilst The Man Who was, and indeed still is, an excellent album I was less impressed with The Invisible Band and 12 Memories. Not that they were necessarily bad albums by any means, they just sounded at times like a band on auto-pilot; yes there were a couple of great singles (Sing and Re-Offender in particular) but little else that remains in my mind in 2007.

It was with a heavy heart then that I heard the opening single off The Boy With No Name, Closer. To be frank, it wasn't very good. And its a smell that the album as a whole cannot shake off.

For every Selfish Jean, a song which beefs up their sound but still retains all that is good about Travis, or One Night that genuinely lifts you there is a Big Chair or Out In Space that drifts along pleasantly enough without ever really threatening to show any vitality.

There are, as I have said, a couple of great moments on the album but they're not enough to convince you otherwise of that nagging little voice telling you that Travis are probably a little too past their sell-by date by now.