Web Editor, ZOO (www.zooweekly.co.uk). And they changed my photo. Splendid.
Web Editor, ZOO (www.zooweekly.co.uk). And they changed my photo. Splendid.
Member since:04.12.2000
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There are many certainties in life. Saira’s nasal whine will single-handedly drive you towards spontaneous combustion every time you watch an episode of The Apprentice. Charlotte Church will appear in at least one tabloid per day from here unto eternity. And the next Travis record will be full of beautiful acoustic tunes and throw lavish choruses at you in such a way that they spend the next three months swimming through your brain.
At least, that’s how it used to be. Well, turn off the telly and burn those tabloids for good – because things have changed. Travis’s fourth record, 12 Memories, while still high on the acoustic guitars, is an altogether more melancholy affair. Think music from the bottom of the ocean: it’s dark, it’s heavy, it’s lumbering in places, and it’s certainly not easy to get to grips with.
Where once Fran Healy penned light, breezy tunes about Driftwood and catchy classics like Why Does It Always Rain On Me?, he’s now developed an angry side. It’s still raining on him, but this time he’s drowning under the black sky, and spitting fire back at nature for being scorned. Peace The F**k Out – the angriest track on 12 Memories, and also the best – encompasses this rage into one big ball of anger and then explodes. It’s acoustic armageddon.
Single Re-Offender – that murky Travis tune that was omnipresent on the air waves in the run up to this album’s release – is equally as sinister, a solemn story of domestic violence. “You say your sorrys, and then you do it again,” Healy howls, reprising the general theme from Blue Flashing Light on The Man Who, but with extra injustice. Mid-Life Krysis and opener Quicksand also slip under the not-so-teenage angst banner, with varying results – they’re passable enough efforts, but nothing special in comparison to a past that encompasses the likes of All I Wanna Do Is Rock and Turn.
In a sense, that’s the downfall of 12 Memories – that so many dismiss it because it doesn’t live up to Travis’s own history. Good Feeling is a great, rocking student record; The Man Who shows Coldplay up as the watered-down sentimentalists they really are; and The Invisible Band is full of golden moments like Flowers in The Window, Side, Indefinitely, and The Humpty Dumpty Love song. Put 12 Memories up against those and it seems pretty insignificant.
For Travis as a band, the opposite is true – after almost losing drummer Neil Primrose in a swimming pool accident the summer before this record’s release, it’s their most personal album yet. But – despite highlights like later single Love Will Come Through and piano driven Some Sad Song – the end result doesn’t quite match the sum of its parts (and its emotion). Worth owning for its high points; just don’t expect those previously characteristic fluffy choruses. They’re gone for good; let’s just hope Saira and Charlotte are next.
*As an extra point of caution to those buying this CD, its copyright protection means that you cannot play on a PC, nor convert songs to MP3 (to play on an iPod, for example). Personally I find this very annoying, but I'll leave judgment on that particular facet to you.*
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Great review. My mum has this album, but she does prefer their debut release. I'm jealous of how much info you can put in a review without crossing into just plain 'blabbing territory'! I suppose it makes sense that you're an editor! :)
x majiggy x
Travis's self-produced fourth album,12 Memories, is lush and gorgeous, drenched with ... more
strings and piano, which add a lazy, dreamlike quality to songs such as first single "Re-Offender" and opening track "Quicksand", and even the occasional bit of experi...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Travis's self-produced fourth album, 12 Memories, is lush and gorgeous, drenched with ... more
strings and piano, which add a lazy, dreamlike quality to songs such as first single "Re-Offender" and opening track "Quicksand", and even the occasional bit of exper...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Advantages: Great, easy listen with different and original tracks. Disadvantages: Not a huge fan of the dull cover, as it does not fully portray the music.
Advantages: Great, easy listen with different and original tracks. Disadvantages: Not a huge fan of the dull cover, as it does not fully portray the music.
Apr 7th, 2005
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