Good Feeling - Travis

Advantages: A great mix of songs, Happy
Disadvantages: A few not so strong songs, some of the lyrics are not the best

...album is their debut album Good Feeling, I always feel a little bit protective of Travis. I discovered them long before Why Does It Rain On Me became a massive hit and everyone had fallen for the charms of Fran Healy. I fell in love with them in the summer of 1997. This was the long golden summers of my studenthood (The first time around!). I heard Tied to the 90s and felt what a happy jaunty record this is. I then saw them in a tent at the Reading ...
...They have had four albums Good Feeling, The Man Who, the Invisible Band and the latest one 12 Memories which I have not yet got (I think Santa may buy it for me this christmas) Good Feeling as I have said was Travis's debut album and came out in September 1997 So the big question is what is the music like? Travis are known for their simple, pretty quiet melodies which can be a bit depressing. For those who like these there are some beautiful ballads ... Read review

Advantages: It'll make you laugh and cry, sometimes both at once
Disadvantages: Not as accessible as later releases. Takes some time and effort to fully appreciate

...this one gives me. Good Feeling is, in many ways, a different Travis to the one we now know. Far heavier in places, definitely more raw, innocent, naive even. But if you like Travis' two most recent albums you'll find in Good Feeling the same ups and downs, smiles and tears that characterise both The Man Who and The Invisible Band. The difference is that while the two newer albums are dominated by accoustic guitar ballads, Good Feeling Travis were ...
...be effortlessly chilling. What Good Feeling does have is good feelings. The title track will have you singing along without even realising it, as all best Travis tracks do, and U16 Girls has a tune that every postman in the world would whistle if any of them had heard it. Happy is perfectly titled, seemingly written with the sole intention of making you bounce and Tied To The Nineties is trying to be nothing but fun. It succeeds admirably. Weekest ... Read review

Advantages: Contains some really good tracks
Disadvantages: Definitely not as good as their second album

Good Feeling was the debut album from Travis and was recorded back in 1997. Although I was familiar with a few of the songs on it, I’d never ever got round to buying or listening to the whole album, so I was really glad when somebody bought it for me this Christmas. Like ‘The Man Who’ this album has some great songs on it, but the overall feel of the album isn’t as good. I think it’s a bit too patchy. There are some ...
...album aren’t nearly as good as on ‘The man who’. While there are one or two standout tracks on this album, there are too many slow dirge like ballads for my liking and one or two tracks that sound as if they are just fillers. Saying that it’s still a good album, and for a debut album it’s well above the average offering you get from most bands. There are 12 twelve tracks on the CD and ranging from the usual Travis type ... Read review

Advantages: Great combination of indie and ballads, good vocal style
Disadvantages: All a little TOO simplistic at times, not all the tracks are that great

The father of a very good friend of mine has a saying. Well, it's more of a factual statement, but that doesn't make it any less true. With regards to some old material of a certain band, he'll say – "That was when they were good." And it's quite often true – bands have a habit of trailing off later in their careers, so sometimes we find we can say that they used to be a lot better than they are now. Of course, it's also occasionally ...
...but the lyrics are quite good – they seem to be talking about someone who's going to jump off the top of a tall building because he can't be with woman he wants. Not bad, if a little light hearted for it's subject matter! - Good Day To Die As you might expect from this title, this is quite a dark track, while being so creatively bizarre that it's hard to make an awful lot of sense from the lyrics. I'm not very keen on this track – it ... Read review

Advantages: Britpop magnificence with unique laddish moments
Disadvantages: They went for soft pop rubbish after this

Well, well, well. I need to make everyone aware of this fantastic album before it's too late. Buy it now! NOW!!! Let me first say; I hate Travis. Not dislike, HATE! Why? Because most people know of them as the soft chimey wistful balladeers with no real depth. I AM HERE TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT about their roots. Believe it or not, Travis' first album displays all the laddish humour, abrasive vocals and love of loud guitars as Oasis in their ...
...a support act in 1998. I own all Travis singles from this 'Good feeling' period, and the b-sides are superb too. But here's the album lowdown, to convince the unbelievers; 1. 'All i want to do is rock' "What!?" I hear you shout! The NME said it was a false prophecy, but it was true on this album only. 'All i want to do is rock' is genius. The kind of track you want to write when you hear a great guitar riff. Very slow tempo, with a heavy chiming ... Read review

Advantages: Excellent album, that has a very wide appeal. Some excellent singles and superb album tracks
Disadvantages: It's perhaps too good that they raised the expectation too high for the rest of their albums

...One of the best albums of 1999, if not the 90’s as a whole was the second album from Scottish band Travis. They followed up Good Feeling with one of the best albums I’d heard in a long time. It took a very mellow vibe but certainly made it work for Fran and Co. As a result The Man Who has become one of those albums that most people own. If you like Indie then I’d say it’s almost a certainty that there is a copy of this album in your CD collection. This was back in the times where NME didn’t pick up on every new band proclaiming them the new this or that. In fact the first album from the Scottish 4 piece was released in 1997 and slipped through virtually unnoticed. This second album would really herald the announcement that Travis had arrived. It was produced by Nigel Godrich, who can now include both Travis and Radiohead as bands he... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Mellow, Amazing,
Disadvantages: Boring to some, Lacks inidividuality

...Travis recently released their eagerly awaited new album Invisible Band, and what an excellent piece of work it is. If you have ever heard the previous albums, Good Feeling and The Man Who, you might not enjoy this album as much, the songs don't have a lot of individuality and there isn't much to tell it apart from anything else in the market of a similar genre. That said there are 3 songs that really do stick out on this album. Sing is one the songs you will have heard almost non stop on radio stations all over the place, and why not, it is a superb song. It does bare a lot of similarities to Turn, but if it aint broke? Next up is Side, a fantastically written song that hopefully will be released in the near future. Probably the best song on the album in many people's eyes, Side has a wonderfully mellow tune, and you will sing... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Side, Flowers, The Cage
Disadvantages: the album dies a death after track 8

...Sometime in 1996 I was watching Jools Holland on BBC2 and a band came on who looked a little shabby round the edges, but sounded great. The lead singer was a shy, curly haired, baby faced guy who didn’t like looking at the camera; the bass player looked as camp as a row of tents; and the drummer looked, quite simply, like Wolf from Gladiators. They played a song called ‘Good Feeling’ and they went by the name of Travis, and although I didn’t hear of them again for a while, I kept them in the back of my mind. Five years on, to say Travis have had a bit of an effect on my life is like saying Thom Yorke is a little bit pretentious. Over the past few years being a Travis fan has led directly to two trips to Scotland, some very valuable friendships, almost a dozen top nights out at gigs, a Ligger of the Week photo... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful