The anticipated new album from Travis is finally here for your entertainment and listening pleasure. 'The Invisible Band' is the third album from the British band who have had several hits from their past two albums.

~ History ~

Travis released their first album in 1998 (this album was recorded in both 1997 and 1998) called Good Feeling that featured the singles of 'All I Do Is Rock' and 'Happy'. This album was described by Select Magazine as ''The most heartstoppingly-exciting album since 'Definitely Maybe'…''. Their second album that is a bit more well known, it is called 'The Man Who', it includes the hit singles of 'Turn', 'Driftwood' and 'Why Does It Always Rain On Me?' and is another remarkable album. This was released in 1999. This brings us on to their third album that is yet another great achievement.

~ The tracks ~

The Invisible Band has 12 great tracks on it, and here they are in numerical order:

Update - added track descriptions and track length (at end)

1. Sing - One of the singles of the album and probably helped the launch the success of the album (along with the past performances of albums by the band). Lots of harmony in this and the guitar is used to great effect in the silent parts of the song. 8.5/10. 3.48

2. Dear Diary - This is what I would describe as a sad song. It is also one of the slowest songs on the album. I like this song, normally it is not my sort of song but the echo and backing vocals help give it a great ghost effect. 8/10. 2.57

3. Side - I superb rhythm to this song, a great chorus along with splendid lyrics make Side one of me favourites off of this album. The chorus always makes to move my head from side to side. The build up to certain parts is also a reason to like this song. This was a single release. 9/10. 3.59

4. Pipe Dreams - Well yet another great song, the speed is just at the level that makes me like it. The rolling echo type effect at the end of some of the verses gives it a lot of effect. 9/10. 4.05

5. Flowers In The Window - I love the lyrics in this one, the pace is nice with great use of a tambourine. The piano (I think) gives the song its overall feel and the lyrics express such harmony. 8.5/10. 3.41

6. The Cage - The intro to this song is different to the rest of the song and gives it a good set up for things to come within the song, the gentle tone of the song is risen at several points, although the majority of the song is slow the middle where they hum (almost) is a favourite piece in the song. 8/10. 3.05

7. Safe - Oh praise this song for all eternity, love it, could sleep with it (one of my favourites in this genre of music). Astonishing the song does make you feel safe. The 'beat, beat' as I describe the piano key makes the song feel great. This sounds best through a personnel stereo or other device with phones. 9.5/10. 4.23

8. Follow The Light - I get up and go! After that, the du du du of this (if you could put it like that) makes you get up and dance (only if you want to look like a fool). Great song and is one of the fastest paced songs on the album. 9/10. 3.08

9. Last Train - WOO WOO of the Last Train. Nice start but it is slower at the start than it sounds like it going to be, I like the lyrics but the music built them to an anti climax at the end of each song. 8/10. 3.16

10. Afterglow - Up and about again (in terms of the music). The music and lyrics go together well in this fast and slow song with short stops in the lyrics while the music wants Fran to sing on. 9/10. 4.05

11. Indefinitely - Slow to start and is generally slow and sung in a low key. The guitar plays and key feature, the piano intros within the song are great, the plucking on the guitar is fairly (not over used) and the Fran is great at singing this one (probably with his eyes closed again). 8.5/10. 3.52

12. The Humpty Dumpty Love Song - Sort of a novelty song this, one for Christmas but not for the teenyboppers. Great lyrics and still in the key of Travis, very moving and the continuous throughout, nod away as the music gets louder and better with low key moments. 9/10. 5.01

The album was released on the 11th June 2001. The album is 45 minutes and 29 seconds long (but not there longest album) and includes the hit single 'Sing' that is one of my favourite songs of the album (the B side to the Sing single is a cover of one of Queens songs, if you wanted to know). Other favourite songs of mine include 'Safe', 'Follow The Light' and 'Afterglow'. The album has many good links within its shinny circular CD and some mediocre ones with no bad ones (in my opinion).

Out of the above favourite songs my out right favourite has to be track 8 'Follow The Light'. Why, because it is the best song on the album with its get up and go cheery melody. Another reason is because it rarely slows down to a slow pace, smooth and fast pace songs are the ones that I like.

The album is owned by Independiente and published by Sony/ATV Music Publishing Limited. Web sites of interest and further information not contained in the opinion are as follows:

www.independiente.co.uk
www.travisonline.com

I have not looked at these yet but they will probably be worth looking at, many in my experience are as they contain lots of information.

~ Packaging and CD Design ~

Yet again they have come up trumps with a great inlay and front cover design as well as a back cover design. The front cover of the inlay and the back of the back cover is all four-band members in the woods trying to disguise themselves in the woods (with limited effect, they stick out like a sore thumb). The front cover includes the title of the album as well as the band. The inside of the inlay has the lyrics written on a page for each one with a picture. These pictures are of a house (a beach house, country house, don't ask me) and of the band the members individually in the house and in the recording studio (in the house, maybe (not!)). Al though all of this is laid on a white background the pictures are of a high quality and are not distorted in any way. At the back of the booklet is the usual stuff on the production teams and the long (and I mean long) list of thanks. As for the back cover it has a pictures of some doors that fold to side (possibly) (shed doors, probably metal). This stuff was by Stefan Ruiz on behalf of Blue Source.

~ The band and production team for the album ~

Travis are the following bunch of cool dudes, guys and blokes:

Fran (Healy)
Dougie
Neil
Andy

All of the tracks are written by Fran and all are produced and mixed by Nigel Godrich. The album was recorded at Ocean Way Studios in Los Angeles and Air Studios in London for track 4. Other performances include Jason Falkner for the keyboard on 'Last Train' and Millenia Strings on tracks 1,11 and 12. The album is published by Sony/ATV Music Publishing Limited and owned by Independiente Limited.

Management was by Ian McAndrew and Colin Lester for Wildlife Entertainment Limited of London.

Lets not forget the huge list of people that Travis thank that we will never meet at the end of the inlay, god it gets bigger with every album.

~ How does this compare to their other albums ~

Of the three albums it is hard to say which one of the three is the best. I would reckon 'Good Feeling' because it is the longest and the original that became the blueprint of the music that Travis plays today. 'The Man Who' is a great album with the singles probably being the best songs on the album in my opinion but there are many songs on the other two that were not singles (not currently singles in the latest ones case) that maybe could have been singles and successful ones at that if they had been released. All three are super albums, I would recommend to everyone who is in to this music that they buy all three if they are given the chance. So in order of my favourite to my least favourite:

Good Feeling
The Invisible Band
The Man Who

This is not a statement of 'The Man Who' being rubbish because it was great but the others just pass it on all round performance. My favourite album cover of the lot has to be this one ('The Invisible Band') because it is so simple but very appealing to the eye. 'The Invisible Band' has some great memorable sounds on it and much of it is original stuff.

Update

Since my original review Travis have released 2 more full albums and a singles album (why I do not know, I hate this trend). In 2003 Travis released '12 Memories'. Another nice album from Travis that from a quality perspective matches this one in the Travis Discography, I would give it the same score, not as good as early Travis releases but still excellent all the same. Then there was 'Singles' in 2004, says it all really. An album with all their singles on. One of those I would only ask for for Christmas, indeed it came out around that time. I own both of these and they are great compliments to my CD collection. In 2007 'The Boy With No Name' was released. I have not got this one yet but I have heard good things of this one. I have heard one or two of the singles from the album and this one is on my back catalogue 'must get' list.

Updated

~ Price ~

I orginally bought this CDfrom HMV for £12.99 however this album can now be found much cheaper with an RRP now of £11.99. Hmv.com play.com have this available for £7.99 with free postage. You can also download this album, a quick browse around seems to suggest that you can download this for about the same price as the CD equivalant or less.

~ Final verdict on The Invisible Band ~

A real solid album from a band that is generally consistent. Great sound and consistency in the album. Good ballard sounds and overall I would recomend this album to anyone wh likes this genre of music.

After many years of playing this album I still have not tired of it, it seems I put this on now and again when I just need to chill a bit and unwind.

Parts of this review will also be found on DooYoo under my username there jimoth.