What is it that makes us want to deconstruct art by units of time? Lists. We love making them. We love arguing over them. And here, on the verge of a new decade, we’re in a position to do the same again. What were the best albums of the past ten years?
Here at AD, we started talking it through and decided we weren’t going to add to the cacophony of lists being put out by various music pubs. There are enough of those. Rather, we elected to let our four main writers have a chance to write about any and all of the albums they felt shaped the last decade.
From now through the end of December, Monday through Thursday, AD will feature a post, or posts, from a particular writer detailing their favorite albums of the decade. On a given week there might be one album a writer talks about, there might be six, but they’ll get a chance to have their say on everything that comes to mind. Our hope for you, the reader, is that you’ll jump in with your comments on the album selections – tell us why you agree or disagree – and also be exposed to some albums that you may have missed over the last ten years. Now, as the decade starts to wind down, let’s celebrate.
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In 1997, a band named Travis released an album called Good Feeling. They were kind of late to the Britpop party, but the album was a spunky bit of post-Britpop lad-rock that had a handful of catchy singles. It didn’t necessarily point toward anything revolutionary. It was the type of album that marked the flash-in-the-pan careers of a lot of bands in the Britpop era and at that late state, certainly seemed to do the same for Travis.
But they had one major ace up their sleeve in the form of a sophomore album that not only re-created the band’s sound and image, but created one of the most winning albums of British rock in the 2000s. The Man Who, on the surface, is an almost complete stylistic 180 from their debut. Shifting from shouty, classicist rock to low-key, wistful pop was a masterstroke and Travis hit their stride in amazing form.
The album opens with its finest moment. When I first picked up The Man Who, I listened to “Writing to Reach You” on repeat five or six times. It’s a forlorn lament, a hopeful musing across the hypnotic guitar effects and shimmering shake of its nearly four minutes. To call an album opener its finest moment seems like damning the rest of the album, but the music that follows is nothing less than a completely appropriate follow-up. “Writing to Reach You” might be the best song, but it leads in a company of songs that do nothing but echo its brilliance. “The Fear” is a claustrophobic tune that takes advantage of Fran Healy’s subdued voice to portray the fear at its core. “Driftwood” sails across an acoustic sea towards its metaphorical title object’s destination. “Turn” is the album’s loudest moment and it serves as a proper climax, both lyrically and musically, for what is to come.
The album’s most well known song (commercially), “Why Does It Always Rain on Me,” is a mopey, sprightly pop song that leaves the listener guessing as to the actual amount of tongue-in-cheek. Either it’s completely sincere, somewhat cheesy and completely winning or it’s self-deprecating, self-aware and all the more brilliant for it. And the album even makes a circular path back on itself lyrically (both closer, “Slide Show,” and opener “Writing to Reach You” make allusions to Oasis’ “Wonderwall”) creating a strong argument for this work as a complete album. The American version of the album (the one actually released in 2000) contains three unlisted bonus songs that are pretty stellar in themselves, but rightfully separated from The Man Who proper.
The Man Who is a record that has surprised me with its continued strength. It hovers on the edge of being too saccharine for my tastes – in fact, Travis’ work since then, especially the odious The Invisible Band, has done nothing but disappoint – but the sincerity at the heart of The Man Who, along with the band’s masterful musical framing, helped to create an album well out of time. And now, nine years later, it remains one of my favorites of the ensuing decade. words/ j. neas
Download:
MP3: Travis :: Writing to Reach You
MP3: Travis :: Turn
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[...] Aquarium Drunkard: Music Blog » Decade :: Travis, The Man Who (2000) [...]
1 | Travis, The Man Who (2000) (via postie) | Kantaas.Com October 12th, 2009 at 7:16 amI actually thought this blog/site was alright until this page loaded up in my browser. Travis? Are you kidding me? I realise everyone has their tastes and opinions, but Travis? If there has ever been a band that has made me want to slash my wrists in pure protest to the ear-raping they were guilty of – this is them. I’ve shat things with more artistical value than this “band”.
2 | oliver October 12th, 2009 at 7:24 amVery disappointing AD. Very.
I agree with your choice of this album. There was such a huge step forward from the first album in song quality with this. Groundbreaking, No, but all Pop is derivative of something, you just have to do it better than your competition. And with this one, and the follow up The Invisible band that’s exactly what they did. It inspired, for better or worse, a ton of Bands ( Keane, Coldplay, etc ) in England and all over the world . The problem is they’re stuck in the mold of these songs and while others have expanded their sound around them they have been unable, a lot of bands sound just like them now – they all look the same and are lost in the crowd. But there’s no denying that this album is a classic.
3 | DetroitDerek October 12th, 2009 at 8:25 amI know it wasn’t on the album proper, but why no honorable mention of their cover of “Baby One More Time” (Britney Spears) from the “Turn/Why Does It Always Rain On Me?” single?
4 | rhymeswithsausage October 12th, 2009 at 8:38 am@DetroitDerek – I agree, though I really didn’t care for The Invisible Band at all. And I think it was “Flowers in the Window” or “Dear Diary” or some of that dreck that pushed me away from them. I’ve given their subsequent albums a fair listen and they’ve done better to an extent, but nothing, in my mind, has rivaled The Man Who in terms of a balance of melancholy and sweetness. I really do feel “Writing to Reach You” is the pinnacle of their work.
Though I will admit to cranking “U16 Girls” on occasion.
5 | j. neas October 12th, 2009 at 8:47 am@Oliver – Neas’s decision in choosing album was a brave one, and that is what I appreciate about his writing.
6 | Satisfied '75 October 12th, 2009 at 2:10 pmI am also very surpirsed with this choice, BUT I actually prefer to read about music that matters to someone (even though I might completely object) than music that is “important”. Saying that, I was hoping to a more impassioned and personal point of view by the writer in the very well written review.
7 | alejandro October 12th, 2009 at 4:15 pmIt’s a very bold choice, one that I respect because it’s an album that I listened to a lot at an important time in my musical history. Neas, you nailed it with, “The Man Who is a record that has surprised me with its continued strength.”
8 | Kramer October 12th, 2009 at 8:23 pmthis is a great bit of writing about a great record. i haven’t liked much travis put out since the man who, but I think this album will be around much longer than this comment-list. writing to reach you is brilliantly crafted, and rips the chords off (exactly – even with a capo on the 2nd fret) from wonderwall, which it references.
9 | skip October 13th, 2009 at 12:47 amDon’t understand why there’s so much hate for this album. It doesn’t really fit into the artistic mold of the 2000’s, but melodically it’s a winner and the songs are strong enough to keep you coming back for more. I think you could make the argument Radiohead was rebelling against this when they released KID A, but you are right, this IS a classic album. “Turn” is just phenomenal, and “Slide Show” is a brilliant closer. Doubters need to see “Blue Flashing Light”, one of the hidden tracks, to see that Travis knew how to turn it up to 11. Also, the hidden track “20″ is simply gorgeous.
Thanks for calling this out.
10 | sweetgeorgiabreezes October 13th, 2009 at 7:12 amI had the pleasure of seeing Travis live in LA this past Monday, and it was one of the most brilliant shows I’ve ever been to. They started off with ‘20′, which I agree, is gorgeous, and played all the way up through their most recent works. The Man Who is a solid, phenomenal cd, and I’m so glad to see it appear on this list.
11 | yellowbird October 14th, 2009 at 11:34 amI don’t understand the hate either. While I don’t particularly care for Good Feeling, I think The Man Who is a great album. Maybe it’s not earth-shattering-gonna-change-the-world music, but it’s still good solid pop. And there’s nothing wrong with that. The follow-up album, The Invisible Band is also excellent and they continue to write and produce good music (though perhaps not as good), to this day.
12 | dpop October 14th, 2009 at 1:44 pm[...] salute the music blog Aquarium Drunkard for naming Travis’ The Man Who as one of their favorite albums of the decade. Travis aren’t exactly the toast of indie-dom, but the lush melodies of their Nigel [...]
13 | Breezes of the Week #1 « Sweet Georgia Breezes October 17th, 2009 at 10:54 ami remember listening to this OK Computer and James’ Laid in a continuous loop in my truck for about a year or two; oddly all three had songs on them that said “slow down”
14 | wolfdaddy October 20th, 2009 at 8:49 pmstill hidden track my favorite and apart from Last Train i can’t see how the next album followed either
Oh c’mon. I remember when this album came out, and if you didn’t love ‘Why Does It Always Rain on Me’ or ‘Writing To Reach You’ you must have lived a joyless life.
15 | Matt November 24th, 2009 at 5:21 pmGranted not one of my favorite albums of the decade as I was certain it was released in 99, but then that was over here in the UK.
They are (or were at any least) the radio friendly cousins of Teenage Fanclub.