The 11 Best Songs By Travis

It's been five years since the last Travis album.  I originally wanted to do one of my mega 111 best song lists...and this band deserves it, but who has the time?  This will be my 10th post about Travis and though a mega list would be a nice way to celebrate...it's really only fitting that I wait until the 11th post.  I was surprised through-out all my posts I had never done the basic 11 best songs.  I've done the best of the '00s, the best b-sides, unknown b-sides albums...but never a simple "best of."  The time is now.  For the band who could just cold play before there was a Coldplay...welcome back.

Here are the 11 Best Songs By Travis:

1. Turn (The Man Who)
2. Sing (The Invisible Band)
3. Big Chair (The Boy With No Name)
4. Side (The Invisible Band)
5. Quite Free (Ode to J. Smith)
6. Writing To Reach You (The Man Who)
7. 3 Times And You Lose (The Boy With No Name)
8. Re-Offender (12 Memories)
9. Flowers in the Window (The Invisible Band)
10. Why Does It Always Rain On Me? (The Man Who)
11. I Love You Anyways (Good Feeling)

Buy Travis' new album, Where You Stand...now!

The 11 Best Songs By Travis of the 00s

Have the 90s finally died?  Or just waiting to be re-incarnated?

This year has become the year of the solo album.  But most of these solo albums are alum from bands who blasted onto the music scene in the 90s.  Incubus, Live, Sleater-Kinney, Outkast, Radiohead, and the Wallflowers were all big names in the 90s.  They were the trendsetters in the 90s.  Now, outside of Radiohead, they have become irrelevent to the current mainstream output and remain merely classic influences to today's crop of youngsters.  Therefore, members of these bands have had to go out and re-invent themselves to become relevent again.  Although, the first couple of 90s artists to try the solo thing were Stephen Malkmus and Chris Cornell.  Both guys spent this past summer on sold-out reunion tours with their original bands.

So, maybe this whole solo thing is just some big ploy to get audiences pining for the old stuff...the classic stuff.  In this business, in this age...whatever works.

Here are the 11 Best Songs By Travis of the 00s:

1. Side (The Invisible Band)

2. Quite Free (Ode To J. Smith)
3. Big Chair (The Boy With No Name)
4. Sing (The Invisible Band)
5. My Eyes (The Boy With No Name)
6. Quicksand (12 Memories)
7. Sailing Away (The Boy With No Name)
8. Pulling Mussels (Selfish Jean Single)
9. Re-Offender (12 Memories)
10. Long Way Down (Ode To J. Smith)
11. Flowers in the Window (The Invisible Band)

Buy Fran Healy's new solo album, Wreckorder, now!

The Unknown: Travis - Poem To S. Jones EP

Travis lead singer, Fran Healy, and guitarist, Andy Dunlop, teamed up this summer for a leg of acoustic concerts, showcasing some of Travis' best songs in a stripped down, personal atmosphere. I have a lot of admiration for bands that shed their production skin once in awhile to show they can still achieve intimacy with their music.

And since this is only half the band...it's not a real Travis release. Therefore, I'm only posting a half-album of B-sides. These were taken from the J. Smith sessions.

Here is Travis - Ode To S. Jones EP

1. Sarah

2. Tail of the Tiger

3. Lola

4. Used To Belong

5. Ballad of J. Smith

Buy Fran Healy and Andy Dunlop's new acoustic live show, A Chronological Trip Through the History of Travis (only here!)

The 11 Best Albums of 1999

It was the year Napster broke into the music industry and changed it forever. Why? Because the record labels were forcing crap like Britney, Nsync, and Backstreet Boys upon the masses. Music fans wanted more...they wanted better...and they fought to find it.

Here are the 11 Best Albums of 1999:

1. Beck - Midnight Vultures

2. Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrun

3. Built To Spill - Keep It Like A Secret

4. Black Star - Black Star

5. Wilco - Summerteeth (Summer Teeth)

6. Dr. Dre - 2001

7. Rage Against The Macine - The Battle for Los Angeles

8. Moby - Play

9. The Roots - Things Fall Apart

10. Travis - The Man Who

11. The Get-Up Kids - Something To Write Home About

Buy these albums here!

The 11 Best Albums of 2008 (Part 3)

Maybe I'll just make this a trend...every day I'll screw up my list a little bit further adding another new entry to the list. Today finds Peasant (#24) slipping in after downloading the album off Emusic last night. Check out their session on Daytrotter...his bare bones style is quite mesmerizing.

The 11 Best Albums of 2008 (Part 3):

23. Kings of Leon - Only By the Night (Use Somebody - SNL)
24. Bloc Party - Intimacy

24. Peasant - On The Ground
25. Ezra Furman & The Harpoons - Inside The Human Body
26. Cold War Kids - Loyalty To Loyalty

27. Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
28. The Killers - Day & Age
29. Tapes N Tapes - Walk It Off (Hang Them All - Daytrotter)
30. Ryan Adams and the Cardinals - Cardinology
31. Hot Chip - Made in the Dark
32. Travis - Ode To J. Smith
33. Drive-By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark

Another reminder to visit my Amazon Store...I get a percentage...a very small one. but if I can make enough off it...I'll invest in a better archiving site than savefile...so we all benefit.

The Unknown: The Complete Travis B-Side Archive

Don't get too excited...there are no MP3s on this page. I just wanted to do a complete list of all the Travis B-Sides, Bonus Tracks, EPs, and various rare stuff from each stage in their career. I've compiled all the tracks from each era into their own individual albums, obviously named for the parent album they were spawned from. I'm actually only missing two of the tracks (12th Memory from the Japanese version of 12 Memories...and the studio version of All The Young Dudes.) If I missed anything...please let me know. I've excluded most of the bonus tracks that are usually available at the end of the albums...maybe a few have slipped in...but for the most part, if you can buy the album and the track is on it...it's not a b-side and you won't find it here.

Next week is Travis week...so considered this like a sneak preview trailer...

Pre-Order Travis' new album...Ode to J. Smith

Bad Feelings (Good Feelings Era)

1. Gimme Some Truth
2. Hazy Shades of Gold
3. City in the Rain
4. Unbelievers
5. Standing On My Own
6. Me Beside You
7. Blue on a Black Weekend
8. 1922
9. When I'm Feeling Blue
10. Everyday Faces
11. Mother
12. Whenever She Comes Around
13. Combing My Hair
14. Good Time Girls
15. Reason
16. Beautiful Bird

The Woman Who (The Man Who Era)

1. Green Behind The Ears
2. Only Molly Knows
3. Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah
4. High As A Kite
5. Be My Baby
6. Where Is the Love?
7. River
8. Days of Our Lives
9. Urge For Going
10. Village Man
11. We Are Monkeys
12. Baby, One More Time

The Highly Visible Band (The Invisible Band Era)

1. Coming Around
2. Rock N' Roll Salad
3. The Weight
4. Just The Faces Change
5. The Connection
6. Central Station
7. You're A Big Girl Now
8. Ancient Train
9. A Little Bit Of Soul
10. Killer Queen
11. Beautiful
12. No Cigar
13. All The Young Dudes
14. Here Comes the Sun

16 Memories (12 Memories Era)

1. Walking In the Sun
2. Bring Me Round
3. I Forget My Name
4. Life and Soul of the Party
5. The Distance
6. Distraction
7. Definition of Wrong
8. Enemy
9. Don't Be Shy
10. Know Nothing
11. I Don't Mean To Get High
12. 12th Memory
13. Good For Nothing
14. Back In the Day
15. The Sea
16. The Score

The Girl With Too Many Names (The Boy With No Name Era)

1. The Great Unknown
2. Pulling Mussels (From A Shell)
3. Chances
4. Up The Junction
5. This Love
6. You Bring Me Down
7. My Last Chance
8. Perfect Heaven Space
9. The Day Today
10. Say Hello
11. Lovely Rita
12. Is That Love?

The 11 Best B-Sides From 12 Memories

Last night I saw Spiderman 3, despite the 100s and I mean 100s of flaws, I still found myself really enjoying the film. Maybe I'm just a sucker for over-produced action sequences or it's my life long love for Sam Raimi...but regardless, it was a good time at the movies.

I will say, watching the film reminded me a lot of a great band's later career. As bands get older, they tend to surround themselves with people who are basically just "yes" men and tell them every song they make is great...that's why music from great bands begins to suck. I think Spiderman 3 is beginning to suffer. I feel the like the filmmakers were beginning to believe in their own hype. And just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should. Kirsten Dunst isn't a bad singer...but two songs? Come on.

At least Raimi isn't in Lucas territory yet. Though I want more Spiderman films, maybe it's better to quit while you're ahead.

Here are the 11 Best Travis B-Sides From 12 Memories:

12 More Memories:

1. Distraction
2. 12th Memory
3. Definition of Wrong
4. Life and Soul of the Party
5. Sea
6. Know Nothing
7. Don't Be Shy
8. The Score
9. Good For Nothing
10. I Forget My Name
11. I Don't Mean To Get High

Sorry...my uploading is screwed...will try to get tracks up tonight.

The 11 Best Travis B-Sides From The Invisible Band

In the first chunk of Travis B-Sides, Bad Feelings,"the songs were actually stronger than their album counterparts. It showed the band was progressing, their music writing capabilities were evolving. On The Woman Who, they left it all on the floor. Since most of the strong tracks found themselves on the parent album, there was very little leftover for those $10 CD singles. The B-Sides were only so-so, with a couple of bright spots. But as in life, the third time is the charm. The Highly Visible Band (the 3rd B-side Album) prospered from a sorta EP/exclusive CD single called Coming Around. Partnered with 4 extra tracks, it might be the strongest non-album release of the band's career.

Here are the 11 Best Travis B-Sides From The Invisible Band era:

The Highly Visible Band

1. Central Station
2. Rock 'N' Salad Roll
3. The Weight (The Band)
4. The Connection
5. Just The Faces Change
6. You're A Big Girl Now (Bob Dylan)
7. Beautiful
8. Killer Queen (Queen)
9. All The Young Dudes (Mott The Hoople)
10. Ancient Train
11. A Little Bit Of Soul

The 11 Best Travis B-Sides From The Man Who

Continuing on with yesterday's post...

The Man Who was Travis' breakout album in the states. They had a huge radio hit with "Why Does it Always Rain on Me?" And one of their B-Sides in particular, the cover of Britney Spears' "Baby, One More Time," found a common spot on the radio as well. This may be Travis' only era where their album tracks out number the B-sides...14 to 12.

Here are The 11 Best Travis B-Sides From The Man Who:

The Woman Who

1. River (Joni Mitchel cover)
2. Village Man
3. Be My Baby (cover)
4. Baby, One More Time (Britney Spears cover)
5. Where Is The Love?
6. Green Behind The Ears
7. Days of Our Lives
8. We Are Monkeys
9. Urge For Going
10. Only Molly Knows
11. Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah

Buy Travis new album here.

The 11 Best Travis B-Sides From Good Feelings

No one considers the art of the B-Side a bigger asset than the band Travis. Here's a band that not only turns out some of the most collectable B-sides in the music industry (they cover everyone from The Band to Queen to Britney Spears) they are probably one of the few bands who has released more B-Sides than A-sides. Before the release of their recent album "The Boy With No Name" they had put out a total of 49 songs through official albums. On the flip side (pun intended), they've released 54 B-Sides. Either they're a band working too much overtime, or they're in desperate need of a better record contract.

I've split the next couple of days into a few posts. For fun I've split the 4 eras into their own albums (Bad Feelings, The Woman Who, The Highly Visible Band, and 12 More Memories)

Here's Part One - The 11 Best B-Sides From The Good Feelings Era:

Bad Feelings

1. City in the Rain
2. Standing On My Own
3. Everyday Faces
4. Gimme Some Truth
5. Coming My Hair
6. Unbelievers
7. Hazy Shades of Gold
8. Blue on a Black
9. Reason
10. When I'm Feeling Blue
11. Me Beside You

But Travis' new album here. Please...it's very good!!!