As we were driving home from the Twins game, John switched the radio to The Current last night (thanks for the free ticket, guys!). Anyhow, the radio played a song from the Scottish band Travis. These guys have another album out, called “The Boy With No Name.” The song I heard, and the entire album, are really surprisingly good. You guys may remember a song from three albums ago (about 7 years back) called “Why Does it Always Rain On Me.” Remember? Anyhow, Wikipedia talks about the rollercoaster of the album that song was on in 1999:

However, when the album slipped as far as No. 19, it stopped. Word of mouth and increasing radio play of the single “Why Does It Always Rain on Me?” increased awareness of the band and the album began to rise back up the charts. Then, when Travis took the stage to perform this song at the 1999 Glastonbury Festival, after being dry for several hours, it began to rain as soon as the first line was sung. The following day the story was all over the papers and television, the song became an anthem (it is consistently rated as one of the decade’s best songs, as is the album itself), and with word of mouth and increased radio play of this and the album’s other singles, The Man Who rose to No. 1 on the British Charts.

So, I realized I already knew the band—but the song I heard was so good, I decided to grab their newest album.

Turns out, “The Boy With No Name” is a pretty darn solid musical compilation. It’s a well paced, melodically interesting album that oscillates between lush anthems and intimate acoustic pieces. The song I heard was “My Eyes” (iTunes), but I really like “Under the Moonlight” (iTunes).

• Music
• Travis

1 comment left

Essays Nearby

• Unicorndog
• Acronyms
• One More Detail
• That Realign Thing