Feeling Good (Good Feeling - Travis)

Member Name: Orangeb

Product:	Good Feeling - Travis
Date:	10/02/02 (81 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great album, loads of energy, fans who like more recent stuff may not like it

Disadvantages: Singing is interesting!

If somebody said to you "Travis", I'm sure most people would immediately think four Scottish lads singing slow, depressing, morbid songs. Well you would be right, they are, have been, and always will be four Scottish lads but have they always sung slow, depressing music? NO! Their first album - "Good Feeling" proves that before they became famous, they sung some very...interesting songs!

Most of the people I know who like Travis own "The Man Who" and/or "The Invisible Band". I saw "Good Feeling" in Woolies for four quid in the January sales and thought to myself, hey why not you can't go wrong for four quid. And I can now safely say that that was one of the best uses I have ever made of four quid!

Now, I must warn you, this album does take a bit of getting used to, in fact if I hadn't have known I'm not sure I would have guessed that it was Travis singing. They are a lot louder and their music has a much more unpolished sound, which I have grown to like. Anyway I'll stop waffling now and go through the tunes!

~Track 1~
Entitled "All I Want To Do Is Rock", this is a great energetic tune to open up the album. The listener's interest is immediately caught if not by the tune, by the sound of Fran's voice! Upon several hearings I have come to the conclusion that to make such a noise he must have been a) trying to kill someone or b) suffering from some extremely painful constipation. It is quite a strangled roar which must have been reasonably painful to emit. But the singing does suit the style, don't let this put you off though - just give it a chance. There's loads of rocky guitar and the song'll make you grin if nothing else.

~Track 2~
Again maintaining the high energy levels set by "All I Want To Do Is Rock", "U16 Girls" opens with a guitar introduction followed by the lads yelling "nanananananana&quo
t; and so on! It is again really loud with a great melody and it'll get you moving. The lyrics do make some more serious suggestions though, with the chorus being "So make sure that she's old enough/ Before you blow you mind/ She may look like she knows enough/ But look her in the eye", obviously talking about illegal sex with younger girls. There's a great guitar solo about two thirds of the way through and you can really enjoy the song if you don't listen too hard to the lyrics!

~Track 3~
"The Line Is Fine" is the title of track 3. Although this song has a relatively fast tempo, do not be deceived that it is a happy one! Quite like "U16 Girls", I think that this song has an underlying serious tone. Lyrics such as "Standing on the ledge/ Well I don't look down" suggest suicide to me, of course it may well not be though! There is more raucous singing but by this track you will be quite used to the style and may even be beginning to enjoy it! There is another wicked guitar solo and the melody is great although there are certain notes which change the key of the song which some people may not like, I think this makes it much more interesting personally but it really is one of those songs which doesn't sound perfect.

~Track 4~
"Good Day To Die" - well the title says it all! This song actually is a little more subdued after a relatively loud introduction. It is more depressing than previous tracks and the lyrics are quite morbid. Although the melody and harmony are not too minor in key, again there are certain parts which just sound sad, there are little twinges in it which make the listener take note of the subject and lyrics.
This song does not finish on a high, there is just one guitar accompanying Fran as he sings very softly "To die" three times. A subtly sad song.

~Track 5~
This is personally one of my favourite songs on this album. It has
the album title "Good Feeling" and is a much needed cheerful song after track 4. It starts quite quietly with a great bass harmony accompanying Fran, then the keyboard joins in and lastly the guitar when Fran coarsely "sings" "lalalalala". Again this song has something not quite right about it, but that really is the style of this album. All the instruments come together producing a rich texture and a great sound which results in a chorus which is really happy and will make you want to join in. Then my favourite part comes in, two drum beats and then a keyboard solo. When I first heard this I though "Oh my god what on earth is that!" as it is really discordant with loads of clashing notes, but it has real character and once you have heard it through a few times I can almost guarantee you will be waving your arms around playing the air keyboard in time with it! After this, the instruments all die away and we are left with the now more subdued keyboard, the gently strumming guitar and the tap of the drum kit, oh and Fran's voice!

~Track 6~
"Midsummer Nights Dreamin'" is another sung with bundles of energy. The the tune is dominated, and quite rightly so, by the guitar. This is a fantastic loud song and Fran's voice is still very coarse but hey, it just makes you sound better when you sing along!

~Track 7~
"Tied To The 90's" - another favourite of mine. Throughout the song there is a "HEY" shouted every other line by the lads. It is really brilliant, there is loads of guitar and it is a really happy song which reminisces back to the 80's. Everybody can sing along - if you can restrain yourself on this one you're a discliplined person!

~Track 8~
"I Love You Always". This is probably my least favourite song on the album. It brings the energy levels down after "Tied To The 90's" but I think it is a bit of a disappoin
tment to be honest. It doesn't really amount to anything, there is gentle guitar and percussion and an attempt from Fran to sing...more smoothly which doesn't really sound right. Not really that impressive.

~Track 9~
"Happy" is a much needed song after the morbidity of track 8 and it is total genius! The chorus is one simple line - "I'm so happy cos you're so happy" repeated in a number of different keys and it works extremely well! We see the return of the much loved loud guitars which do almost a duet bit in the middle which sounds brilliant. With bags of energy and Fran's great voice, this song does exactly what it says on the label!

~Track 10~
"More Than Us" is a beautiful song. It is another slow one but it is really lovely. Fran's voice actually sounds good in this one, more like it does in later stuff like "The Man Who". Although this is slower, the melody is really great and there are strings playing the harmony which give a great texture. The lyrics are also really sweet. What I love about the song is what it amounts to, although it takes a while eventually the strings and guitars come together to produce a lovely loud tune with a major melody which'll makes you smile. After the final loud chorus, it reverts back to the style from the beginning and ends in a fitting way.

~Track 11~
"Falling Down" is another quiet song, the last three songs are a lot slower and seem a little more mature than the others. "Falling Down" doesn't have much to it, it revolves around a keyboard melody and gentle cymbal tapping from the drum kit. There is a brief guitar interlude towards the end, it is very mellow and teams up with the keyboard to produce a very calming sound. My favourite part of this song is the very last line, after the majority of the song being depressing (but in a really good way!) and Fran gently singing, here he suddenly really
goes for it and very loudly sings "yeah falling". This line really shows the power and potential his voice has. Although the rest of the album doesn't really support this (!), this one line really amazes me every time I hear it, the way Fran sings and holds this note is just fantastic and shows a lot of maturity. If you don't like slow ones, this song may not appeal to you but if you give it a chance, you will feel it was worth it by the end.

~Track 12~
"Funny Thing" is the final track of the album. It's not one of my personal favourites but it's not a bad song. Again it has a reasonably slow tempo but there isn't really anything special about it. Fran's voice is really smooth in this song, in the last three songs you really notice the difference in comparison to the beginning. It's almost like you follow the progression of his vocal ability as you go through the album. Anyway, "Funny Thing" is an easy listener, the melody and harmony are again dominated by guitars although not raucously. The tune is actually quite repetitive but in a good way. This is a track which does amount to quite a thick texture but it's not the most interesting song. It's one which won't make you grin but it won't make you sad. It's quite a strange one really, but it doesn't really reach out and touch me.
It's an interesting tune to finish on, I'm not sure it's the best one though.

"Good Feeling" is like no other album I've ever heard! What I like is the imperfections, they give the music real character. Fran's voice really takes some getting used to but it really isn't that bad, it's just quite coarse. There are some real gems on this album, things I never would have thought Travis would have been capable of and I think it has to be my favourite Travis album.

Well there we go! Sorry about the length, half of it's probably a load of ru
bbish but I will sum up my opinion just in case you got bored after the first line and scrolled down to the end:

GO OUT AND BUY THIS ALBUM - YOU WON'T REGRET IT!!

Thanks for reading :-)

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