The Man Who - Travis

Year Released: 1999

Label: Independiente

Year Bought: 1999

'Twas the year before the new millennium, and all through the country, everyone just wanted to have a sit down and a cup tea. Britpop was over, inoffensive pop and pop artists were back dominating the charts, and Radiohead had gone missing.

In this vacuum, Travis - out of nowhere - became huge. The Man Who was the group's second album, coming two years after debut Good Feeling barely made a splash.

Trailed by two singles – 'Writing to Reach You' and 'Driftwood' – it was clear the group had moved to a more contemplative, acoustic direction.

'Why Does It Always Rain On Me?' was the big single, and propelled them to the A-List, while 'Turn' was a bit more U2, with a suitably arena-sized chorus.

I tried really hard to love Travis, but I just couldn't. To be honest, I was pretty annoyed that they were the biggest guitar band in 1999. I was 14 and really wanted a new Oasis to emerge. I'd loved the Britpop years but been far too young to actually get involved by going to gigs. Now the big band was Travis - not exactly a group to shake the culture of a small market town to its foundations.

I've not listened to this album for over 20 years, so I was looking forward to seeing if I now found it more interesting than I had as an angry teenager.

No.

It still drags. Yeah, the singles are great. But the rest of it is just bland. The hidden track is probably the best song other than the ones released, and I remember there was a really good B-side to 'Why Does It Always Rain On Me?' that was a bit more uptempo ('Village Man').

It's all very derivative of the Beatles, but not filtered through the Pistols and Stone Roses like Oasis did.

5/10

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