Beauty is something sorely lacking in British music. While we have rebellion and attitude down pat and a phalanx of stylists on hand for the sow’s ear treatment of every lumpy-headed “Pop Idol” finalist, actual musical loveliness is in frighteningly short supply.
With the multimillion-selling “The Man Who”, Travis successfully presented a vision of guitar music as sweetly charming as the men who made it. Not since The Lemonheads’ breakthrough album “It’s A Shame About Ray” had both females and males swooned over their stereos in unison. Since then, Coldplay, Keane et al have borrowed the blueprint, experimenting with added edginess and garnering Grammys, but they lack the emotional depth that took Fran, Dougie, Neil and Andy into the hearts of the nation.
Skittering between albums, “Singles”, opens with “Sing”, perhaps as a “Let Me Entertain You”-style statement of intent, before delivering the holy trinity of “Driftwood”, “Writing To Reach You” and “Why Does It Always Rain On Me?”. They remain as exquisite now, five years on, as they surely will in another 20 when they vie with “Wonderwall” for the most fondly-remembered songs of the ’90s.
With the more assertive “Re-Offender”, the other side of Travis comes to the fore. It battles with the pre-“The Man Who” giddiness of “Tied To The ’90s”, “U16 Girls”, “Happy” and “All I Want To Do Is Rock” before finding kinship in anti-war anthem “The Beautiful Occupation”, exemplifying the conflict within Fran himself – the ever-cheerful survivor of domestic abuse. Jangly new single “Walking In The Sun” returns to their
sunny-sounding pessimism, lifting the collective mood after the overly dour “12 Memories” album.
“Singles” is a Best-Of you could happily stick on random without a worry – even the Britpop-indebted early singles have weathered well – and still be pleasantly be surprised by. Often-overlooked gems like single-only release “Coming Around” and “Flowers In The Window” sparkle with bonhomie, while the more maudlin “Love Will Come Through” and “More Than Us” deftly display the range of the underrated Nicest Men In Rock.
A joy forever.
by Emma Morgan