Review Summary: An "in your face" debut from a now invisible band
To the casual listener, classifying Travis as a “rock band” is a futile endeavor. Although the band’s catalogue has the occasional up-tempo rocker, these tracks are often overshadowed by the melancholy, atmospheric indie-pop that dominated the likes of the ever-popular
The Man Who and
The Invisible Band. As such, over the years the band has become synonymous with a simple formula: strong melodies, atmospheric production, and frontman Fran Healy’s impeccable falsetto as the unifying element. I’ve always enjoyed Travis’ post-2000s output, and before picking up this album, I would have lazily characterized their career as “a prelude to Coldplay.” But within moments of the fantastic opener “All I Wanna do is Rock,” it quickly becomes apparent that Travis was once the antithesis of their modern sound.
Indeed,
Good Feeling sounds nothing like contemporary Travis. In place of peaceful textures and dreary lyrical content are the sounds of Britpop crunch and lyrical themes that openly embrace the hedonistic lifestyle of the era. Healy sings about excess on “Midsummer Nights Dreamin,’” about…relations…with girls under 16 on “U16 Girls,” and each song is accompanied by a barrage of distorted electric guitars and vocal howls.
Ah yes, the vocals. In keeping with the theme of this album, Fran Healy’s voice sounds nothing like the smooth, almost lullaby tones that mark Travis’ later releases, and is instead characterized by yells and a bit of unpolished grit. It’s a style evident throughout the album, but most notably on the aforementioned “All I Wanna do is Rock.” The last minute of the song is just Healy shouting nonsensical syllables, a growing crescendo that soon dominates the band and, surprisingly, it works. However, in other songs, this style can be quite grating. What starts out as an appealing rasp begins to grow jarring on the ears, and this is particularly evident on “Midsummer Nights Dreamin’” which is almost unbearable to listen to. Listening to this album side by side with its follow-up
The Man Who, it is fascinating to see the development Healy made as a vocalist.
The track listing is strong, but is an overall mixed bag.
Good Feeling is a victim of what I’ll call “frontloading;” the first three tracks are the best three songs on the album. “All I Wanna do is Rock” is the best opening track I’ve heard in years. “U16 Girls” is anthemic, with its rousing chorus and accompanying “na na nas,” and “The Line is Fine” is an excellent synthesis of pop melody and rock production. But although this makes for a fantastic opening impression, the rest of the album suffers as a result, as the rest of the tracks just do not compare. Furthermore, the last three songs of the album are contemplative ballads that bring the pacing to a halt. Despite the band’s current success within this genre, these ballads are not of the same quality (with the exception of “More Than Us”).
However, Healy foreshadows his future prowess as a ballad writer on the excellent “I Love You Anyways.” My personal favorite on the album, this track is a great example of Healy’s lyrical storytelling:
You were on my mind / Inside the cinema / You looked so beautiful / I almost had to go. Short, simple, but effective. “Tied to the 90s” and “Happy” are other notable tracks, the latter of which sounds like it could be the theme song for a late 90s sitcom.
As albums like
The Man Who and
The Invisible Band begin to litter various lists of “albums you must own” and “best album of the last (x) years,” the association between Travis and the sound of
Good Feeling is somewhat a relic of an era gone by. As such, it fits in nicely in 1997 alongside albums such as
Be Here Now as one of the last albums that captured the upbeat mayhem and “good feeling” of Britpop. Thereafter, the genre faded into memory with the ensuing wave of melancholic bands like Coldplay and, for better or for worse, Travis.
