Ode to J. Smith

The blog is back!

James — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:24:51 +0000

Sorry about the long spell of no updates, I have no excuses except laziness (and laying the advent calendar idea to rest) and to be honest, I was slightly bored with Travis. Thankfully, I’ve given the Since I last posted, we have had a new single Song To Self with a new and fantastic b-side The Ballad of J. Smith, played the first half of the brilliant Travisleague and Travis have started the year’s touring with a trip around various European countries. Over the next few days I’ll be adding in the new tour dates and lyrics but as always keep one eye on Travisonline to stay up to date.

Time for a gratuitous Chinese Blues video:

Dec 25th: It’s Christmas!!!

James — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 05:00:39 +0000

Frankly no Christmas should be complete without watching the festive kazoo medley put together by the boys back in 2002. Merry Christmas!

Ode Day

James — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 12:29:08 +0000

A day to celebrate two things:
The brilliance of the new album Ode To J. Smith.
The brilliance of Travis as a live band.
Brilliant! So let’s get underway. Each album track is in a live version of one form or another below:

Chinese Blues:

J. Smith:

Something Anything:

Long Way Down:

Broken Mirror:

Last Words:

Quite Free:

Get Up:

Friends:

Song To Self:

Before You Were Young:

Dec erm… 20th: Last Christmas

James — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 18:36:10 +0000

The advent calendar coughs (in my case literally) back into action today after a quiet week with a couple of drum cracks and the ensuing Christmas classic. It’s neither new nor rare but having heard the original on the radio earlier, I thought a Travis adaptation was in order:

download the audio from above
download from a Radio 2 show

Oh, and don’t miss Andy’s wise words with regard to Christmas day:

Dec 13th: Song Showdown commemorations

James — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 13:59:04 +0000

Before we start, may I just thank all the spectators who braved a lot of Rain and some… erm… overrunning results But most of all thanks to Luke who counted the votes (no, now is NOT the time, Ben ), organised the mass slaughter and even arranged for a guest appearance of a murderous ghoul. Also, he designed the picture above, click it to leave your appreciative comments on the board. It couldn’t have happened without you Luke! But now, onto the results:

With the passing of another showdown comes the arrival of a new champion. Well, when I saw new champion, I mean old champion recrowned for the fourth time because the Song Showdown radio is playing all the usual and Writing To Reach You is home for Christmas again. Leaving all the other songs in a pickle (jar), no other song has looked capable of even giving it a poke in the side before WTRY overthrew them. To it, we award the gold pickle jar and allow it to admire it’s dulcet tones in 4 situations:

Glasgow Barrowlands, 1999

Deadly Avenger’s Bayou Blues Mix

Glastonbury, 1999

FM4 acoustic session, 2008

Up next, the valiant yet vanquished Why Does It Always Rain On Me? Posthumously, we award the silver pickle jar to be used until depickling techniques have advanced, and allow it to listen to itself one last time in the aftermath of an infamous Glastonbury weather shift:

Finally we award both Turn and Side this bronze pickle jar which they should both be able to squeeze into, and compare and contrast both songs from Japan 2007:

Dec 12th: Bookend videos

James — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 05:45:28 +0000

“What is a bookend video?” I hear you ask, and your curiosity is not in vain because this page has the answer you’ve been waiting (10 seconds) for! In this case, these two videos ‘bookend’ Travis’ career – AIWTDIR from Later in the very early days of 1996 when Fran had both attitude and lots of hair, followed by the latest Glasgow installation in interview form. And of course, while one bookend has been gathering dust for a decade, the other is shooting off to new horizons like all best bookends do

Dec 11th: Guest-editor page!

James — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 07:05:10 +0000

Today is an easy day for me, because someone else has made a page for the calendar! TheBoyWithAName (Alex or Swede Boy ) has upoaded some old live tracks from 1999, made his own page and, and this is the best bit by far, MADE IT SNOW!!! I’m definitely going to invest in a snow machine soon, but until then it’s all here.
Oh, and the recordings? Great quality! You might have to click on all the stop buttons first and be a bit patient, but when technology obliges they are great! Thanks Mr BoyWithAName!
Another gratuitous link in case you missed the first.

Dec 10th: WDIAROM Dance Remix!

James — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 06:20:57 +0000

Today is a momentous day… double figures have been acheived in the life of the advent calendar! But I have found the perfect remedy for overexcitement – a dance remix of a Travis classic. Yes, this remix completely ignores any delicacy, poignancy and lyrical meaning and instead plumps for a mind-alteringly repetitive riff, a drum machine and a startlingly tempo-obeying singer. Still, it has a catchy melody! And I’ve let you off lightly, this is only the radio edit, the full version is about twice as long.
This is the kind of music that will always be there for you when you need a bit less happiness and a bit more annoyance in your life. And let’s face it, that happens all the time, right?

Feeling brave?:

No downloads today because this recording belongs to whoever remixed it. Please respect their copyright ownership and if you have any desire to listen to other remixes, feel free to search for “Ultima remix” (just don’t expect us to take you seriously ever again )

Dec 9th: River

James — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 06:15:50 +0000

Today it’s time to take things down a few notches and appreciate the simple beauty of a Travis recording. Here are two takes of River (a Joni Mitchell song), a stripped-down, no-complications ballad. And it contains the word Christmas, thus making it perfectly eligible for inclusion here

Live from Minneapolis, USA 21st May 2000:

As the download project so eloquently puts it, “don’t know when or where”:

And of course, to hear the released version, head over to travis.ography.co.uk to listen in full as always.

Dec 8th: FM4 Session

James — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 05:45:45 +0000

Today another great live set from somewhere in Austria. It’s just Fran and Andy, playing songs in chronological order, from first (20) to nearly-last (FITW, no, hang on… Song To Self). Fran talks about where, why and how he came up with classic Travis songs and there’s a double dose of Sing. Find out why Turn is so nuclear, whether Austrian crowds sing the riff to LWCT loudly or quietly and why Fran tries not to sing too high at the end of Sing. Just don’t tell Chris Martin.

To download the audio click here
To download the video click here

20
All I Want To Do Is Rock
Turn
Writing To Reach You
Driftwood
Sing
Sing again
Side
Love Will Come Through
Closer
Selfish Jean
Re-Offender
Song To Self
13
Why Does It Always Rain On Me?
Flowers in The Window