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Travis
For reasons that are now difficult for me to comprehend, I really tried hard not to like this disk. I think this was the result of me over-reacting against their (not so unwelcome) entry in the "This Month’s Radiohead" sweepstakes that takes place each week in the UK. Having listened to more than my share of Radiohead (and loving it), not to mention Coldplay (and loving that, too) it was easy for me to dismiss these guys as cold fusion clones of these two bands.
After numerous listens, the sonic connection between Travis and the mixture of Radiohead/Coldplay still stands. Singer Fran Healy’s vocals have the same high-pitched, keening sense of longing that Thom Yorke has popularized, while the heavily produced guitar work strongly resembles the dominating swirl of riffage that is so well done by Coldplay. The question is, so what? Both of these features don’t diminish the music’s impact, and Travis’ songs are miles away from either band. Attitude-wise, Travis is infinitely less cynical than Radiohead. Try to imagine Thom Yorke unabashedly singing a love song that evokes Mother Goose, as Travis does on the aptly titled "Humpty Dumpty Love Song", and the difference between the two bands is made plain as day. This song is silly enough to make my eleven year-old blush with embarrassment, but the singer’s sincerity is somehow charming enough to make the song work. By replacing Radiohead’s misanthropic suspicion with naïve optimism, Travis comes off as Radiohead’s simple-minded kid brother. The (should be) hits, "Sing", and "Side", are much more sincere than cynical, and this positivity helps to make them two of the most easily digestible pop songs of 2001.
So, to summarize, Travis is not Radiohead or Coldplay. Or, they are almost Radiohead and Coldplay. They got the musical ingenuity part down cold, but they get the attitude all wrong. That’s a heck of a lot better than vice-versa, don’t you think? As Healy sings in "Side", "Life is both a major and a minor key" (something that holds literally true for the song "Sing", which resolves its minor-key verses into a ravishing major-key chorus). That might not be enough to earn them any awards for ‘most original band of the year’, but it’s certainly enough to earn praise for making a good pop record.
Grade: 
 
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