Travis - Ode to J. Smith

Reviews of Ode to J. Smith

Rating Summary
2.5 by Rolling Stone Written in five weeks and recorded in two, Ode to J. Smith has been billed by these Brit-pop also-rans as a return to rock urgency. Sure enough, the liveliest moments involve Andy Dunlop's guitars... Read more
n/a by www.musicomh.com Apparently the band's sixth studio album is their first to be written from electric guitar since their debut Good Feeling, and this shows strongly in the end result. Read more
n/a by uk.launch.yahoo.com Travis have always been Quite Good, sometimes a little more, rarely less. This album heads a perceived slide into insignificance off at the pass and ensures the status quo. Read more
n/a by www.ew.com The music crackles with an energy Travis havent mustered in years, but the typically lightweight tunes don't always justify the newfound tonnage, which makes Ode to J. Smith wear thin on repeat listens. Read more
n/a by www.guardian.co.uk Where that Travis pointed a way out of Britpop, this one seeks the comfort of how guitar bands sounded before then, the bristling energy recalling early REM, the Chills and even occasionally Nirvana. Read more
n/a by Billboard Not surprisingly, its 11 songs bristle with an urgency that more closely resembles (but rocks harder than) Travis' 1997 debut Good Feeling than 2007's sumptuously crafted The Boy With No Name, with a decidedly uptempo countenance and plenty of room for lead guitarist Andy Dunlop's riffs, solos and fills. Read more
n/a by Popmatters Like those old Kinks long players, the best way to enjoy Ode to J. Smith is as individual songs based on their own merits. Read more
n/a by www.avclub.com Ode To J. Smith is the sound of a band too boxed-in to do the hooky melancholy it used to do so well, but too neutered to really rock out. Read more
n/a by www.courant.com This is the grittiest album the band has yet put out. Read more
n/a by www.pastemagazine.com Consider it, then, an ode to what listeners liked about Travis in the first place. Read more