Released 7 May 2007 The Boy with No Name
(2007) Ode to J. Smith
(2008) Release date 2 May 2007 | Length 52:54 Artist Travis Label Sony Music Labels Inc. | |
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Recorded December 2004 – January 2007 Studio British Grove Studios, London
The Hospital, London
Kensaltown Studios, London
Mayfair Studios, London
Mercer Street, New York City
RAK Studios, London
The Weston Park Hotel
Westside Studios, London
The Zeppelin Studios, London
Hampstead Heath, London
Washington Square Park, New York City Genres Britpop, Alternative rock, Indie pop, Rock music in the United Kingdom Producers Nigel Godrich, Mike Hedges Similar Travis albums, Britpop albums, Other albums | ||
The Boy with No Name is the fifth studio album from Scottish indie pop band Travis. The album was released on 7 May 2007 through Epic Records. The album sold over 442,900 copies worldwide.
Contents
Travis 3 times and you lose
Background
The name of the album came about when lead singer Fran Healy and his partner Nora were deciding on a name for their newly born son. During this time, he sent a photo of his son to a friend by email and labeled the photo "The Boy with No Name". Healy revealed this on The Chris Moyles Show during an interview. Healy has also revealed in pre-album release performances that some tracks are influenced by his developing family status, such as "My Eyes" being about his new son or "Battleships" referring to ups and downs of relationships.
Travis dedicated this album to the Abbey Road Studios chief master engineer Chris Blair and British world champion rally driver Richard Burns, who died of a brain tumour at the age of 34 in 2005.
During recording the band discovered they were nearby British band Feeder in the same studio both in different recording rooms. Feeder were recording what would be their fifth studio album Pushing the Senses. It soon occurred that Fran and Dougie helped out Feeder with some recording of the album; their voices appeared as backing vocals for the final chorus of the track "Tumble and Fall" and was its first single.
For the track "Under the Moonlight", backing vocals were recorded by singer-songwriter KT Tunstall, and the song "Battleships" features backing vocals by Julia Stone.
Release
The Boy with No Name entered at #4 on the UK Album Charts. In the U.S., the album debuted at number 58 on the Billboard 200, selling 12,000 copies in its first week. The album went gold in the UK. "Closer" was released as the first single from the album in the United Kingdom on 23 April 2007, and peaked at #10 in the UK Singles Chart (see 2007 in British music). Second single "Selfish Jean" made #30. The final single, "My Eyes", reached #60 - their lowest chart placing during their career at the time. The full album was available to purchase at the Virgin Megastore at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California over the weekend of 27 April 2007 – 29 April 2007.
Reception
The Boy with No Name received mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 57 based on 20 reviews, which indicates "mixed or average reviews".
Songs
13 Times and You Lose4:15
2Selfish Jean4:01
3Closer4:00