The Invisible Band

This article is about the album by Travis. For the band, see The Invisible (band).
The Invisible Band
Studio album by Travis
Released 11 June 2001
Recorded November 2000 – April 2001
Studio
Genre Post-Britpop, Indie pop, alternative rock
Length 45:27
Label Independiente, Epic
Producer Nigel Godrich
Travis chronology
The Man Who
(1999)		 The Invisible Band
(2001)		 12 Memories
(2003)
Singles from The Invisible Band
  1. "Sing"
    Released: 28 May 2001
  2. "Side"
    Released: 17 September 2001
  3. "Flowers in the Window"
    Released: 25 March 2002
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic71/100[2]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic [3]
NME [4]
Pitchfork Media6.1/10 [5]
Rolling Stone [2]
Music Box [6]

The Invisible Band is the third studio album from Scottish indie pop band Travis. The album was released on 11 June 2001. The title of the album makes reference to the band's feelings regarding 'music being more important than the band making it'. Band frontman Fran Healy stated in an interview that the album's title referred to the band's status in 'having famous songs, but not being famous themselves'. The album spent four weeks at the top of the UK Albums Chart, selling more copies in that time than The Man Who managed in half a year.

Reception

The Invisible Band received positive 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 71 based on 17 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".[2]

Q Magazine said of the album, "While the wheel remains un-reinvented, The Invisible Band finds its mark with unerring accuracy".[2] While Launch also said of the album, "Songs like the stirring "Side", the delicate "Dear Diary", and the glistening "Follow The Light" are among the best and most fully crafted of Fran Healy's short but accomplished writing career".[2] Q also listed it as one of the best 50 albums of 2001.[7]

Leonard's Lair fully reviewed the album, claiming that, "Along with Coldplay's 'Parachutes', 'The Man Who' slowly became one of the ubiquitous releases at the turn of the century. Yet although the likes of 'Turn' and 'Driftwood' were undeniably easy on the ear paradigms for thoughtful indie/adult rock, they seemed to lack any kind of edge to go further particularly on the unremarkable 'Why Does It Always Rain On Me?' which was in danger of becoming their musical albatross. It seems as they have never been away but the follow-up release signifies their intention to become known as an albums band. The singles thus far, 'Sing' and 'Side', both feature hypnotic tunes courtesy mainly of Andy Dunlop's fine guitar work; the former is hopeful and joyous whilst the latter is steeped in melancholy. Further exposure to the album unveils a remarkably consistent level of songwriting with the unassuming-looking Dunlop always able to turn guitar and even banjo into memorable verses and choruses whilst Fran Healy sensibly never over-reaches in his successful quest for the yearning vocal. It's easy to imagine that the earnest, yet brilliant, likes of 'The Last Train' and 'Pipe Dreams' might alienate former fans but Travis are clearly above turning into victims of their own success. As an exercise in how modern rock should sound like, 'The Invisible Band' will take some beating".[8]

Usage in media

The song "Follow the Light" is featured in the 2002 movie Crossroads. "Flowers in the Window" is featured in the 2004 film Saved!, second-season episode of Merseybeat (2002), and as background music during a scene of the 2002 Only Fools and Horses Christmas Special "Strangers on the Shore". The song "Sing" is featured in the 2002 film Mr. Deeds and in the 2003 Only Fools and Horses Christmas Special "Sleepless in Peckham". It also makes a brief appearance on NBC's The Office in the second-season episode "The Client", and is heard again in the season six episode "The Banker". "Side" can be heard briefly in The Office's second-season episode titled "Email Surveillance" and the Daria 2002 TV movie and series finale, Is It College Yet?. "Humpty Dumpty Love Song" was featured in the second episode of TNT's series Heartland (2007).[9]

Track listing

All tracks written by Fran Healy. 

No. Title Length
1. "Sing"   3:48
2. "Dear Diary"   2:57
3. "Side"   3:59
4. "Pipe Dreams"   4:05
5. "Flowers in the Window"   3:41
6. "The Cage"   3:05
7. "Safe"   4:23
8. "Follow the Light"   3:08
9. "Last Train"   3:16
10. "Afterglow"   4:05
11. "Indefinitely"   3:52
12. "The Humpty Dumpty Love Song"   5:02

Personnel

Travis
Additional musicians[1]
Additional personnel[1]

Chart performance

Chart (2001) Peak
position
UK Album Chart 1
Australian Album Charts 7
Austrian Album Charts 2
Canadian Album Charts 12
Swiss Album Charts 6
Denmark Album Charts 5
Finnish Album Charts 13
French Album Charts 13
German Album Charts 3
Irish Album Charts 1
Italian Album Charts 8
Norwegian Album Charts 1
New Zealand Album Charts 5
Swedish Album Charts 5
US Billboard 200 39

Chart Succession

Preceded by
Amnesiac by Radiohead		 UK number one album
23 June 2001 – 20 July 2001 		Succeeded by
8701 by Usher

References

  1. 1 2 3 Information from the album booklet.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "The Invisible Band Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2013-08-01.
  3. ↑ Wilson, MacKenzie. "The Invisible Band - Travis". AllMusic. Retrieved 2011-09-22.
  4. ↑ "Travis : The Invisible Band". NME. Archived from the original on 2002-08-05. Retrieved 2013-08-01.
  5. ↑ Rockermann, Kristin Sage. "Travis: The Invisible Band | Album Reviews". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 2013-08-01.
  6. ↑ Metzger, John. "Travis - The Invisible Band (Album Review)". musicbox-online.com. Retrieved 2013-08-01.
  7. ↑ "The Best 50 Albums of 2001". Q. December 2001. pp. 60–65.
  8. ↑ "Travis - The Invisible Band". Leonard's Lair. Retrieved 2013-08-01.
  9. ↑ "Travis - IMDb". IMDb. Retrieved 2013-08-01.
  10. ↑ "Travis (90s) The Invisible Band Australia CD album (CDLP) (183835)". eil.com. Retrieved 2013-08-01.
  11. ↑ "Travis (90s) The Invisible Band Japan Promo CD album (CDLP) (207673)". eil.com. Retrieved 2013-08-01.
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