Friday, October 31, 2008, 01:01 AM
- CD Reviews
Ode to J. Smith, Travis’ sixth album, is totally beautiful. Each track stands out and they’re the kind of band whose members are absolutely integral to their sound. I wouldn’t want to swap out any of these guys from this band. 
Get Up bounds along with quite tribal drumming and dare I say it, but without being a cliché it has a Celtic flavor to it. Before You Were Young, with its charming cymbals, intricate guitar work and blessed piano asks: in the days before you were young/ we used to sit in the morning sun we used to turn the radio on/ what happened? Now it could be that you can have too much rhyming – but it works in this song perfectly and I wouldn’t want it any other way. Broken Mirror and Friends groove along at smooth and wonderfully trippy speeds. Travis knows how to set a mood and move you in the process. Last Words is perhaps the most instantly recognizable as Travis (there’s very distinctive guitar playing) and I think Long Way Down is probably my top track on the album: it makes no difference when you live in a puddle/ Now that I see it/ How can I breathe
When my heart’s in my mouth/ And not on my sleeve?/ Better run little rabbit/
Back to your hole in the ground. . . then it ends with the refrain: they’re never taking me alive.
With this cd Travis set up shop on their own label, Red Telephone Box, and they’ve opened up business with a boom.