Ode to J. Smith

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共12首歌曲

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艺人: Travis
语种: 英语
厂牌: Red Telephone Box
发行时间: 2008年09月28日
专辑类别: 录音室专辑

专辑介绍

1999年夏天，我在英国Virgin音乐祭邂逅了Travis。

这群意气风发的苏格兰小子才刚以第二张大碟《The Man Who》拿下英国金榜冠军，最新单曲〈Why Does It Always Rain On Me? 〉彷佛更替天下失意人而写，轻快忧郁的曲调，任谁听了都会摇头晃脑。

然当时仍是第一代英式摇滚的天下，Pulp与Suede尚未解散，Blur吉他手Graham Coxon也仍在团里。Travis贵为前途璀璨的超新星，只能安排于时段普通的次舞台，不过他们丝毫不觉得委屈，纵情发挥，锋头完全盖过同一时段的大牌团体。还记得歌与歌交替的空档，主唱Fran Healy微笑着说，「希望我们明年能征服大舞台！」

他做到了，而且事情发展得更顺利。来年的全英音乐奖，Travis一举拿下最佳专辑与乐团双料大奖，向世界宣告「我们来接班了！」挟着居高不下的人气，他们也登上各大音乐祭的压轴宝座。此番丑小鸭变天鹅的梦幻际遇，让人羡煞不已；没人料到不过数年前，这群格拉斯哥青年仍得向父母商借录音资金，如今，他们已是全球销量破千万张，号称苏格兰史上最受欢迎的摇滚组合。

Travis所获的成功，动听悦耳的音乐扮演了关键推手，然同样不能忽视的，是团员身上的谦逊特质，纯朴而宜人。他们不嚣张跋扈、不对同侪乐团口出恶言，这几年眼看声势渐渐被曲风近似的Coldplay、Keane与Snow Patrol压过，身为最资深的一员，Travis却能处之坦然，不生妒忌。无怪乎休息了四年，去年的新作《The Boy With No Name》依然深受乐迷爱戴。

这回时隔一年，乐团火速推出第六张作品《Ode To J. Smith》，一方面趁胜追击，无约一身轻也是主因。由于已结束与前东家五张专辑的合约，Travis选择回到最初，让停摆十余年的自家厂牌Red Telephone Box「复活」（当初创厂的用意就是发行自己的单曲）；如此一来，前中后制不假他人之手，可全程掌控进度。且适逢贝斯手将于今年三月迎接第一位小孩（他是Travis四人里最后一位当爸的），为了使他安心陪产，乐团花不到两个星期便将录音搞定。

刻意屏除繁复的计算机录音与数字微调技术，回归模拟美学，在没有多余的顾忌下，乐团实行单纯的编曲与直觉的演绎模式，调快节拍的转速并加重吉他的成份，以找回成军时的刺激感。这总总因素作用下，《Ode To J. Smith》自然成了自首张专辑《Good Feeling》以来Travis摇滚得最用力的一次，也实践了当初藉由成名曲〈All I Want To Do Is Rock〉所宣示的「简单摇滚」态度。

看似绕了一圈回到原地，心中却已满足无憾，乐手生涯本是如此奇妙。(By 陈德政 )

The band announced in December 2007 that a short tour was planned for February 2008, with only five dates in different small club venues around the UK. Shortly after, they would start recording their sixth studio album. Singer/songwriter Fran Healy said he would like to record the entire album in two weeks,[3] having been inspired by the speed and simplicity of their recent recording session with Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick while participating in a BBC programme celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album. The band road-tested the new material in the February 2008 club shows.

It was announced in February 2008 that Travis have left Independiente Records as they had "come to the end of our deal and decided to go as it was time to start afresh", according to Fran Healy.

The band recorded the album at RAK Studios in London for two weeks between February and March. Afterwards, Fran Healy went to mix the record in New York between March and April. The cover image of the eye is an exact copy of a design by Omnific created for an early 80s Penguin Books edition of the Roald Dahl short story collection, Someone Like You.

Fran Healy announced on the band's official website, that 1000 copies of the song J. Smith have been pressed and will be available to buy as an EP called J. Smith EP, along with two other new songs, from the 30th June. However Healy has confirmed that the EP is not the 'official' first single from the album. The EP will be released on 'Red Telephone Box Records', which was the label Travis set up to release their first EP "All I Want to Do Is Rock" 12 years previously.[4]

Songs

Travis' bassist, Dougie Payne, wrote an official daily diary on the Travis website that can be found at the link provided [5] every day for two weeks until 2 March 2008 whilst they recorded the album at RAK Studios in London, in which he mentions the 11 song titles below:

"Franny decides he is in the mood to sing and let's rip on "Chinese Blues"."

"We decide to put the songs down in the order that we were playing them in the shows so next up is "J. Smith"."

"With spirits up and enthusiasm at a premium we then, in quick succession, rattle off "Something Anything" and "Long Way Down"!"

"This breaks the tradition of recording the tunes in live running order, but means that we get to do "Get Up"."

"We have to get "Last Words" done before Friday as we have Sally coming in with a string quartet to do a little arrangement for it."

"We set up for an atmospheric evening doing the mean and moody "Broken Mirror"."

"Up next it's "Quite Free"."

"We also got them to sprinkle a little magic on "Song to Self"."

"Friends" is a rather lovely thing and has to be played in a very laid back fashion."

"We have to hold fire on tracking "Before You Were Young" as the gong doesn't arrive until Monday."

Singer Fran Healy also wrote a diary of the mixing sessions for the new album, giving even more insight info about the new songs.

Ode to J. Smith

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