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The Boy with No Name
2007 studio album by Travis
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The Boy with No Name is the fifth studio album by the Scottish rock band Travis. The album was released on 7 May 2007 through Epic Records. This is Travis first album in which other members contributed to songwriting, rather than the frontman Fran Healy, who was the sole songwriter across their past four albums. The album sold over 442,900 copies worldwide.
- British Grove, London
- The Hospital, London
- Kensaltown, London
- Mayfair, London
- Mercer Street, New York City
- RAK, London
- The Weston Park Hotel
- Westside, London
- The Zeppelin, London
- Hampstead Heath, London
- Washington Square Park, New York City
| The Boy with No Name | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 7 May 2007 | |||
| Recorded | December 2004 – January 2007 | |||
| Studio |
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| Genre | Indie pop, alternative rock | |||
| Length | 52:54 | |||
| Label | Independiente, Epic | |||
| Producer | Travis, Steve Orchard, Nigel Godrich, Mike Hedges, George Tandero | |||
| Travis chronology | ||||
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| Singles from The Boy with No Name | ||||
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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.[1]
During the recording, the band discovered they were in the same studio as British band Feeder but in different rooms. (Feeder were recording what would be their fifth studio album Pushing the Senses.) It occurred to Fran and Dougie they should help Feeder with their album and provided backing vocals for the final chorus of the first single, "Tumble and Fall".
For the track "Under the Moonlight", backing vocals were recorded by singer-songwriter KT Tunstall, and "Battleships" features backing vocals by Julia Stone.
Release
The Boy with No Name entered at No. 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.[2] 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 No. 10 in the UK Singles Chart (see 2007 in British music). Second single "Selfish Jean" made No. 30. The final single, "My Eyes", reached No. 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
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 57/100[3] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [4] |
| BBC | favourable[5] |
| Digital Spy | [6] |
| NME | 2/10[7] |
| New York Daily News | favourable[8] |
| Pitchfork Media | 5.6/10[9] |
| Philadelphia Inquirer | [10] |
| Rolling Stone | [11] |
| Q | |
| PopMatters | 6/10[12] |
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".[3] NME gave the album 2 out of 10 and labelled it "impotent aural gruel" with "all the soul of a platform announcement".[13]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "3 Times and You Lose" | Fran Healy • Andy Dunlop | Steve Orchard | 4:14 |
| 2. | "Selfish Jean" | Healy | Mike Hedges | 4:00 |
| 3. | "Closer" | Healy | Steve Orchard • Nigel Godrich | 4:00 |
| 4. | "Big Chair" | Healy • Dunlop | Steve Orchard | 4:07 |
| 5. | "Battleships" | Healy | Steve Orchard • Nigel Godrich | 4:11 |
| 6. | "Eyes Wide Open" | Healy | Mike Hedges | 2:59 |
| 7. | "My Eyes" | Healy | Steve Orchard • Nigel Godrich | 4:08 |
| 8. | "One Night" | Healy | George Tandero | 4:00 |
| 9. | "Under the Moonlight" | Susie Hug | Steve Orchard | 4:00 |
| 10. | "Out in Space" | Healy | Steve Orchard • Nigel Godrich | 3:35 |
| 11. | "Colder" | Healy • Dougie Payne | Steve Orchard | 4:06 |
| 12. | "New Amsterdam" ("New Amsterdam" ends at 2:37, and followed by hidden track "Sailing Away", which begins at 5:50) | Healy | Steve Orchard • Nigel Godrich | 9:26 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13. | "Perfect Heaven Space" (hidden track) | Healy | Nigel Godrich | 3:50 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 14. | "Say Hello" | 3:33 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14. | "The Great Unknown" | Healy | Steve Orchard • Nigel Godrich | 2:25 |
| 15. | "Perfect Heaven Space" | Healy | Nigel Godrich | 3:50 |
Personnel
Personnel per booklet.[16]
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Travis
Production
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Additional musicians
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Charts
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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Certifications
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom (BPI)[40] | Gold | 100,000^ |
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^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||