Ode to J. Smith
| Ode to J. Smith | ||||||||||
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| Studio album by Travis | ||||||||||
| Released | 29 September 2008 | |||||||||
| Recorded | February–March 2008 | |||||||||
| Studio | RAK Studios | |||||||||
| Genre | Alternative rock, indie rock | |||||||||
| Length | 36:56 | |||||||||
| Label | Red Telephone Box, Fontana | |||||||||
| Producer | Emery Dobyns | |||||||||
| Travis chronology | ||||||||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 66/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |
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| BBC | (Favourable) link |
| Daily Record |
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| Evening Standard |
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| Evening Telegraph | (8/10) link |
| God Is in the TV Zine |
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| Metro |
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| MusicOMH |
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| News Of The World |
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| Pitchfork Media | (5.0/10) link |
| Planet Sound | (8/10) link |
Ode to J. Smith is the sixth studio album by Scottish rock band Travis, released on 29 September 2008 in the United Kingdom and received generally positive reviews. The album was released in the United States on 4 November 2008. The first single from the album, "Something Anything", was released on 15 September, and despite being generally well received by Travis fans gained very little airplay.
Ode to J. Smith entered the UK Album Chart at #20, and spent 3 weeks on the chart. The album peaked at #122 on the Billboard 200.
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, 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 their 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 Healy. The band recorded the album at RAK Studios in London for two weeks between February and March. Afterward, 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 1980s 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" had been pressed and would be available to buy as an EP called J. Smith EP, along with two other new songs, from 30 June 2008. However, Healy confirmed that the EP would not be the 'official' first single from the album, which was "Something Anything". The EP was 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.
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