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The Boy with No Name

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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.

The Boy with No Name
Studio album by
Travis
Released7 May 2007
RecordedDecember 2004 – January 2007
Studio
GenreIndie pop, alternative rock
Length52:54
LabelIndependiente, Epic
ProducerTravis, Steve Orchard, Nigel Godrich, Mike Hedges, George Tandero
Travis chronology
Singles
(2004) 		The Boy with No Name
(2007) 		Ode to J. Smith
(2008)
Singles from The Boy with No Name
  1. "Closer"
    Released: 23 April 2007
  2. "Selfish Jean"
    Released: 9 July 2007
  3. "My Eyes"
    Released: 17 September 2007

Background

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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

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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

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic57/100[3]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [4]
BBCfavourable[5]
Digital Spy     [6]
NME2/10[7]
New York Daily Newsfavourable[8]
Pitchfork Media5.6/10[9]
Philadelphia Inquirer     [10]
Rolling Stone     [11]
Q     
PopMatters6/10[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

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No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."3 Times and You Lose"Fran Healy • Andy DunlopSteve Orchard4:14
2."Selfish Jean"HealyMike Hedges4:00
3."Closer"HealySteve Orchard • Nigel Godrich4:00
4."Big Chair"Healy • DunlopSteve Orchard4:07
5."Battleships"HealySteve Orchard • Nigel Godrich4:11
6."Eyes Wide Open"HealyMike Hedges2:59
7."My Eyes"HealySteve Orchard • Nigel Godrich4:08
8."One Night"HealyGeorge Tandero4:00
9."Under the Moonlight"Susie HugSteve Orchard4:00
10."Out in Space"HealySteve Orchard • Nigel Godrich3:35
11."Colder"Healy • Dougie PayneSteve Orchard4:06
12."New Amsterdam" ("New Amsterdam" ends at 2:37, and followed by hidden track "Sailing Away", which begins at 5:50)HealySteve Orchard • Nigel Godrich9:26
British edition bonus tracks[14]
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
13."Perfect Heaven Space" (hidden track)HealyNigel Godrich3:50
iTunes Store pre-order edition bonus track
No.TitleLength
14."Say Hello"3:33
Japanese edition bonus tracks[15]
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
14."The Great Unknown"HealySteve Orchard • Nigel Godrich2:25
15."Perfect Heaven Space"HealyNigel Godrich3:50

Personnel

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Personnel per booklet.[16]

Charts

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Chart performance for The Boy with No Name
Chart (2007) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[17] 97
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[18] 18
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[19] 98
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[20] 73
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[21] 60
French Albums (SNEP)[22] 41
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[23] 8
Irish Albums (IRMA)[24] 20
Italian Albums (FIMI)[25] 17
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[26] 2
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[27] 54
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[28] 51
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[29] 7
UK Albums (OCC)[30] 4
US Billboard 200[31] 58

References

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  1. ^ "Travis Discography: The Boy with No Name" Archived 17 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine, TravisOnline.com, 7 May 2007
  2. ^ Katie Hasty, "Buble Sidesteps Bone Thugs To Claim No. 1", Billboard.com, 16 May 2007.
  3. ^ a b "The Boy with No Name Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  4. ^ "AllMusic review".
  5. ^ "Music – Review of Travis – The Boy With No Name". BBC. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  6. ^ "Music - Album Review - Travis: 'The Boy with No Name' - Digital Spy". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 9 May 2007. Retrieved 5 May 2007.
  7. ^ "Travis – Travis – Album Reviews". Nme.Com. 1 May 2007. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  8. ^ "Travis' 'Boy' wonder". Nydailynews.com. 8 May 2007. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  9. ^ "Pitchfork: Album Reviews: Travis: The Boy With No Name". Pitchforkmedia.com. 2 June 2007. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  10. ^ "New Recordings | Inquirer | 05/13/2007". Archived from the original on 15 May 2007. Retrieved 13 May 2007.
  11. ^ "Travis: The Boy with No Name : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone". www.rollingstone.com. Archived from the original on 14 February 2009. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  12. ^ Begrand, Adrien (16 May 2007). "Travis: The Boy with No Name < PopMatters". Popmatters.com. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  13. ^ "NME review of 'The Boy With No Name', May 2007". Nme.com. 10 May 2007. Retrieved 12 January 2010.
  14. ^ "Travis – The Boy with No Name (2007, CD)". Discogs. 8 May 2007.
  15. ^ "Travis – The Boy with No Name (2007, CD)". Discogs. 2 May 2007.
  16. ^ The Boy with No Name (booklet). Travis. Independiente. 2007. ISOM 67CD.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  17. ^ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 284.
  18. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Travis – The Boy with No Name" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  19. ^ "Ultratop.be – Travis – The Boy with No Name" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  20. ^ "Ultratop.be – Travis – The Boy with No Name" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  21. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Travis – The Boy with No Name" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  22. ^ "Lescharts.com – Travis – The Boy with No Name". Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  23. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Travis – The Boy with No Name" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  24. ^ "Irish-charts.com – Discography Travis". Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  25. ^ "Italiancharts.com – Travis – The Boy with No Name". Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  26. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Travis – The Boy with No Name". Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  27. ^ "Spanishcharts.com – Travis – The Boy with No Name". Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  28. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Travis – The Boy with No Name". Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  29. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Travis – The Boy with No Name". Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  30. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  31. ^ "Travis Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
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