The Man Who

I was bored. I found myself wanting to skip multiple songs, it was like I had heard it all before but done better by other bands.

Travis? Really?? If you’re looking for an example of a desperately uninteresting, ‘vanilla’, background record, look no further. Utterly nondescript songs by a band whose only vague contribution to popular culture is a haircut. Up there with Dido in terms of lowest common denominator, coffee shop, blandness. It’s hard to listen to Travis without thinking that maybe pop is dead after all. If not dead, certainly pale, sickly and very, very tired.

Desperate sappy Post-Britpop.

freaking boring

if kidsbop covered radiohead

This was the most boring, limp-wristed, derivative, and uneventful pile of crap I've had to sit through. It should be renamed "The Man Who Died of Boredom" in my honor. Driftwood is ok but nowhere near enough to make up for the constantly annoying whiny British vocals. Seriously, why was this ever big, England? Please explain.

Someone here described this as "young adult series music" and they couldn't be anymore spot on Absolute shit lmfao

Aggressively boring

skipped around after it hit song 4, a lot of run on and on and on songs. downloaded for she’s so strange and why does it always rain on me for shits and giggles.

Too mellow for me. Some tracks felt like knock off Radiohead

A snooze fest.

Came into this with an open mind, found it incredibly dull. Forced my way through it and occasionally caught a brief bright spark, but even then it just felt like a cheap imitation of radio head. 2/10

Coldplay meets Radiohead

I’ve been very lucky with the list so far, but this album just felt so contrived, so offensively limp and devoid of life. By far the worst listen so far.

Bag o shite

Boring

Google “Top Albums 1999”. This one is not even in the top 100 of the YEAR, much less 1001 albums I “need to hear”. More UK-centric bullshit from Dimtry. Did everyone in the whole wide-ass world miss this “masterpiece”. No, they didn’t. Hard Pass. This one truly makes me wonder why the hell I’m doing this project. Although probably better than a 1, I’m giving this a 1⭐️ to represent all the better albums that didn’t make this list.

Wow these all sound like the same boring song. If this is post-britpop, that means britpop just transitioned into this schmoopsy poopsy Coldplay sound that also lasted way longer than it should have. They seem to be trying to ape Radiohead, but no one can seem to pull that off and not sound overly earnest. There’s so much emotion forced into this over-produced schlock that it has no feeling.

mistook his life for this pap

Cheesy, cloying: a cold fondue—curious what’s not working, as an enduringly proud fan of the 2000’s angst rock era popularized by Puddle of Mudd, Fuel etc.

Why would we need to listen to this? Juvenile and bad?

I’m insulted

So, if I've got this right, they thought to themselves "What if Radiohead but boring" and as a result we have a world with Coldplay in it?

Not what I expected. Did not hear one hit on this album. Would probably never listen to it again.

.eh

Bad Radiohead rip off. Didn't like it then, don't like it now.

This was pretty “meh” throughout. Sounds like watered down Coldplay, with all the songs being their throwaways. And all sound similar, creating a boring listen.

'The man who' damn I wish he wouldnt

Shit

Whiny, high pitched voice. Slow, monotonous, and boring music accompanying that whiny voice = not my kind of music

On a positive note listening to this can give you a little more understanding of the quality that Coldplay and Radiohead bring. If you've only eaten cheap American chocolate you might be perfectly happy, but when you finally have some good chocolate you learn how ignorant you have been. Oh I've heard, "Why Does It Always Rain on Me?". It is kind of catchy, but I'd be fine forgetting it.

radiohead for morons

Mostly boring as hell. No clue why it's on this list. Turn is a nice song, though.

If I told AI to create music based on all the styles, sounds and production that I hate in music then it would create this album. 1.0

Soft pop. Lethargic, boring and uninspired.

Alguma pessoa aleatória ouviu fake plastic trees e achou que poderia fazer uma música igual. Frustrada que não conseguiu fazer algo exatamente igual, fez um disco com todas as tentativas de imitar essa música, onde falha miseravelmente em todas.

no início dava pra tankar mas passou 14 minutos e lentamente se tornou uma goteira desacelerada na minha testa e eu não tinha boca para gritar e pedir socorro

In a nutshell: purveyors of Scottish sad bastard music Bland and boring. I wouldn't be surprised if this album influenced Coldplay when recording Parachutes. Overall: 1/10

It is not that it's bad, it's just bland. 3/10

Meh

Sounds like a blatant rip off of The Bends. Boring and bland..

The man who.... bored us to tears.

The very definition of beige, bland or inconsequential. On an artistic level, Travis are too sweet for their own good in this LP filled with ballads so demure and safe they quickly become sickening for anyone looking for interesting chord sequences, inspiring harmonies, genuine thrills or even *true* subtlety. At best, those songs sound like the b-sides of Radiohead singles circa-*The Bends*, here rather laughably released two years after *OK Computer* came out--showing how Travis were surfing on the most boring post-Britpop wave at the tail end of the nineties, instead of offering something that would feel a tad bit more exciting in 1999 (just like Radiohead did in 1997). The thing is, even if you pretend this album was released in 1995, you can't really forgive how dull it is overall. That lead singer tries as hard as he can to go to Thom Yorke's turf for his vocal performance, but what he does falls flat compared to the manifold emotions routinely expressed by the Radiohead frontman. First because the music writing is predictable and devoid of any real spark or dynamics. But also because his vocals often lack a clear sense of attack or punch. The performance might be technically spotless at times (there are some weak moments, actually), its artistic flatness only underlines how linear Travis' music feels. The 'professional critics' sensed all this at the time. It's the target audience which made this LP a commercial success, and retrospectively, I can't help feeling said audience was so complacent and reluctant to be challenged that they were *objectively* wrong to enjoy this band so much. Sort of, obviously--music appreciation is always subjective, after all. But this sort of commercial success didn't bode well for the noughts, a very 'conservative' decade in my ears. And I could almost see myself going to a tantrum because someone thought of including this LP in the 1001 Albums list whereas it's a very questionable choice in my own book. When public taste is godawful to my demanding ears, I feel like I'm the one who is looking down upon them whereas I don't want to. I can't really blame Travis' fans, though. I blame part of the subsequent 'critics' who looked at the sales numbers to then profess this album was worthy to be in a list such as this one. Because I feel they're a little hypocritical. Pretty sure that if *The Man Who* had not sold so many units, it would have been quickly forgotten, plain and simple. I'm not the one to often complain about the British perspective regularly churned out by the 1001 Albums book. But here I sense one of its unwanted and undesirable consequences. When so many genres and subgenres are so badly represented in the book (post-rock, post-hardcore/emo, some recent strands of noise-rock, metal and pop, or some not-so recent strands of jazz...), you can't waste a slot for frigging Travis! It's a slap in the face of all the fans of those music genres! I've compared Travis to Radiohead earlier, and I have to admit I feel bad for doing so. Some might say I should have compared them to Coldplay instead. But even that would be unfair to a degree, leaving aside the fact that Travis' frontman is a Chris Martin lookalike, lol. Coldplay sound like Nine Inch Nails, King Crimson and Black Midi jamming together compared to Travis circa-*The Man Who*. And even if they didn't, Chris Martin has sung loads of more memorable songs compared to Travis, so that doesn't even work out. Anyway, I'm pretty sure that the world--and most specifically this list--doesn't need a second-rate version of Coldplay, which is itself a second-rate version of quite a few other important acts from the turn of the century. Gives this slot to artists who offered something truly vital, for chrissake! 1/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums. 6/10 for more general purposes (5 for the 'professional' musical and technical abilities + 1 for the actual artistry) Number of albums left to review: 10 (plus the 80-ish extra LPs listed on this app, included because different past versions of the book have mentioned albums that have since been dropped in subsequent editions) Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 426 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 254 Albums from the list I won't include in mine: 314 (including this one)

Gets more beige with each song. Driftwood decent though

Songs i like: 4 Songs i like: 0 Absolute waffle, would love to hear what the bands thoughts are of this years later. I reckon they'd probably deny it was them that recorded it

im over the alternative shit. give me something different man

"The Man Who initially received mixed reviews and sold slowly. Boosted by the success of "Why Does It Always Rain on Me?" and the band's appearance at the 1999 Glastonbury Festival, it eventually spent a total of 11 weeks at number one on the UK Albums Chart and brought the band international recognition. As of 2018, according to Concord Music, The Man Who has sold over 3.5 million copies worldwide. It was among ten albums nominated for the best British album of the previous 30 years by the Brit Awards in 2010, losing to (What's the Story) Morning Glory? by Oasis." - John Wikipedia This statement is probably the biggest indictment of Britpop and its consequences I have seen from this list so far.

This album is all of the worst parts of Brit-pop combined. Awful.

The unbearable blandness of weltschmerz-oozing, guitar-strumming songs, all condensed in one album. And a mostly white cover, to boot. Completely unmemorable songs, sung with a voice that makes me wonder why nobody gives the guy some painkillers... What's it doing in this list? P.S.: the "hidden track" at the end just shows what they would have been capable of... alas...

This would go perfect, listened to over a bowl of cold porridge. This is mushy peas you forgot in the fridge. Even the singer couldn’t muster up a single shit to give to this album. “Why does it always rain on me? Is it because I lied when I was seventeen?” No, it’s because you live in Scotland, ya moppy git! My advice- don’t go at other artists in such a milquetoast way. Say it with your chest if you’re gonna say it at all. All the complaining about Wonderwall just made me realize I hadn’t gotten What’s The Story, Morning Glory? on this project. Looking forward to that. Odelay was also good. This album was not.

Sounds like the background music to some teen drama where the main character stops by to check on the state of the school project and talk to the supporting character (future love interest crush). This is playing at a low volume in the room.

This was actually unenjoyable. I wasn’t expecting big things. I know who Travis are but I tried to put any prejudice away and played it in the background. Only time it caught my attention was when the whininess became unbearable. It’s odd I generally like whininess… (Love to my man Thom) Soft rock with entle meandering chords, a strings section and vocal ‘whailing’. I guess it might mean something to someone. Just didn’t grasp it. I don’t remember hating “why does it always rain” when it was big but, man, was the bile rising today. First album on here that has me genuinely wondering how it made the cut. I guess someone’s gotta be #1001.

Boring songs. One star

Radiohead. Wannabe

I had to wash out my ears after listening to this album - offensively mediocre.

Radiohead as some cool and stuff but they're totally to blame for brit pop emo bullshit of the late 90's. They all sound the same and they all sound like a car commercial or something. Fuck Radiohead, it was not worth it.

Absolutely not.

The only interesting thing on this record happened in the secret song. And by interesting I only mean that it wasn't as white bread as the rest of this record. This isn't bad. It's just the most bland record I've heard in years.

I found this dull. No edge to it

Music like this is so depressing, almost an aide to suicide.

Did not like

Oh look another crappy 90s Brit pop record. This felt like it was smack dab in the shit between Oasis and Coldplay.

Nice

Sounds like a bad rip-off of 90s Radiohead. Also music to fall asleep to. Real snoozefest.

Did not listen

Really did not like.

Generic

Jesus. Really testing my resolve to give every single album this app generates for me a fair listen. What in the ever living fuck is this record doing here. Never mind Travis, this is a travesty

Radiohead and Coldplay had a baby and that baby was annoying.

If you thought Keane was too 'out-there', if Coldplay gets you too excited, if you love listening to people whinge about the weather, if you can't get enough of that OK Computer thing where Radiohead combined acoustic guitars and ethereal electric ones and electronic textures but for some reason don't have access to the real thing, if you'd like to hear a band beside Oasis explore the idea of a wonderwall, if you wish the Verve had more harmonica, or if you're running a hospice experimenting with new techniques for lulling people to a soft lovely boredom-induced death, then boy, is this is the album for you. Otherwise, stay well clear. Awful.

Great Value Radiohead

Painful. I tried. I just couldn’t.

Not For Me™️

This is the kind of album you put on at a party when you want your friends to leave. I really wish to never hear that album again. 47 minutes of my life wasted and no one's giving them back to me.

Did not like - disappointment!

Middle of the road at best. Not something that I will listen to again any time soon

flacid pop rock. who cares? albums like this are going to be the reason if i eventually stop doing this list Significant 36/114 Liked 17/114 Added 4/114 NNN

This was the humdrum of the dole-drums. I thought there may be a spark of some weird alt 90s feelings but I was left with was a sour third eye blind taste written for a hearing impaired historian.

Didn't like this at all. Undoubtedly a bit harsh but Travis were very lucky that Coldplay became the butt of the jokes...

This was fine, but I’m not sure how it ended up in this list?

Zzzzzzz

I feel like I just listened to 5 soundtracks from mediocre rom coms and a couple songs by a radiohead cover band... and I hate rom coms AND radiohead so there's that.

Man, I really hate this album for a multitude of reasons: first one being, Travis is not a good name. Second being this album wasnt even impressive enough for Spotify to list any lyrics for. Has me starting to wonder who even curated this list of 1001 albums.

It's very rare for music of any kind to render no reaction in me at all. Congrats, Travis.

Soft British suicide rock. It says a lot when ‘Why Does It Always Rain On Me’ is your most upbeat song. Great song though

Why is this here?

I thought that we'd consigned Travis to annals of dreary-pop history when the new millennium rolled around. Why on Earth this deserves a place on the list is beyond me. Even something like Elbow would've been acceptable, but not this dross.

I’m not a fan of wimp-rock.

Utterly forgettable

I initially said "Meh" and gave it three stars, but after listening to this album all the way through to the end, I can now say that it's actually bad and give it 1 star. It's got nothing redeemable in lyrics or melody throughout. It's essentially late-90s UK elevator music, just pointless and bad. 1/5

So boring it makes Coldplay sound exciting.

It was like knockoff coldplay

es literalmente la definición de un álbum aburrido y monótono

Bland bland bland

Boring ass indie rock

I could only make it two songs into this shoegaze drudgery.

Radiohead if they were really annoying

Wow, this is a bland album...like the definition of bland

Why is this non-album on the list. How does this compare with the average 1001 album? It seems randomly picked and moreover: the list already contains White Ladder.

Good shit to get moving

Unforgivably boring elevator rock. Nothing noteworthy about anything on this album besides Travis’ clear admiration for lumbering Radiohead tracks, and I continue to be mystified by the success of its single. A really sub-par representation of Scotland’s contribution to popular music.

Pas mal dans mes écoutes les plus difficiles et inintéressantes. La basse après 2:15 est bien dans The Last Laugh Of The Laughter, mais c’est pas mal tout. Ça a beau être produit par Nigel Godrich, je n’ai aucunement envie de revenir à cet album.

Highlights: - Artwork: 3,5 / 10 Rating: 2 / 10

no!

Well I wasn't depressed but I am now .Thanks for nothing Travis!

Travis are shit

Favs: I guess "She's So Strange"? It has a kind of Blur vibe to it, lyrics-wise. Blur, if the music was crappy. Mehs: Annnd the rest. I hate Why Does It Always Rain On Me. Hate. It makes me feel like Mrs. White in Clue with the flames on the side of my face. I hate that my brain heard it again.

8