The Man Who is the second studio album from the ScottishPost-Britpop band Travis. The album was released on 24 May 1999, becoming the album that gave the band international recognition.
Background and recording
Travis' second album, The Man Who, was produced by Nigel Godrich and recorded at producer Mike Hedges' chateau in France. The band continued recording at, among other studios, RAK Studios and Abbey Road Studios in London. The Man Who initially looked as though it would mirror the release of Good Feeling. Although it entered the charts at No. 5, with little radio play of its singles, it quickly slipped down. Worse, many critics who had raved about the rocky Good Feeling rubbished the album for the band's move into more melodic, melancholic material (for example, "Travis will be best when they stop trying to make sad, classic records" - NME). However, when the album slipped as far as No. 19, it stopped. Word of mouth and increasing radio play of the single "Why Does It Always Rain on Me?" increased awareness of the band and the album began to rise back up the charts. Then, when Travis took the stage to perform this song at the 1999 Glastonbury Festival, after being dry for several hours, it began to rain as soon as the first line was sung. The following day the story was all over the papers and television, and with word of mouth and increased radio play of this and the album's other singles, The Man Who rose to No. 1 on the British charts.
It also eventually took Best Album at the 2000 BRIT Awards, with Travis being named Best Band. Music industry magazine Music Week awarded them the same honours, while at the Ivor Novello Awards, Travis took the Best Songwriter(s) and Best Contemporary Song Awards. Travis followed the release of The Man Who with an extensive 237-gig world tour, including headlining the 2000 Glastonbury, T in the Park and V Festivals, and a US tour leg with Oasis. In Los Angeles, an appearance of the band at an in-store signing forced police to close Sunset Strip. The gentle, melodic approach of The Man Who became a hallmark of the latter-day Britpop sound, and inspired a new wave of UK-based rock bands, with acts such as Coldplay and Starsailor soon joining Travis in challenging the chart dominance of urban and dance acts. The title "The Man Who" comes from the book The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by neurologist Oliver Sacks. The majority of songs for this album were written before Good Feeling was even released. "Writing to Reach You", "The Fear" and "Luv" being penned around 1995/96, with "As You Are", "Turn" and "She's So Strange" dating back as far as 1993 and the early Glass Onion EP.
The album peaked at #1 in the UK and #8 in Australia. It was later released in the United States in early 2000. The album won two BRIT Awards in 2000 for the categories of "Best Album" and "Best Newcomer". The album was dedicated to Stanley Kubrick. The album became the bestselling album in the UK in 1999, selling more than 2.7 million copies. The title of the album makes reference to an Oliver Sacks book, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat.[8] In 2006, Q rated the album as the 70th greatest album of all time.[9] The album was nominated in 2010 for best album of the last 30 years, but lost to Oasis's (What's the Story) Morning Glory?.[10]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Fran Healy, except where noted
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