New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Following the 20th anniversary reissue of their critically acclaimed album The Invisible Band, multi-platinum selling Scottish rockers
Travis return with the release of a special live album The Invisible Band (Live). The album will be released on vinyl on April 22nd, as part of Record Store Day 2023, and across streaming services on April 21st via Craft Recordings.
Recorded live at Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall on May 22nd, 2022 during their celebrated The Invisible Band in Concert anniversary tour, the live album sees the art school band play the seminal album front to back for the first time ever. "Playing The Invisible Band live was a lot of fun. There are so many memories folded into these songs for us and for everyone who came to the shows," Fran reflects of the tour. "The tracklisting on this album worked really great live so we decided to record and film the final show in Glasgow. There is always a chance I'll get a sore throat when I know there is a taping coming up, but thankfully it all went without a hitch. I think it was the best we played the album that night."
The announcement comes alongside the release of a captivating performance of one of the album's standout hits, 'Flowers In The Window (Live)', which is available to stream or download today. "'Flowers In The Window' is one of our evergreen songs," singer Fran Healy notes. "There are a couple of ways we play it during a show. The way we play it most is the busk, with us standing round the one microphone. On this tour we decided to do the full band version, which is the album version with Andy on piano duties."
Returning to the studio with The Man Who's co-producer Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Beck, Paul McCartney) for The Invisible Band,
Travis crafted a near-perfect 45-minute album praised by Q magazine for having some of "the best and most fully crafted" songs of their career to date.
Lead single "Sing" remains the band's highest-charting single in the UK (No.3), while its follow-ups, "Side" and "Flowers In The Window," saw the band consolidate their indie-pop formula, helping The Invisible Band to match its predecessor's No.1 position in the UK album chart, while taking
Travis into the US Top 40 and Top 10 in Germany, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland, Sweden, France, Italy and Norway. The Invisible Band 20thAnniversary
Deluxe Edition Box set is available HERE.
Released for the only time on vinyl for RSD 2023, this special 2-LP package comes on clear vinyl in a gatefold sleeve and includes exclusive unseen photography from Ryan Johnston. Pay a visit to your local independent record shop on Record Store Day (Saturday 22nd April) for the chance to pick up a copy. The album will also be released across streaming services on April 21st.
Formed in Glasgow in 1990,
Travis (Fran Healy, vocals, guitar; Andy Dunlop, lead guitar; Dougie Payne, bass; Neil Primrose, drums) came of age during Britpop's heyday, but always stood at a remove from that scene's barely contained mania. When the Britpop hangover kicked in at the end of the '90s, Travis' gentle, uplifting songs were the perfect antidote for the chaos of the preceding years. From its title on down, Good
Feeling set the mood: an upbeat album unafraid to wear its emotions on its sleeve. By the time
Travis took to Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage in 1999, delivering a career-defining performance, they were poised to become household names, opening the door for a new generation of introspective songwriters to come through.
Entering the new millennium as one of the biggest bands in the UK following the success of sophomore album, 1999's The Man Who (now certified 9x platinum, with over 2.7 million albums sold in the UK),
Travis spent the remainder of the '00s developing their sound without ever forgetting their core commitment to songwriting. The Invisible Band (2001) consolidated the group's status as the grown-ups' indie rock band of choice, while 2003's 12 Memories revealed a newfound electronica influence. 2007's The Boy With No Name was the band's most eclectic album to date, and, in the years since, the group have only continued to build on their enduring appeal. 2008's Ode to J Smith included the fan-favorite single 'Something Anything', while Where You Stand (2013) and
Everything At Once (2016) returned
Travis to the UK Top 5. Travis' emotionally charged and deeply heartfelt ninth studio album, 10 Songs (2020), marked another new chapter in the band's extraordinarily prolific and unflappable career.
