Travis - 10 Songs (BMG)

It is hard to believe that Travis have been around for 25 years. They say that this new album is about the way life comes at love and what love does to weather those challenges.

The songs though are what you always come to expect from Travis: gentle, melodic songs that are part of a great songwriting tradition.

Quite a lot of the tracks are introspective with some surprise guests in the album too, including Susanna Hoffs from The Bangles who arrived on the album following a chance exchange on Twitter. The track, The Only Thing is a typical Travis track that has also a touch of country music about it.

Valentine takes up the pace a little, sounding like a George Harrison track it will surely become a live favourite. It is the most rocky and edgy song on the album but shows that the band can rock out with the best of them.

A Ghost might already be familiar to you as it has been released as a single, a jaunty number with an optimistically slant as the lyric is about living your life and not letting life pass you by.

The album closes with No Love Lost, a piano driven ballad; like most of the album it is inoffensive and dare I say middle of the road. One thing though that you cannot fault is the quality of the songwriting.

I rate the album 3 out of 5.