This came out in 2003 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
When Fran Healey intones, “Every day, sinking in the quicksand,” on the first track of Travis’s fourth CD, it’s hard not to lunge straight for the skip button.
After all, the last thing anyone needs to hear is another batch of weepy British mope-pop. But in this case a little restraint is not only called for, but also pays off. Sure, at first it sounds like the same old same old — but the truth is, if you give 12 Memories a chance, you’ll realize it’s a chance of pace for Fran and the rest of the boys. Sure, their songs are still pretty. Despite those opening syllables, however, this time they’re not whiny. If anything, they seem sort of ticked off — at their lovers (Quicksand), at American war-mongering (Peace the Fuck Out), at abusive spouses (Re-Offender). All that bile and bite add a welcome component of compensatory grit to the lush, rich shimmer of their strummy, artsy ’70s pop. It still doesn’t match the greatness of their 1999 breakthrough The Man Who. But it does make 12 Memories a little more memorable than 2001’s Invisible Man.
