|
Recent Updates
21 Aug 2006
New tracks on the main page, and now 'Useful Year One' and 'Useful Year Two' !
|
| |
|
|
Love An Idea Called Love |
Useful 45 (07/05/2006) |
Our current favourite track, YOU MUST HEAR THIS ONE!!!! Originally recorded on the Isle Of Wight, this version of 'Love An Idea Called Love' was the last track of the session with former Wormhole drummer John Gleeson, and heralded a new era for Useful. Fittingly, the song talks of renewal, the search for salvation and balance, as well as the manifestation of dreams. …And, of course, none of this is possible without LOVE. The guitars and vocals build to a suitably anthemic climax that makes us smile every time we hear it. :0)
| track title |
full song |
| Love An Idea Called Love |
download |
|
“I try to be good. Most of the time.“ |
|
All Turn To Dust |
Useful 42 (16/04/2006) |
Chris composed all Turn To Dust after he nearly broke his neck, and the song clearly deals with the issue of mortality. It is dedicated to two lost friends: Gareth Davies, who was also the inspiration for Guarantees, and Monica Gronvick, a former drama school colleague of Chris. Much of the imagery of the song comes from a dream Chris had during his first week at drama school, which featured Monica. Chris: "We were walking through an Eden-like paradise, with rolling hills and tiny brooks. It felt like a gloriously warm sunny day, yet the sky was purple (no, there weren't people running everywhere...), which was incidentally Monica's favourite colour. Flying through the purple sky were thousands of black monoliths like those featured in Kubrick's 2001. The song is about overcoming the fears of the unknown, which particularly manifest themselves in the beginnings and endings of things."
| track title |
full song |
| All Turn To Dust |
download |
|
" Live by the harmless little lies... The ones that keep you happy, healthy, brave and kind " |
|
In The Beginning |
Useful 43 (02/05/2006) |
In The Beginning... is a song about the morale vacuum created by the decline of the modern church, and how this has allowed governments to take advantage of our spiritual confusion. The song had change key three times before we settled on this version, which is also pacier than its predecessors. This version features the Useful re cording debut of our new guitarist Josh Coulcher.
| track title |
full song |
| In The Beginning (Studio Useful 43) |
download |
| In The Beginning (Rehearsal Useful 59) |
download |
|
" Live by the harmless little lies... The ones that keep you happy, healthy, brave and kind " |
 |
Guarantees |
Useful 36 (12/03/2006) |
Guarantees is an attempt to look at the death of innocence, and in particular the discovery that the things that people take for granted: having a job, being in a relationship, being healthy and, of course, staying alive, are never guaranteed. This is our current favourite and we hope you like the flutes in the chorus and the strings in the verses. We've tried to get the balance right without it sounding too prog-rock. This is the oldest song in the set, written in January of 1996 and is dedicated to our friend (and also a top songwriter) Gareth Davies, who died in the summer of 2004. He suggested the title, and the rest of the lyrics grew around it... It was originally recorded at Gareth's as a piano piece with our mates as backing vocalists... whenever we play this, it's difficult not to think of Gareth's influence on us as songwriters.
| track title |
full song |
| Guarantees |
download |
|
"Cliche, Cliche... It's all so normal." |
|
|
|
