No Vacation From The World,
Useless IDIsrael's favourite punk boys Useless ID are back, oh yes they are, and this time they've got even more emotional about girls. Yes, I know what you are thinking and I have to agree - before you even listen to this record you know exactly what you are going to get, and in 2003 that's no good thing. When the critics unfairly slayed the band's first album on Kung Fu for being an Ataris rip-off I stuck my neck out and backed them. Unfortunately 'No Vacation From The World' is 'End Is Forever' mark two, a record pumped full of production and extra sounds and filled to the brim with noises and moog samples - it's about as natural as Michael Jackson's face.
This is by no means a bad record, it's just incredibly safe and unadventurous and ultimately very disappointing. Whereas the first album was a bit quicker and had a little more get-up-and-go, even if the lyrical subjcets were at times tame, this new record is slower and far more careful. Way too careful for my liking and at times you're almost left begging for the shackles to be broken and for the band to rock out - and this is unusual seeing as though Tony Sly of NUFAN fame was involved with much of the record. But at the end of the day you're left thinking that many of these songs are no more than Ataris b-sides.
'Same Story Someone New' has a catchy and interesting guitar riff that cobbles together bits of NUFAN and The Ataris rather nicely, but becomes dull reasonably quickly. Angus Cooke's production is way too sickly sweet for my liking, with 'The Worst Holiday I've Ever Had' giving off far too much of a polished sheen. 'Bring Me Down' has a riff which seems to feature on every pop-punk album ever, while vocalist Yotam sounds infuriatingly identical to Kris Roe on 'My Therapy'. The first song to actually sound like the Useless ID of old is the faster 'Jukebox 86', but at the end of the day this is just another girl breaks boys heart song which is really rather monotonous.
'Too Late To Start Over' is yawnsome and it takes the firey 'Unhappy Hour' to shake off the sleep and spark things into life again. Useless ID are so much better when they put some energy into their soun, and on this record this is as good an example. But even then it's desperately short at one minute and leads into the uninspiring 'Birthday Song'. If I was forced to blow my candles out to that track, I think I'd cry. 'Crush' is another song that feels way too safe, and it says a lot that the Tony Sly-penned 'Stuck Without A Ride' is easily the best song here - even if it does sound a hell of a lot like a No Use cast-off. 'Diary' is turgid and stale and album closer 'End' average, but by this point it would be easy to have switched off completely. The fadeout of the song, however, is really the final straw for me, ditching a perfectly good solo for a period of silence - and this says it all.
Useless ID aren't all that bad and I'm sure many of you will enjoy this album, but it offers nothing new and has been done far better by other bands. It's too sickly sweet production-wise and for me a backward step, because this should have been the album that saw the band kick on and make a name for themselves. Instead there's nothing here which grabs my attention and Useless ID earn themselves the unwanted accolade of the year's first disappointing release.
Paul
