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Savage Garden – Savage Garde (1997, Reissue 2023)
Review:
To this day, the eponymous debut album from Brisbane duo Savage Garden maintains its place on the podium of Nineties pop elite. The era-defining album which rocketed the pair to worldwide fame, set the standard for pop in the late Nineties, with the group going on to become one of Australia’s most successful music exports of all time. Vocalist Darren Hayes and producer/multi-instrumentalist Daniel Jones first joined forces in 1993, with Hayes responding to a newspaper ad calling for a singer for Jones and his brothers’ five-piece cover band, Red Edge. Being the only respondent to the ad, Hayes got the job and within a year, the pair said goodbye to the covers and other band members, at first making original material together under the name Crush. After a name change (taken from a phrase in Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles series), and a demo tape sent to record labels around the world, Savage Garden were picked up by Roadshow Music/Warner, sent into the studio, and came out with their very first single, “I Want You”. Featuring one of music’s catchiest phrases of all time (“chic-a-cherry cola”), the fast-paced vocals in the verses contrast the smooth and catchy chorus. The track became the highest-selling single by an Australian musician that year. Garnering international attention, the duo signed to Columbia Records, who sent them to Sydney where they wrote the majority of their debut full-length in eight months. What emerged from the stint in Sydney were back-to-back knockouts. Prior to the album, Savage Garden released another two hit singles “To the Moon and Back” (which quickly became a worldwide sensation and was the most played song on US radio at the time) and “Truly Madly Deeply”, one of the most iconic love songs of the Nineties. Written while eating out in Kings Cross, the latter would also go on to become the highest-rotation track on US radio at one point, while hitting the top spot on the US charts, and becoming the band’s highest-selling single in the UK. Released the same month as “Truly Madly Deeply” in March 1997, Savage Garden won over mums and teenage girls who swooned over the pair and flocked to buy the album. The record entered the Australian charts at number one and stayed there for more than a third of the year. It afforded the duo a record-breaking ten ARIA Awards from 13 nominations—the most ever won by an artist in a single year. The following year, it won two more. It fetched more accolades and chart accomplishments right across the world, most notably in the US, the UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Singapore. The album took on varying forms across its releases home and abroad, featuring 12 tracks in Australia and 11 internationally. “Mine” and ”All Around Me” were removed from the international release, however the international version featured ‘Promises”, which was only released as the B-side of “Truly Madly Deeply” at home. A new drum track also features on the internationally released version of “Truly Madly Deeply”, replacing the Aussie version’s drum machine. But most odd out of all the adjustments between iterations was the reordering of the songs themselves. On the international release, the three hit singles were moved forward to open the album in succession, against the musicians’ wishes. Despite being meticulous about the album’s sequence, the label prevailed and our overseas counterparts were served a front-loaded record. Perhaps this contributed to the overall success, but regardless, it was a bold move against industry standards at the time. Influences on the album come in thick, with Eighties and Nineties pop sounds reminiscent of early Michael Jackson and Roxette, while Santana-like Spanish guitar tones punctuate seized moments alongside other Cure-indebted riffs. Between splices of funky soul and synthy electronics, the album’s body overflows with soft-rock sentiments and a resounding sensation of romanticised—and downright sexy—pop rhythms. But while Jones set the instrumental backdrop, it’s Hayes’ soaring vocals that ensured Savage Garden would truly take flight. Stunning harmonies in “Truly Madly Deeply” show off the singer’s upper register, while vocally-rapid verses of “I Want You” convey his impeccable elocution skills. In “Universe”, we witness a slowed down, swoon-worthy performance, and in “Break Me Shake Me” Hayes boasts his rockier, edgier side. Savage Garden is undeniably catchy in all its lights, the debut album embodying Nineties pop to all its strengths. The duo went on to release another successful album, Affirmation in 1999, before disbanding mid-peak at the end of 2001. With sales of over 25 million globally across both albums, Savage Garden set the standard for Aussie pop music, and their debut forever remains a timeless classic. — by Mairéad Bilton-Gough at rollingstone.com
Track List:
01. To The Moon & Back
02. Carry On Dancing
03. Tears Of Pearls
04. I Want You
05. Truly Madly Deeply
06. Violet
07. All Around Me
08. Universe
09. A Thousand Words
10. Break Me Shake Me
11. Mine
12. Santa Monica
Media Report:
Genre: soft rock, synth-pop
Country: Brisbane, Australia
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits
Compression mode: Lossless
Writing library: libFLAC 1.2.1 (UTC 2007-09-17)
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