Track Listing

1. Affirmation
2. Hold Me
3. I Knew I Loved You
4. Best Thing
5. Crash and Burn
6. Chained to You
7. Animal Song
8. Lover After Me
9. Two Beds and a Coffee Machine
10. You Can Still Be Free
11. Gunning Down Romance
12. I Don't Know You Anymore

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8998 in Music
• Released on: 2008-07-31
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

From Amazon.com
Savage Garden's songs are of innocence and urgency. On the Australian pop duo's second album, Affirmation, love is either a broken thing or a newly exploding one, passion and obsession taking over after a spin on the dance floor. At the same time, when Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones proclaim that they want to "live like animals," they're not planning anything too raw, too Reznorish: they just want that childlike lack of guile. This approach, taken with a total lack of irony and with large doses of appealing melodicism, led to multiplatinum sales for the act's debut, and there's no reason to think that Affirmation won't be similarly accepted. Sometimes a bit too goodhearted for its own good--the title track's wide-eyed sentiments might make even Stuart Smalley smirk--the disc's best moments are hard to dislike when taken on their own terms. --Rickey Wright

Album Description
Japanese version featuring a bonus CD of tracks recorded live in Brisbane, Australia.

Album Details
Japanese Version featuring a Bonus CD of Tracks Recorded Live in Brisbane, Australia.

Customer Reviews

New growth in the garden
I have enjoyed Savage Garden since I first received their self-titled CD by mistake a few years ago. It was one of those 'I forgot to send the card in on time' arrivals from a CD club -- the kind of mistake that often as not yields a good surprise. This time it did, and when I learned of a follow-up album released by Savage Garden, I determined that I would not await fate and actually purposefully purchase this one. I am not sorry I did.

I live more than an hour away from work and school, and thus am constantly in my car. I thus have a lot of time to spend listening to music. Savage Garden's Affirmation has become a regular in my rotation of CDs for driving. Their music is generally upbeat, pop-sounding without sinking to the worse aspects of pop music, with interesting and meaningful lyrics and a variety of tempos to keep the CD interesting for the long drive.

The first song, Affirmation, from which the album derives its name, is essentially a creed, a wonderfully undogmatic statement of what Daniel Jones and Darren Hayes believe. Okay, so it will not replace the Nicene Creed anytime soon, but I would much rather have the youth of today singing along to this kind of music than some of the recent things that have dominated the radio airwaves.

Darren Hayes sings lead and background vocals for most of the songs (ain't technology grand?), and Daniel Jones plays and engineers the keyboards, synthesizers, drum machines and other rhythm instruments. Being a macintosh user, I appreciate that they use macintosh for much of their programming, too.

Hayes and Jones concentrate on romantic and uplifting songs. These songs are meant to highlight societal situations (to make you think) or a strong emotion (to make you feel). Very much at home in mainstream pop music, their songs nonetheless stand out as beautiful, melodious, and lyrical. From their first 'hit' from this album, the emotive poetry, expressed by Hayes high-pitched yet soul-full voice, backed up by music that gently accompanies and guides without overpowering, one can sense a great love:

I knew I loved you before I met you
I think I dreamed you into life
I knew I loved you before I met you
I have been waiting all my life

A song such as Crash and Burn ends up being a very different song from what it sounds from the title. Whereas one would not be surprised at an urban-influenced song with this title highlighting the violence in society, this song is instead a fairly gentle, friend-in-need song:

Let me be the one you call
If you jump I'll break your fall
Lift you up and fly away with you into the night
If you need to fall apart
I can mend a broken heart
If you need to crash then crash and burn
You're not alone

This is an album of strong sentiments, of deep feeling that shines forth in every song.

This CD-Box set includes the album 'Affirmation' along with a collection of live performances from their concert tour (also available on DVD). It is interesting to compare the versions, as well as hear some other pieces along the way.

They are a very welcome import from down under (Australia) and I am sorry they are no longer producing albums.

A successful sophomore set!
On their second and most recent album,Savage Garden bring more hits like THE ANIMAL SONG,CRASH AND BURN and the adult contemporary I KNEW I LOVED YOU. HOLD ME has the sound of Hanson. It's as if Hanson recorded the song. TWO BEDS AND A COFFEE MACHINE is a touching story tune. The title track and GUNNING DOWN ROMANCE sound awesome. All the other songs are cool. After this album,Darren Hayes recorded a solo album,SPIN. It was released in the spring of 2002.

Even better than their debut!
After such a strong beginning in the US, it left many wondering if this amazing Australian duo could do it again. Not only have they met my expectations with this album, but have far surpassed it. Again writing their own music and lyrics, Savage Garden takes you on a wonderfully emotional trip for the hour of pleasure you receive with each listening! "Affirmation" starts out strong with the title track being first. An upbeat spout of opinions (such as "I believe the sun should never set upon an argument", "I believe I'm loved when I'm completely by myself alone," and "I believe your most attractive features are your heart and soul"), this song will have you happily singing along in no time because of its upbeat attitude. My favorite track off this disc is "I Knew I Loved You." A whimsical love ballad about knowing that there's someone out there for you and that you love them already, I don't think I'll ever get enough of this song. While the end of the album is slower, after a few listenings I came to appreciate it. "I Don't Know You Anymore" is a beautiful song, with emotionally raw lyrics and just light piano for music. "Two Beds and a Coffee Machine" is also somewhat like this song. With a piano and violin, Darren's vocals take us on the journey of one abused housewife who is financially bound to her abuser. However, the song ends with a positive line: "There's hope in the darkness, you know you're gonna make it." Another favorite of mine is "Crash and Burn," one of the radio singls. With rich vocals, addictive music, and an amazing message, it's definitely a song to listen to when you're not having such a great day. "You Can Still Be Free" is probably my least favorite on this album. The chorus seems to get old after a while, but the verses do make up for it. Other than that, I don't really have anything negative to say about this sophomore album. It's such a shame the Darren and Daniel went separate ways, as I would have loved to have heard a third endeavour!