Savage Garden - Savage Garden (CD 1997)

There are very few CD's that I can listen to all the way through without having to skip a song and this is one of those. I have probably listened to this CD over 500 times since I have owned it (yes if you take a look at the CD itself you can tell it's very worn - but still it doesn't skip yet). I'm sure soon I will need to go get a new copy because I will have played it too much.

The story of how I first heard of Savage Garden is on that I have added to another review but because it's so funny I'll briefly put it here also. I was at Wherehouse one day looking for something new to listen to. Even though I have a lot of CD's I was very bored of everything that I owned so I need a new CD to entertain me. I was walking around and on the counter there was an interesting CD called "I Want You" by Savage Garden. Now I had never heard of this band or this song but for $1.99 what can you lose. So I bought it and went home. I had bought other CD's and started listening to those but got bored as usual and remembered that I had this new thing to hear and put it in. From that second on I couldn't get enough from this band.

Even though I really love the second CD - Affirmation also (you can read the review I wrote about that at http://www.epinions.com/content_52210994820) this one remains my favorite by Savage Garden and now will forever since they have broken up.

This CD takes you through a wide range of emotions from start to finish, ranging from magical astronomical love to depressing anonymous love songs. This CD contains true human emotion that has to be heard to be understood. Like any great songs these can be interpreted in anyway by the listen.

To the Moon and Back

This song is the best way that they could have started this CD. This song will take you on a journey to the moon and back. This song is probably the most emotional song on this CD. I have found myself putting this song on repeat and just letting it play for hours. The music is haunting and emotional (even without the lyrics). The lyrics are so emotional including:

"She's taking her time making up the reasons,
To justify all the hurt inside,
Guess she knows from the smiles
and the look in their eyes
Everyone's got a theory about the bitter one"

These lyrics and more convey a deep wanting for love and acceptance in the world.

I Want You

As you read above this is the song that got me to start listening to Savage Garden. As the first single I'm sure that this song also got a lot of other people to pay attention to them.

This is not a traditional love song and is not a ballad. This song actually questions the want or need of another person. Unlike the title this is actually a more subtle song. This song is very fast paced and sometimes is hard to keep up with the lyrics that are almost frantic.

Truly Madly Deeply

This is another love song but it's not like most love songs in that it will truly make you think and dream of the person that you love. I know you'll say there are a lot of songs that make you do that but once you listen to this song you will see the true emotions that are expressed in this song.

This was released as a single and was always played for dedications (still is on many radio stations). This songs expresses the true dedication that two people can have for each other and while listening to it you can picture that these two people will be together forever.

The lyrics are real expressions of love:

"A new beginning
A reason for living
A deeper meaning"

This is just a very short example of that feeling. If you want a very good love song and a good ballad then this is a song that you should listen to and own.

Tears of Pearls

This song takes you in a very different direction and really speeds up the mood of this CD. This song is a very energetic song but still contains some very strong emotions.

This song has so many different emotions and feelings for me that it is hard to explain but the one that stands out the most for me is that we sometimes hide what we feel inside and end up hurting ourselves more than anything else. Even though we feel that we are protecting ourselves. When you listen to this song you will have your own interpretation of this as well but that's one reason that the song is so good.

Universe

This song is another ballad on the CD. But is very different from the others that are here. This is a more sensual song. This song expresses to me that we do need to discuss what we want in life and what we need in life. That our own Universes are determined by how open we are with others and ourselves even (and maybe more importantly about more personal matters). A great line in this song that conveys this is:

"Universe inside your heart
You gotta let me know
so you can be free baby"

This song is very moving. It is also a very good break from the more upbeat songs that are on this CD.

Carry on Dancing

This song has always been lyrically confusing for me. It's a more upbeat song. This song will lift your spirits a little after Universe and is a nice change is tempo also from the previous song. This song will carry you through some more emotions that are on this CD as it floats through the many emotions that are contained here. The music and lyrics fit very well together.

Violet

Violet is also a very different song. It starts with a knocking sound that makes you think of people arriving for a party that has already started as you hear people talking when the door opens and lets you into the atmosphere of this song. The song is almost like an invitation to meet people who are also getting to know this song. This is a very upbeat song.

Break Me Shake Me

This is the most aggressive song on this CD and is the anger release for the rest of the songs. This song is very fast and moving. This song will pull you into a world of a person who has been in your life and controlled it and then left when they couldn't get anything else from you (I'm sure we have all meet one of those people). The anger comes out in lines like:

"So break me, shake me, hate me, take me over
When the madness stops then you will be alone"

and shows that this is what happened when bad relationships come to an end.

The music is also very dramatic on this song and portrays the same anger that the lyrics convey.

A Thousand Words

A Thousand Words contains about the same emotions of Break Me Shake Me but in a much more subtle way (to me at least). This song is a lot slower than Break Me Shake Me but still is very emotional. In fact for a long time this song was my favorite on this CD because it contained a lot of the emotions that I was feeling and going through.

This song discusses what happens after the anger and hate have passed and you have moved on the seeing the truth of the relationship that has ended.

This song shows maturity in song writing and displays that they are a very talented band and are able to express a wide range of true emotions in their songs.

Promises

This is another song about lies within relationships that will end up destroying them in the end. This is a ballad but not as slow as Truly Madly Deeply or Universe. This song is also not a love song in anyway.

This song ads yet another range of emotions (anger and acceptance) and is another song that can pull you through the CD with emotion. This song will make you think about your past relationships and the reasons that they ended. Although the sounds bad, it's not because it helps to show you that they ended for a reason.

Santa Monica

This song ends the CD with another fantasy of the world. This is another ballad and shows Darren's voice in a very dramatic way. The song shows illusions that exist in the world and show that when you don't know a person they can and are anything you want them to be or anything that they want to show you. That it's not real it is a fantasy and how we sometimes make people into what we want and not really what they are.

Conclusion

Although they have now broken up and Darren has continued on a solo career you can get more information about them at www.savagegarden.com or if your interested in Darren's new CD you can take a look at www.darrenhayes.com

Even though there will be no more Savage Garden CD's this CD is worth owning and listening to in it's entirety. If you like "Affirmation" then you will truly love this CD also.