Savage Garden (Savage Garden album)

Background

The band had formed in June 1994, and included multi-instrumentalist and producer, Daniel Jones and vocalist, Darren Hayes. In 1995, they entered the studio to work on their debut album with producer, Charles Fisher (Air Supply, Moving Pictures, 1927). In March 1997, the duo's self-titled debut album, Savage Garden, entered the Australian charts at No. 1 and peaked there for a total of 19 weeks. The album was released internationally two weeks later. The album reached No. 3 on the US Billboard 200 and was certified gold by RIAA.

In September, Savage Garden won a record ten ARIA Awards from 13 nominations for the album and associated singles. As of 2005, Savage Garden had been certified diamond in Canada, 12× platinum in Australia, 7× platinum in the US, 2× platinum in New Zealand, Singapore, and in the UK.

The album's track listing varies depending on territory. The original Australian version of the album includes the tracks "Mine" and "All Around Me", which were removed from the international track listing. "Mine" was removed due to concerns held by the record company over the line "crosses and crucifixes", and "All Around Me" was removed for being overtly sexual. The international version adds the track "Promises", as in international markets, it was only originally released on the cassette format of "I Want You", whereas in Australia, it was already available on CD as the B-side to "Truly Madly Deeply". Also, the version of "Truly Madly Deeply" on the international version has a new drum track, compared to the original Australian version, which has drum machine. Thus, this became the hit single version released outside Australia. The track order was also changed to give prominence to the three hit singles, which open the album. The Japanese version of the album uses the international track listing, however, includes "Mine" as a bonus track between "Promises" and "Santa Monica". In support of the group's Asian tour in 1998, a special double-album package was released in the region. The first disc features the international version of the album, and the second disc includes B-sides, remixes and rare tracks. Darren Hayes has noted that the international track listing was not what the band wanted (particularly because Mine was one of his favorite tracks, and because the band had laboured over the track order), but the US record label insisted.

An arrangement of "A Thousand Words" was later used as introductory music in Microsoft's Windows XP.

Singles

Accolades

This album fetched the duo a record of 10 awards at the ARIA Awards 1997, grabbing Best Album, Best Single, Best Group, Song of the Year, Best Debut Album, Best Independent Release, Best Pop Release and Highest Selling Single award—the most awards ever won by a single act in one year. The following year at the ARIA Awards 1998, the album won two more awards—Highest Selling Album award and Outstanding Achievement Award. In October 2010, Savage Garden was listed in the top 40 in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums.

Track listing

All tracks written by Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones.

B-sides

1. "Promises" – B-side to "I Want You" and "Truly Madly Deeply", included on the international version of the album
2. "Mine" (later subtitled as "Mine (And You Could Be)") – B-side to "I Want You", included on the album in Australia, and the bonus remix disc in Asia
3. "All Around Me" – B-side to "To the Moon and Back", included on the album in Australia, and the bonus remix disc in Asia
4. "Fire Inside the Man" – B-side to "I Want You"
5. "Memories Are Designed to Fade" – B-side to "To the Moon and Back"
6. "This Side of Me" – B-side to "Truly Madly Deeply" and "Universe"
7. "Love Can Move You" – B-side to "Truly Madly Deeply", "Universe" and "Tears of Pearls", included on the bonus remix disc in Asia
8. "I'll Bet He Was Cool" – B-side to "Truly Madly Deeply" and "Break Me Shake Me", included on the bonus remix disc in Asia

Personnel