This Delicate Rate We've Made: The Darren Hayes / Savage Garden Rate - WINNER announced

What will win this rate?

  • Total voters
    14
  • Poll closed .
jtm

jtm

128.

































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When You Say You Love Me
B-side from ‘Spin’
Average: 6,04
Highest score: 1x7,5 (@jtm)
Lowest score: 1x3 (@marie_05)

This was another bonus track available through the official website. The song was covered by Australian band Human Nature for their album ‘Walk the Tightrope’, and by Clay Aiken for his album ‘Measure of a Man’. Darren also recorded a version of the song together with Human Nature for their greatest hits album "A Symphony of Hits".

@londonrain: ‘Darren’s version lacks the souped-up production of the Human Nature version, but it adds a gentleness and vulnerability that neither the Clay Aiken version nor the Human Nature version really has.’ (6.5)

@jtm: ‘Is there a recording of this that is not very low quality? This is a great song in theory I think, but it's a bit hard to rate it in this quality. Lyrics are amazing as usual.’ (7.5)

Darren’s version:



Human Nature version (music video):



Human Nature feat Darren Hayes version:



Clay Aiken version:



That’s it for today. We have now gotten rid of a big part of the optional songs. Starting tomorrow we’ll get right in the middle of the official part. I’ll try to do at least two eliminations per day during the week. Tomorrow, one beloved album will lose its first track.
 
jtm

jtm

127.










































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Boy
Bonus track from ‘The Tension and the Spark’
Average: 6,09
Highest score: 1x8,2 (@Untouchable Ace), 3x8 (@Remorque, @berserkboi, @rawkey)
Lowest score: 1x2 (@phoenix123)

Before we cut a song from this rate's apparent favorite album, we start off today with a slightly more obscure song, also from the mandatory part of the rate. This was a bonus track on the Australian, Japanese and British digital edition of the album.

I think it’s fair to say that this would probably not work on the album but makes for a nice companion piece to Tension. Let’s hear what Darren has to say about this:

Darren: "Once again, working with Marius De Vries, here I am for the first time abandoning song structure and just free associating. This was just a tiny piece of music that I heard Marius play.. and it reminded me of a conveyor belt of life. I imagined a tiny robot boy being built and the machines and computers telling him all the things I was told as a child. All the good and all the bad. All the cliches of what masculinity is supposed to be. The fascinating thing about this track to me is that there are three simultaneous dialogues going on and I recorded each one just once. When it played back the first time it was so crazy because we didn't know what we'd have. I love this piece.. I can't even call it a song.. it's incredibly courageous and a stroke of genius from Marius. It's disturbing and yet beautiful at the same time."

And now the jury:

@londonrain: ‘I want this to build towards something. There’s so much promise here.’ (6)

@berserkboi: ‘So strange yet so hypnotising!’ (8)

@Eric: ‘I just can't feel much about this (maybe if it gets a spotlight I could revaluate)’ (5.5) [Sorry, in the end I ran out of time over the holidays. Maybe Darren’s commentary above helps.]

@jtm: ‘I like the idea of the song but it's not quite the same quality as the main album’ (7)

Listen to ‘Boy’ here:

 
jtm

jtm

126.

































































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The Great Big Disconnect
Album track from ‘This Delicate Thing We’ve Made’
Average: 6,12
Highest score: 1x9 (@Robert)
Lowest score: 1x3,6 (@rawkey), 1x4 (@londonrain)

Say hello to your future, and goodbye to this album track. The first song from the main Delicate album to leave is not the unconventional bomb song, not a song about being a wasteland of poison, and not a terr(i)ble single but instead this unassuming acoustic ballad with slightly dated lyrics.

Let’s hear why you sent this one packing before all the other Delicate songs:

@londonrain: ‘This plodding acoustic number really doesn’t fit on this album at all. It should have been an unexpected little B-side instead of being a rather jarring closer to the first disc.’ (4)

@berserkboi: ‘Ditto!’ [this follows the comment 'Cute next to gorgeous in this discography' for Bombs Up In My Face] (7)

@rawkey: ‘Keeping my love far away from this one!’ (3.6)

@Sprockrooster: ‘Here is a great big disconnect: AIDS in the entire of Africa? Muffy sis, the stereotyping.’ (7)

@Eric: ‘This song could be cut to make a more concise album.’ (5.5)

@jtm: ‘Part 2 of 'Spin' - I really like this song, even if it's probably not an album highlight’ (7)

Listen here:

 
londonrain

londonrain

Staff member
You got phones with 3D eyes
And you're lonely but you don't know why
Somebody just killed a man and I forgot to moisturize

You got AIDS in Africa
You got Paris in a new sports bra
You got therapists to justify your behaviour

really is quite an irritating set of lyrics. As with I Bet He Was Cool, I do wonder what the hell Darren was getting at. The song comes across as a rather generic “isn’t everyone so isolated nowadays?” rant that isn’t executed particularly well.
 
Sprockrooster

Sprockrooster

londonrain said:
You got phones with 3D eyes
And you're lonely but you don't know why
Somebody just killed a man and I forgot to moisturize

You got AIDS in Africa
You got Paris in a new sports bra
You got therapists to justify your behaviour

really is quite an irritating set of lyrics. As with I Bet He Was Cool, I do wonder what the hell Darren was getting at. The song comes across as a rather generic “isn’t everyone so isolated nowadays?” rant that isn’t executed particularly well.
Click to expand...
Maybe that it is why the song is called the great big disconnect I just realized. Maybe he agrees with us as it is about other people thinking/saying those things. I do feel like reaching with that
 
Ezz

Ezz

Yeah, I think the earnest tracks can sometimes be a bit much. 'The Great Big Disconnect ' sounds off key to me too - maybe deliberately so? Or maybe as other esteemed reviewers have pointed out, it just doesn't fit on the album..
 
marie_05

marie_05

jtm said:
100% agree, but that line always rang true for me in its crass depiction of ‚yeah, that‘s my biggest problem‘.

And boy do I hate it when I forget to moisturize.
Click to expand...

That line is very “I couldn’t live without my phone, but you don’t even have a home”, isn’t it?

Tension and Delicate may be great albums, but these songs aren’t exactly highlights, so I can’t be too upset.
 
jtm

jtm

125.






















































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Timebomb
Demo track from ‘The Tension and the Spark’ era
Average: 6,13
Highest score: 1x9 (@jtm)
Lowest score: 1x3 (@rawkey)

Let’s start off today with a more obscure song that most people probably heard for the first time during this rate. Timebomb is an unreleased track from 2003, supposedly also written for Kylie herself. Her own Timebomb is pretty great too to be honest, so I think everyone is happy with this staying a Darren only song.

This is the first of our four demo / unreleased / other section. Let’s see if they last a bit longer than We Are Smug.

Let’s hear from you:

@londonrain: ‘There’s a really good song in here - the production just needs a bit of spit and polish.’ (7)

@berserkboi: ‘Not the strongest of closers on the list but still good!’ (8.2)

@rawkey: ‘Meh.’ (3)

@Sprockrooster: ‘Kylie did it better.’ (7)

@Eric: ‘Quite reminiscent of "Heart Attack".’ (6.5)

@jtm: ‘I didn't even know this song and found it on Darren's Soundcloud when I was looking for other songs for this rate. But I love it, a great discovery!’ (9)

This is only available on Soundcloud:



Next: Two albums lose one song each.
 
jtm

jtm

124.
















































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Mine
Album track from ‘Savage Garden’
Average: 6,15
Highest score: 1x9,5 (@berserkboi)
Lowest score: 1x2,5 (@funkyg)

We lose another track from the ‘Savage Garden’ album, and it’s one of the songs only found on the Australian version again.

‘Mine’ was deleted from the international version of the album over the line ‘crosses and crucifixes’. Wikipedia says: ‘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.’

The song feels quite a bit like later Darren solo songs now that I listened to it again for the reveals. Thematically it probably also wouldn’t feel out of place on Secret Codes. But let’s see what our commentators said:

@londonrain: ‘Feels very much like the B-side it is.’ (6)

@berserkboi: ‘Promising Roxette-ish instrumental, the lyrics create a beautiful mood!’ (9.5)

@rawkey: ‘I can understand why this was removed from the album in some territories, it's pretty dull.’ (4)

@jtm: ‘For some reason I don't think I had heard this song until this rate.. The track list of the debut album is an endless source of confusion and that may be why. It's pretty good though.’ (7)

@Eric: ‘The first Savage Garden song I’d kind of forgotten about (or was it not on the UK edition). I like it, and it’s another one tapping into the universe / otherworldly lyrical content of the first album.’ (7)

Listen to it here:

 
jtm

jtm

123.


























































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Bombs Up In My Face
Album track from ‘This Delicate Thing We’ve Made’
Average: 6,17
Highest score: 1x10 (@phoenix123)
Lowest score: 1x3 (@CorgiCorgiCorgi)

Now this should not come as a big surprise. I think this was always expected to be a controversial song and therefore to leave pretty soon. It managed to survive for the first part of the rate, but now its time has finally come. During the rate, ‘Bombs Up In My Face’ was always in the lower half of the scoreboard, once even dropping into last place for a few days.

The fact that it leaves with a respectable score is also thanks to a number of high scores, among them a 10 from Corgi.

I’m not the only one to have noticed the We Are Smug parallels:

@londonrain: ‘This escaped from the We Are Smug album, didn’t it?’ (4)

@berserkboi: ‘Cute next to gorgeous in this discography’ (7)

@rawkey: ‘This has its moments, but overall is a mess.’ (3.8)

@Sprockrooster: ‘This would have suited well on We Are Smug. And that is not a compliment.’ (6)

@Eric: ‘I guess this one will be polarizing but I like its quirkiness.’ (8)

@jtm: ‘I appreciate what he wanted to do here but songs like this (which would fit perfectly on We Are Smug) make the album really incohesive. The song itself is not bad, but certainly not what I'm looking for from him. Would have been a good experimental b-side.’ (5.5)

Listen here:



Tomorrow we say goodbye to another single.
 
londonrain

londonrain

Staff member
There's something on the telly 'bout North Korea
Some war broke out; don't trust the media
I'd like to get a suntan
Some dude was shot in Pakistan

The track's got noddage
Moves my boddage
The track's got noddage
The track's got noddage

giphy.gif
 
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