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

What will win this rate?

  • Total voters
    14
  • Poll closed .
Sprockrooster

Sprockrooster

Puts on the Selena song instead.

Ocean deserved a bit more.

If it is an uneventful day in term of losses I am sure we do not lose an album today ddd.
 
rawkey

rawkey

'Never Be The Same Again' making top 100 would be pretty controversial at this stage. The correct best two tracks on We are Smug were collectively identified though - so well done everyone!

The next few eliminations will surely include my 1.5 pointer? With it making it this far I probably should give it another spin to see if I really got it so wrong.
 
jtm

jtm

Sprockrooster said:
If it is an uneventful day in term of losses I am sure we do not lose an album today ddd.
Click to expand...

Maybe?
Maybe?
But not with this one here.

108.



















































































































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The Sweetest Lullaby
Bonus track from ‘Secret Codes and Battleships’
Average: 6,535
Highest score: 1x9,5 (@jtm)
Lowest score: 2x4 (@funkyg, @Eric)

This song leaving means that ‘Affirmation’ now remains as the only era to yet lose a track in this rate, though both ‘Secret Codes and Battleships’ and ‘The Tension and the Spark’ have yet to lose a song from the main album as well.

‘The Sweetest Lullaby’ was released on the collector’s edition of the album. In case of confusion: ‘Secret Codes’ was released as a 1CD version with the main album, a deluxe version with two discs, and a ‘Collector’s Edition’ sold exclusively through Darren’s store which contained a bunch of additional demos (some album tracks but also this song here and ‘Wrecking Ball’) and some live songs (and a booklet and a vinyl). So apart from ‘I Need You’, which was a vinyl single exclusive, this and ‘Wrecking Ball’ are probably the rarest tracks from that era. ‘The Sweetest Lullaby’ has since been included in the rather random digital ‘Wrecking Ball’ single.

Let’s see what you think of it:

@londonrain: ‘Darren sing a song that’s expressly about a man challenge.’ (6.5)

@berserkboi: ‘Takes me back to the latter days of Savage Garden!’ (8.9)

@Sprockrooster: ‘This is quite lovely.’ (9)

@Eric: ‘Oh no. Too schmaltzy.’ (4)

@jtm: ‘An inconspicuous ballad that turns out to be one of his best and one of this era's songs I go back to the most’ (9.5)

Listen here:

 
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Sprockrooster

Sprockrooster

rawkey said:
'Never Be The Same Again' making top 100 would be pretty controversial at this stage. The correct best two tracks on We are Smug were collectively identified though - so well done everyone!

The next few eliminations will surely include my 1.5 pointer? With it making it this far I probably should give it another spin to see if I really got it so wrong.
Click to expand...
I honestly do not remember how Never Be The Same Again. I am humming to the Mel C/Lisa Left-Eye Lopes instead.

I only discovered Hot Tub Blues again. However my play count of that track is:
Zero.

And that is at a time I am constantly reminded this album exists on a daily basis due to this rate.
 
jtm

jtm

107.























































































































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Zero
B-side from ‘The Tension and the Spark’
Average: 6,54
Highest score: 1x9,1 (@Untouchable Ace)
Lowest score: 1x3 (@phoenix123)

With this final elimination for today we lose one of only three b-sides from the ‘Tension’ era (not counting ‘Strange Magic’). This was on the physical single of "Pop!ular" and while I do have that single I can’t really remember ever playing it before I came across it online years ago.

Darren once wrote about this song on his MySpace page and I think he also mentions it in the ‘Too Close For Comfort’ documentary. Sadly, I was not able find what exactly it was he wrote and I don’t want to misquote, therefore I let the song speak for itself if you will.

Mildly interesting fun fact: This song received a score of 7 from 7 different people, among them all of our commentators:

@londonrain: ‘It upsets me that the link for this cuts off the song at the end... and NOBODY MENTIONS IT IN THE YOUTUBE COMMENTS.’ (7)

@berserkboi: ‘Very nice while it lasts!’ (7)

@Eric: ‘Feels like a leftover from the Spin era.’ (7)

@jtm: ‘This is better than I remembered, and I probably didn't listen to it too many times before this rate’ (7)

Listen here:



This is it for today. Tomorrow I’ll continue with another two eliminations. We’ll reach the top 100 very soon but before that we will lose another single very early next week.
 
jtm

jtm

londonrain said:
Dddd @jtm the commentary I submitted didn’t need its grammar corrected. It was “Darren sing a song that’s expressly about a man challenge” as in:

Darren, “sing a song that’s expressly about a man” challenge. Do that challenge.
Click to expand...

Oh, I didn't do this on purpose. I don't proofread / correct the comments unless it's something that very obviously misses a letter (but not like this - I think I only did it once so far). I explicitly didn't want to do it for this comment because I didn't understand it but thought that was just me. Your PM to me has it correct (and it makes sense that way), my Excel sheet too but in my Word document where I copied it to at some point it's changed. I'll correct it in the post immediately. Sorry!
 
jtm

jtm

106.













































































































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Memories Are Designed To Fade
B-side from ‘Savage Garden’ era
Average: 6,56
Highest score: 2x9 (@Sprockrooster, @CorgiCorgiCorgi)
Lowest score: 1x2 (@rawkey)

Two eliminations today. We start off with another b-side from the Savage Garden debut album. ‘Memories Are Designed To Fade’ was a b-side to ‘To The Moon & Back’.

This means that 'Savage Garden' now only has one b-side left in this rate - actually 'Promises' which isn't even a real b-side.

Like @rawkey correctly states, this is pretty obscure, having been omitted from the best of. It also sounds more demo-ish than the other Savage Garden b-sides. Not too big of a loss I guess:

@londonrain: ‘This feels like it escaped from a PJ Retro round. I low-key stan.’ (7)

@rawkey: ‘The only b-side to be left off Truly Madly Completely? I can see why.’ (2)

@Eric: ‘Dark moody and almost a bit clubby…’ (8)

@jtm: ‘It's not bad, but it's clearly only b-side material’ (4)

Listen here:

 
jtm

jtm

105.










































































































































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Slow Down
B-side from ‘This Delicate Thing We’ve Made’
Average: 6,59
Highest score: 1x8 (@Eric)
Lowest score: 3x6 (@londonrain, @CorgiCorgiCorgi, @Sprockrooster)

We close an uneventful day – and uneventful weekend – with another b-side from Delicate. ‘Slow Down’ was the b-side to the physical ‘Me, Myself and I’ single.

This leaves two b-sides from Delicate, ‘Fallen Angel’ and ‘Let’s Go’ in the run.

When I look at the remaining songs in general and at the upcoming eliminations it’s clear that the more obscure songs and most of the optional stuff has now left. I was actually dreading yesterday and today because it was one last short patch of boring cuts. Luckily, that’s now behind us. I’ll post a quick overview when we get to the top 100 proper.

But let’s hear your verdict on ‘Slow Down’ first:

@londonrain: ‘The production needs a bit of oomph but the vocals are flawless.’ (6)

@rawkey: ‘Better than some songs that made the main album!’ (6.6)

@Eric: ‘Definitely one I'll return to, and any song with a night bus reference is a winner!’ (8)

@jtm: ‘Had this on heavy rotation for a while, don't quite know why now. But it's a good b-side.’ (7)

Listen here:

 
jtm

jtm

104.























































































































































































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I Can't Ever Get Enough Of You
Album track from ‘Spin’
Average: 6,61
Highest score: 1x10 (@phoenix123)
Lowest score: 1x4 (@Robert)

We are back to the main part of the rate and the next song to go is another album track from ‘Spin’. The album has already lost ‘Good Enough’ but is so far in a much better shape than ‘Savage Garden’ which has said goodbye to four songs.

'I Can't Ever..' gets a bit of flak in the comments about being too cheesy, but I think it’s another example of Darren’s great way with words to describe the simplest of things:
Now my world is filled with so many things But nothing compares to the touch of your skin There's a symphony And a melody that plays whenever you're around I think I've been found
Click to expand...

The song gets a mention in the 'Too Close For Comfort' documentary when Darren comments on a bunch of bootleg records for sale on I think his own merch stand at a concert and it has the song title listed as 'I Can Ever Get Enough of You'.

Since there's not much more to tell about the song, how about an absurd promo interview from Finnish TV including a kangaroo:



And here’s what you think:

@londonrain: ‘Muffy, sis... the schmaltz.’ (5.5)

@berserkboi: ‘Very cute moments!’ (7)

@rawkey: ‘Proving he still knows how to do a drippy love ballad. Pleasant enough with some nice guitar work.’ (6.8)

@Eric: ‘Feels like a bit of album filler but the chorus is sweet’ (6)

@jtm: ‘Again, like the song but it's way too long. This easily could have been a 9/10. I also love the vocals in the verses, but not so much in the chorus.’ (7)

Listen here:

 
jtm

jtm

103.




























































































































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Universe
Fifth single from ‘Savage Garden’
Average: 6,67
Highest score: 3x9 (@berserkboi, @marie_05, @Eric)
Lowest score: 1x3,5 (@phoenix123)

If it’s any consolation, @phoenix123, you went from losing a 10 to becoming the lowest scorer.

This is of course yet another ‘Savage Garden’ elimination and there seems to be a certain bias toward the second album which has not lost a single track so far.

‘Universe’ was released as the fifth single in Australia to bridge them over until the rest of the world caught up to the first bunch of singles. This even got a music video and charted in the top 30.

Back when ‘The Singles’ was released, Darren and Daniel (here! I mentioned him!!) did a bunch of commentary videos on, well, the singles. Unfortunately I only found those on Facebook and not on YouTube, so here’s that link:



I’ve also added the comment video to the Santa Monica reveal.

Here’s what our commentators think:

@Remorque: ‘This is a song I actually forgot about, but it's a soulful ballad that had to grow on me, I suppose, because I cannot remember me listening to this one more than a handful of times...’ (7.25)

@londonrain: ‘She’s a cute girl.’ (5)

@berserkboi: ‘This has some impressive harmonies and vocals but isn’t quite a 10 yet, maybe over time’ (9)

@jtm: ‘I started to like this much better after I'd seen the video’ (6)

@Eric: ‘Gorgeous and vulnerable’ (9)

Music video:

 
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