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AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Albums:

Affirmation

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  • Artist: Savage Garden
  • Rating: StarStarHalf Star
  • Release Date: November 09, 1999
  • Total Time: 53:42
  • Type: Lyrics are included with the album
  • Genre: Rock

Review

Savage Garden managed to slip underneath everyone's radar and go multi-platinum with their 1997 debut. The Australian duo wasn't hip enough to warrant coverage in the music press, even after they had a series of hit singles, largely because they traded in the least-respected rock genre: soft rock. Like any soft-rock group, they were a product of their times. In the early '80s, that meant adding some lite-country influences to the melodic pop base. In the late '90s, it meant adding mild dance-club beats, even on the ballads. Roxette sort of pioneered this in the late '80s, and Savage Garden really picked up the torch for this dance-inflected soft rock, whether they want to admit it or not. Unfortunately, that also means that they, like Roxette, are primarily a singles act, capable of crafting a handful of good tunes on each album, along with a bunch of pleasant filler. That was the case with the multiplatinum Savage Garden, as it is with this sequel, Affirmation. Since Savage Garden was such a success on adult-contemporary radio, it's not a surprise that Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones have decided to lean a little heavier on the ballads this time around, to the extent that even uptempo tracks like "Affirmation" and "Hold Me," or midtempo numbers like "The Lover After Me" feel like ballads. On the whole, this isn't a bad thing, since it gives the album some coherence. (Also, "Chained to You," the hardest dance song here, feels a little forced.) Plus, Savage Garden has a knack for delivering this professional, well-crafted melodic pop -- if some songs aren't as memorable as others, that's just the way the game of mainstream pop is played. There aren't any bad pieces on Affirmation (well, with the exception of the lyrically tortured "The Animal Song"), just some that aren't quite as hooky or memorable as "I Knew I Loved You" or the title track, or for those fans who like SG's piano ballads, "I Don't Know You Anymore." Like the debut, Affirmation is hardly earth-shattering, but it's well-done mainstream adult pop whose best moments are ideal for radio play. Those moments may be better heard on a greatest-hits collection someday, but this album is fine on its own terms; it is so well-constructed that the filler goes down easily. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

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Affirmation (Savage Garden album)

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Affirmation
Studio album by Savage Garden
Released 9 November 1999
Recorded April–July 1999
Genre Pop, R&B, alternative rock
Length 53:42 (International edition)
63:37 (Australian edition)
Label Columbia
Producer Walter Afanasieff, Darren Hayes, Daniel Jones
Savage Garden chronology
Savage Garden
(1997)		 Affirmation
(1999)		 Truly Madly Completely: The Best of Savage Garden
(2005)
Original Australian cover
Singles from Affirmation
  1. "The Animal Song"
    Released: 23 February 1999 (AUS)
    25 March 1999 (US)
    29 June 1999 (UK)
  2. "I Knew I Loved You"
    Released: 20 September 1999 (AUS)
    1 November 1999 (UK)
    4 January 2000 (US)
  3. "Crash and Burn"
    Released: 20 March 2000 (UK)
    15 May 2000 (AUS)
  4. "Affirmation"
    Released: 15 June 2000 (AUS)
    17 July 2000 (UK)
    23 September 2000 (US)
  5. "Chained to You"
    Released: 26 September 2000 (EUR)
    2 October 2000 (AUS)
  6. "Hold Me"
    Released: 13 November 2000 (UK)
    15 January 2001 (AUS)
  7. "The Best Thing"
    Released: 16 March 2001 (EUR)
    19 March 2001 (UK)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 3/5 stars[1]
Sputnikmusic 4/5 stars[2]
Rolling Stone 3/5 stars[3]

Affirmation is the second and final studio album by Australian pop duo Savage Garden. The album was released on 9 November 1999.

Contents

Background

The band recording their second studio album after they recorded "The Animal Song" for the soundtrack to the film The Other Sister. The majority of the album was written by Hayes in New York in September 1999, with the remainder being written just prior to that in Australia. Preceded by the second single "I Knew I Loved You", the album was released on 9 November 1999 to worldwide success. The album spawned a further five singles, one of which was exclusive to the Australian market ("Chained to You"), and one of which was exclusive to the British market ("The Best Thing").

Following the success of the Superstars and Cannonballs video album, the album was reissued in November 2000, containing a bonus live album, Declaration, featuring recordings from the concert at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on 21 May 2000. Including sales of the re-issue, the album has sold more than 13 million copies worldwide, being certified platinum in a number of countries. It became the band's last studio album after they decided to split in 2001.

Similarly to Savage Garden, the album's track listing varied internationally. The Australian version of the album features a bonus remix of "The Animal Song", a CD-ROM featuring video footage and bonus material, and the uncut version of "Gunning Down Romance". The International version removes the remix, CD-ROM and features a cut version of "Gunning Down Romance", due to a manufacturing error where six seconds of music are cut between 4:36 and 4:42, causing the music to stop abruptly.

Track listing

Standard Edition
No. Title Length
1. "Affirmation"   4:56
2. "Hold Me"   4:50
3. "I Knew I Loved You"   4:10
4. "The Best Thing"   4:19
5. "Crash and Burn"   4:41
6. "Chained to You"   4:08
7. "The Animal Song"   4:39
8. "The Lover After Me"   4:50
9. "Two Beds and a Coffee Machine"   3:27
10. "You Can Still Be Free"   4:18
11. "Gunning Down Romance"   5:34
12. "I Don't Know You Anymore"   3:50

Personnel

  • Darren Hayes: all vocals
  • Daniel Jones: keyboards, synthesizers, drum and rhythm programming, additional guitars
  • Walter Afanasieff: keyboards, synthsizers, drum and rhythm programming, acoustic piano on track 9
  • Greg Bieck: keyboards and programming
  • Michael Landau: electric guitars, lead baritone guitar on track 6
  • Dean Parks: acoustic guitars
  • Nathan East: bass
  • Steve Smith: drums
  • Strings arranged and conducted by Jeremy Lubbock; contractor: Jules Chaikin

Production

  • Arranged and produced by Savage Garden and Walter Afanasieff
  • Recorded and engineered by Jay Healy (vocals), Kent Matcke (basic tracking), David Frazer (guitars, strings on track 9), David Reitzas (guitars) and David Gleeson (drums, Fairlight, vocals and piano)
  • Assistant engineers: Brian Vibberts, Pete Krawiec, Tony Rambo, Dave Ashton, Ethan Schofer, Dave Ashton, Luis Quine, Mark Gregory, Ryan Hewitt
  • Mixed by Dave Way (tracks 1–6 and 8–12) and Chris Lord-Alge (track 7)
  • Mastered by Vlado Meller

Affirmation World Tour

The band and crew for the Affirmation World Tour are:

Band

Crew

  • Peter McFee (tour manager)
  • Susie Steadman (assistant tour manager)
  • Leonie Messer (PA to Darren Hayes)
  • Colin Skals (stage manager)
  • Colin Ellis (front of house engineer)
  • Bruce Ramus (lighting director)
  • Scott Pike (monitor engineer)
  • Lindsay McKay (guitar technician)
  • Adrian Dessent (guitar technician)
  • Simon Moran (drum technician)
  • Sean "Motley" Hackett (lighting operator)
  • Nina De Palma (wardrobe stylist)

Chart positions

Year Chart Position
1999 Australian ARIA Albums Chart 1
Year Chart Position
1999 US Billboard 200 6
Preceded by
Imaginate by Taxiride		 Australian ARIA Albums Chart number-one album
1 November – 21 November 1999
6 December – 12 December 1999
15 May – 21 May 2000
10 July – 16 July 2000		 Succeeded by
Issues by KoЯn

References

  1. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Affirmation (Savage Garden album) at Allmusic. Retrieved 2011-06-27.
  2. ^ "Savage Garden - Affirmation (album review)". Sputnikmusic. http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/7727/Savage-Garden-Affirmation/. Retrieved 2011-11-03. 
  3. ^ "Rolling Stone Music | Album Reviews". Rollingstone.com. 25 October 2011. http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/_/id/284271/savagegarden?pageid=rs.Artistcage&pageregion=triple1. Retrieved 2011-11-03. 
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