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This Delicate Thing We've Made

Darren Hayes - This Delicate Thing We've Made Audio CD

A fair review of the Darren Hayes "This Delicate Thing We've Made" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Darren Hayes reviews here, or go back to the Darren Hayes tabs.

Band: Darren Hayes
Title: This Delicate Thing We've Made
Rating:

Release Date: 2007-08-27
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Fear of Falling Under 2: Who Would Have Thought 3: Waking the Monster 4: How to Build a Time Machine 5: Casey 6: Step into the Light 7: Sing to Me 8: Conversation with God 9: Sun Is Always Blinding Me 10: Listen All You People 11: Only One 12: Bombs Up in My Face 13: Great Big Disconnect 14: Future Holds a Lion's Heart 15: On the Verge of Something Wonderful 16: Neverland 17: Walk Away 18: Maybe 19: Me, Myself And (I) 20: Lucky Town 21: I Just Want You to Love Me 22: Setting Sun 23: Hundred Challenging Things a Boy Can Do 24: Words 25: Tuning of Violins

"This Delicate Thing" packs a powerful punch!
With hits such as "Truly, Madly, Deeply" and "I Want You", (otherwise known as "the chica-cherry cola song"), Savage Garden was a musical staple at many a wedding in the 90's. You might remember Darren Stanley Hayes as the former frontman for the Australian pop group, Savage Garden. Shortly after they reached their peak, Savage Garden broke up and Hayes decided to continue his music-making with a solo career. He released "Spin" in 2002 and the lesser-known, (in the United States), album "The Tension and the Spark" in 2004 before taking a brief hiatus. Finally in 2007, after a lot of hard work, dedication and his own funding (!), he released his delightful two-cd opus, "This Delicate Thing We've Made". With his Fairlight synthesizer and a time-traveling theme, Hayes explores some of the themes that mean the most to him from his past, present and future. These include everything from using a time machine to amend what he felt he did wrong in the past, to re-living nostalgic memories in a yellow car, to informing you on how he's here to listen to your problems if you're an outcast and feel like you have no one to turn to. This is believable for the fact that Hayes has received heaps of praise for his devoted, personal connection to his fans, from taking the time out to communicate individually with people on Myspace to touring the world, stopping at small Border's stores along the way to meet and greet some of the fans who love him so much. While he may not have the time to respond to everyone, many of his fans feel they have a deeper connection to Hayes than they can have to other celebrities. Hayes has a light, enjoyable personality and a meticulous attention to detail. That is, in part, what makes "Delicate Thing" so enjoyable. In knowing a little bit about Hayes, one can take the time to appreciate that he has put his heart and soul into this collection for himself as well as his fans. Also, Hayes has a tendency to change direction in the middle of a song which makes for delectable surprise. So you'll start off the song thinking everything is happy now that he's found his love, only to realize at the end of the song that it was all a mirage and he's still just as alone.
Hayes never disappoints on any of the tracks in this collection, which is quite a feat since all 25 tracks are brand new material. Below is a dissection of each track in this great work and why you should seriously consider picking up a copy today:

Disc 1:

Track 1: A Fear Of Falling Under--a great opening track. Here, Darren gives you a good feel for the Fairlight synthesizer he will be using and touches the tip of the iceberg in his lyrics about just what he will be bringing you in this album. . . and hopes it doesn't take him down with it by bringing it all to the surface.

Track 2: Who Would Have Thought?--Darren's voice really shines on this track about finding the love that can save you from the darkness.

Track 3: Waking The Monster--a fun track that starts out with a debut from Darren's dog, Wally, this song is about a mad scientist who is building something in his lab. Darren doesn't know what it is but the curiosity is killing him.

Track 4: How To Build A Time Machine--this is a very personal and touching song that cites some events that Darren would like to use his time machine to go back in time and fix.

Track 5: Casey--a song loosely based on Darren's sister, Tracy, and the yellow car he would ride in with her that would ease his troubles away. As long as he was beside her with a good song on the radio, he'd be okay in the end.

Track 6: Step Into The Light--a fantastic blend of electronica pulses behind Darren's confessions that he has given up on everything just to earn the love of someone who betrays him.

Track 7: Sing To Me--this is a love song where Darren tells his love that everything will be fine if he could just hear them sing to him.

Track 8: A Conversation With God--a defeatist attitude haunts Darren in this song. He is driving and arguing with God when he finally lets go of the wheel and trusts his fate to God's hands. This could possibly be interpreted as Darren's early frustration about being gay and feeling like he had no control over his own destiny.

Track 9: The Sun Is Always Blinding Me--in this track, Darren is possibly telling us that everything in life has a silver lining basically, that no matter what, the sun is shining on you and everything will be okay.

Track 10: Listen All You People--this is the track where Darren picks out the groups of people who feel like outcasts in society and lets them know from the "unhappy wives" to the "pregnant brides" that he's "got time for you". He'll hear you out when no one else will because he's one of you, too!

Track 11: The Only One--presumably for his husband, Richard Cullen, this is sweet love song from Darren to his beloved.

Track 12: Bombs Up In My Face--this is one of Darren's classic tracks where he mocks the current state of society and how "you can carry a gun, but you'd better not fall in love with someone".

Track 13: The Great Big Disconnect--another of Darren's societal satires where he points out that we're too obsessed with things like technology and moisturizer and are becoming less and less concerned with expressing love for others.

Disc 2:

Track 1: The Future Holds A Lion's Heart--a powerfully energetic track which re-inforces the theme of time travel.

Track 2: On The Verge Of Something Wonderful--an uplifting, body-moving track where Darren lets you know that no matter how bad times are, we're always on the verge of something wonderful happening, so don't give up hope!

Track 3: Neverland--another touching, personal track where Darren illustrates what it was like to live as a child with his alcoholic, abusive father.

Track 4: Walk Away--here Darren is telling us that we don't always have to be so strong in the face of terrible times--sometimes we can just walk away and stop the fight.

Track 5: Maybe--this is a song about someone who is missing--we're not sure where they went, possibly home?

Track 6: Me Myself And (I)--you get the feeling in this song that Darren is so happy, he's about to burst, despite still needing some fixing that only having a time machine can satisfy. The beat is strong and Darren tells his love just how happy he is to be with them and how he's willing to sing until he drops.

Track 7: Lucky Town--this is a second chance type of track, where Darren is explaining how he'll right all of the wrongs to get his lover back in his life.

Track 8: I Just Want You To Love Me--in this song, Darren doesn't want the drama that comes along with love sometimes, he just wants to love and be loved in return.

Track 9: Setting Sun--Darren is expressing here how he's sick of hearing himself delve into the past and he needs to find a way out of his despair and back to some state of normalcy.

Track 10: A Hundred Challenging Things A Boy Can Do--presumably a song about Darren's parents and his coping with their ways that he is understanding now that he's older. He's coping with his past and how the present has wiped away some of his memory of what used to be.

Track 11: Words--a beautiful love song about Darren trying to be extremely careful not to ruin this beautiful love that he is falling into and wants the person to reciprocate.

Track 12: The Tuning Of Violins--a cute song and a nice choice to complete the album. Darren is telling most likely Richard that he can't wait to get home to him from being on tour and to spend the time with him that he enjoys so much.

Better then the last two
The problem for Darren I think is that everyone compaires him to his Savage Garden days. I love Darren Hayes, and I enjoy this album much more then his last two solo ventures. And he kind of needs to respect that, seeing that all of us that were in jr high, high school during that time, are now reviewing his art.

I have to say that Darren has one of the BEST male voices I have ever heard! His range is amazing and that is one of the reasons I rated this album so high. Unfortunately, I DO miss the edgeyness that SG songs like, I WANT YOU, TEARS OF PEARLS, and CHAINED TO YOU gave him.

Yes, there are good songs on this album, ("Setting Sun", The Tunning of Violins", "Walk Away") but many times I felt like I wanted the current song to finish so I could see what the next one was like. There were also times when the melody was perfect but I felt the lyrics were not right and vice versa.

A disc like this make me appreciate the importance of song order on an album.

This IS the best cd i've bought in at least 5 years
I was dead wrong!! I wish this was what he released back in 2002 instead of Spin because this set has at least 10 GREAT songs on it. I bought this double album thinking it was going to be like Darren's other 2 cds which aren't bad. No joke. I've listened to this cd at least twice a week since I bought it.

For those wondering if they should buy it, its a no brainer. You won't be disappointed!!!

Darren if you're reading this, thank you so much for all the effort you put into this album. You truly are the best of the best, and have stood the test of time. .

Different but good
You have to be in the mood for this music though as it is more upbeat. This album is very different from his previous albums but good in it's own way. I think I will listen to it less than his earlier music. .

Great album
Really reccommend this cd! . This is a really great cd! Love the songs and the artist is great as always.

You can see a complete list of all Darren Hayes discography, or go back to the Darren Hayes tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.