Let me start by saying that this is, without any doubt at all, THE album of 2011.
Being a long time Darren Hayes/Savage Garden fan I was always going to get his new album Secret Codes and Battleships but, to my surprise, it blew me away. Easily the best thing he's done since Savage Garden (though he has made some very good music) and every bit as good as SG's debut album (but just below Affirmation).
Somehow Hayes has managed to find the balance between the slightly electric pop he has been dabbling in and classic SG-style pop - and it works to an extent that all 12 songs on the album proper are brilliant.
It's a rare thing that you can get a CD and not need to skip tracks, happily listening to it from track one to the end. I've done that a lot in the couple of weeks since I bought it.
Standouts? Well, I keep coming back to the opening track Taken By The Sea, closely followed by Hurt, Roses (where he seems to make reference to his 'previous' life and divorce) and Stupid Mistake.
The two songs most talked about are Black Out The Sun, which he originally wrote for Leona Lewis but thankfully kept for himself, and Bloodstained Heart. The latter is quite a stunning song.
I'd say the lead single Talk Talk Talk is probably the weakest of the 12 but I still listen to it without any problem.
Unfortunately, this album is likely to be largely ignored by the music buying public who are more interested in inane, trashy pop by the likes of Lady Gaga and her contemporaries but, take it from me, this is a cut or two or three above that. This is first class, intelligent, modern pop with a hint of a throwback to the Savage Garden days.
As I noted as the start - best album of the year, easily. Well done Darren.
Being a long time Darren Hayes/Savage Garden fan I was always going to get his new album Secret Codes and Battleships but, to my surprise, it blew me away. Easily the best thing he's done since Savage Garden (though he has made some very good music) and every bit as good as SG's debut album (but just below Affirmation).
Somehow Hayes has managed to find the balance between the slightly electric pop he has been dabbling in and classic SG-style pop - and it works to an extent that all 12 songs on the album proper are brilliant.
It's a rare thing that you can get a CD and not need to skip tracks, happily listening to it from track one to the end. I've done that a lot in the couple of weeks since I bought it.
Standouts? Well, I keep coming back to the opening track Taken By The Sea, closely followed by Hurt, Roses (where he seems to make reference to his 'previous' life and divorce) and Stupid Mistake.
The two songs most talked about are Black Out The Sun, which he originally wrote for Leona Lewis but thankfully kept for himself, and Bloodstained Heart. The latter is quite a stunning song.
I'd say the lead single Talk Talk Talk is probably the weakest of the 12 but I still listen to it without any problem.
Unfortunately, this album is likely to be largely ignored by the music buying public who are more interested in inane, trashy pop by the likes of Lady Gaga and her contemporaries but, take it from me, this is a cut or two or three above that. This is first class, intelligent, modern pop with a hint of a throwback to the Savage Garden days.
As I noted as the start - best album of the year, easily. Well done Darren.
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