Affirmation (Savage Garden album)

Affirmation
Australian cover
Studio album by Savage Garden
Released 9 November 1999
Recorded April–November 1999
Genre Pop
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)
Alternative cover
International cover
Singles from Affirmation
  1. "The Animal Song"
    Released: 23 February 1999
  2. "I Knew I Loved You"
    Released: 28 September 1999
  3. "Affirmation"
    Released: 10 January 2000
  4. "Crash and Burn"
    Released: 20 March 2000
  5. "Chained to You"
    Released: 26 September 2000
  6. "Hold Me"
    Released: 13 November 2000
  7. "The Best Thing"
    Released: 16 March 2001
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Entertainment WeeklyC+[2]
Plugged In(average)[3]
PopMatters[4]
Q[5]
Robert Christgau[6]
Rolling Stone[7]
Sputnikmusic[8]

Affirmation is the second and final studio album by Australian pop duo Savage Garden. The album was released on 9 November 1999 by Columbia Records. It won the 2000 ARIA Music Award for Highest Selling Album along it nominated the 2000 ARIA Music Award for Best Group but lost to Killing Heidi's Reflector and Best Pop Release but lost to Kylie Minogue's "Spinning Around".

Background

The band recorded 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 or slightly earlier that year. The exception was 'You Can Still Be Free', a much older song that dated back to at least 1995 - a demo recording appeared on their 1995 demo tape, then titled 'Free'. The track was written in tribute to a friend of the band who had committed suicide some years previously, and was revisited after said friends' family explained they loved the song and wanted to see it released on an album. 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 8 million copies worldwide, being certified platinum in a number of countries.[9] It became the band's last studio album after Daniel decided to leave 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.TitleLength
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 mimed guitars
  • Walter Afanasieff – keyboards, synthesizers, drum and rhythm programming, acoustic piano on track 9
  • Greg Bieck – keyboards and programming
  • Michael Landau – electric guitars
  • Michael Thompson - electric guitars and 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 were:

Band

Crew

  • Peter McFee – tour manager
  • Susie Steadman – assistant tour manager
  • 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

Charts and certifications


End of decade charts

Chart (2000–2009) Position
U.S. Billboard 200 195

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References

  1. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Affirmation at AllMusic. Retrieved 2011-06-27.
  2. ↑ Morgan, Laura (1999-11-12). "Affirmation Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2013-09-04.
  3. ↑ Waliszewski, Bob (1999). "Savage Garden | Affirmation". Plugged In. Archived from the original on 2013-09-04. Retrieved 2013-09-04.
  4. ↑ Angotti, Chris. "Savage Garden: Affirmation". PopMatters. Retrieved 2013-09-04.
  5. ↑ "Savage Garden - Affirmation CD Album". CD Universe. Retrieved 2013-09-04.
  6. ↑ Christgau, Robert. "CG: Savage Garden". RobertChristgau.com. Retrieved 2013-09-04.
  7. ↑ Walters, Barry (1999-12-09). "Savage Garden: Affirmation : Music Review". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2008-07-25. Retrieved 2013-09-04.
  8. ↑ Med57 (2006-06-19). "Savage Garden - Affirmation (album review)". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 2011-11-03.
  9. ↑ "Savage Garden Confirms Split". Billboard Magazine. 5 October 2001. Retrieved 2014-01-06.
  10. ↑ "Australiancharts.com – Savage Garden – Affirmation". Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  11. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Savage Garden – Affirmation" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  12. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Savage Garden – Affirmation" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  13. ↑ "Savage Garden Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  14. ↑ "Danishcharts.com – Savage Garden – Affirmation". Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  15. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Savage Garden – Affirmation" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  16. ↑ "Savage Garden: Affirmation" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  17. ↑ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  18. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Savage Garden – Affirmation". Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  19. ↑ "サヴェージ・ガーデンのリリース一覧" [A Look at Savage Garden's Releases]. Oricon. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  20. ↑ "Charts.org.nz – Savage Garden – Affirmation". Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  21. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Savage Garden – Affirmation". Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  22. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Savage Garden – Affirmation". Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  23. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Savage Garden – Affirmation". Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  24. ↑ "Savage Garden | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  25. ↑ "Savage Garden Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  26. ↑ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2001 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association.
  27. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – Savage Garden – Affirmation". Music Canada.
  28. ↑ "Hitlisten. NU – Denmark", IFPI, archived from the original on November 6, 2016, retrieved November 6, 2016
  29. 1 2 "Savage Garden" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland.
  30. ↑ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Savage Garden; 'Affirmation')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
  31. ↑ "Japanese album certifications – Savage Garden – Affirmation" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  32. ↑ "GOLD ALBUM 他認定作品 1999年11月度" [Gold Albums, and other certified works. November 1999 Edition] (PDF). The Record (Bulletin) (in Japanese). Chūō, Tokyo: Recording Industry Association of Japan. 482: 9. 10 January 2000. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 January 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  33. ↑ "Certificaciones" (in Spanish). Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas. Type Savage Garden in the box under the ARTISTA column heading and Affirmation in the box under TÍTULO
  34. ↑ "New Zealand album certifications – Savage Garden – Affirmation". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
  35. ↑ "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 2000" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden.
  36. ↑ "British album certifications – Savage Garden – Affirmation". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Enter Affirmation in the search field and then press Enter.
  37. ↑ "American album certifications – Savage Garden – Affirmation". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH. 
  38. ↑ "IFPI Platinum Europe Awards – 2000". International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
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