On The Verge Of Something Triumphant

This Delicate Thing We’ve Made (2007) – Darren Hayes

What does Smashing Pumpkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Darren Hayes have in common? They’ve all released double studio albums. Former front man of global superstar duo Savage Garden’s third effort puts him in the same category. His first album in 3 years, after the insightful but commercially overlooked “The Tension And The Spark”, Mr Hayes comes back into the limelight as a gay and happily married man.

Whilst his debut album “Spin” was the pop masterpiece, “The Tension And The Spark” had a much more somber and depressed tone to it, “This Delicate Thing We’ve Made” is toweringly cinematic and theatrical in sound and largely inspired by his relationship with his father and his experience of coming out.

As brave and ambitious as the project might be, it might prove to be a bit long and tedious but there are definitely some fine gems in here, and more than enough for you to pick and fill into a decent album.

Whilst “Who Would Have Thought”, “Step Into The Light” and “Words” were all lifted as promo singles, 3 official singles were lifted “On The Verge Of Something Beautiful” which is bold, urgent and daring. “Me, Myself and (i)” is an ode to 80s music whilst “Casey” is a song about his brother.

Hayes supported the album with “The Time Machine” tour internationally, and needless to say, he was utterly brilliant, and later did another stint of smaller and intimate venues called “The B-Side Tour” showcasing all the songs that weren’t previously performed on “The Time Machine” tour.

Whilst trying to sit through both discs might be a little too much to digest in one sitting, the set is also ballad heavy but there are definitely some real gems in the form of “Sing To Me”, “I Just Want You To Love Me”, “Words” and “The Only One”.

Tracklisting:

Disc 1:

1. A 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. A Conversation With God
9. The Sun Is Always Blinding Me
10. Listen All You People
11. The Only One
12. Bombs Up In My Face
13. The Great Big Disconnect

Disc 2:

1. The Future Holds A Lions Heart
2. On The Verge Of Something Wonderful
3. Neverland
4. Walk Away
5. Maybe
6. Me Myself and (i)
7. Lucky Town
8. I Just Want You To Love Me
9. Setting Sun
10. A Hundred Challenging Things A Boy Could Do
11. Words
12. The Tuning of Violins

Breathe, Sandy

呼吸 (2006) - 林憶蓮

Breathe Me (2006) - Sandy Lam

Released in August 2006, a short 9 months after her first Cantonese album in 10 years, Sandy returned to music scene with “Breathe Me”. She commenced the project before the Cantonese album, but put it aside for a while as she felt the album wasn’t complete or satisfactory, as an end result, it got released after, and features more songs than the usual 10 song format. 

Comprising of 14 tracks, it features 12 Mandarin tracks and 2 remixes, and it’s her first Mandarin album in 5 years, after 2001’s “Truly … Sandy”. The lead single was “一個人”, which is a disco cover of New Order’s “Bizarre Love Triangle”. Other singles that followed include “相信”, “南方的風” and “面對面”.

In her 2007 “Live ‘07” concert, Sandy also performed “日子”, “詞不達意” and “玩伴” which highly raised the profile of these 3 album cuts and made us wonder why they weren’t plugged as singles to begin with. Another noteworthy track is the mid-tempo groove of the title track “呼吸”.

The production and sound is well polished and soothing to the ear. Although not her strongest nor is it her most commercially successful release in the last decade, this release stands alone as a classy well produced collection of adult contemporary pop from a well established artist with very little left to prove.

Tracklisting:

01. 一個人
02. 面對面
03. 日子
04. 詞不達意
05. 南方的風
06. 放開手
07. 箴言
08. 要不要
09. 日子(Q Mix)
10. 呼吸
11. 斷線
12. 相信
13. 玩伴
14. 一個人 (不安份 Mix)