Let's talk about Darren Hayes and his concept album "This Delicate Thing We've Made"

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darren_Hayes

I only know who he is from his recent badness. Sure I remember Cabbage Garden, and loved Moon and Back, but somewhat randomly I just got handed his DOUBLE ALBUM "This Delicate Thing We've Made" and I've been WTFing all the way through. There's some bland boy-band singing stuff in there that's made less impact, but I was immediately caught sideways by the first four tracks. Moody/bombastic electro-tinged pop, but then there's some mad titles and lyrics going on here.

Track 3, Waking The Monster starts "The Professor is building something extraordinary"
Track 4, How To Build A Time Machine starts "If I have understood correctly, velocity equals the distance travelled divided by time. I've read every word printed on Quantum Physics...

"Bombs Up In My Face" is a great title and the only really dancey type track. Other track titles: "The Future Holds A Lion's Heart" "Me, Myself And (I)"

Seriously, who ordered a 25 track epic from him? i'm going to listen to this some more

(OK, so it may not be a CONCEPT album, but srsly, WTF)

Comments

[umlauts.livejournal.com]

Edward O's cut-and-keep guide to "This Delicate Thing We've Made", i.e. which ones you actually listen to, and which ones you don't bother with.

KEEP
A Fear Of Falling Under (super-tense, taut bit of electro-pop paranoia)
How To Build A Time Machine (embarassing Bushisms but inventive enough)
Casey (basically, Dear Jessie for grown-ups. It sounds like it)
Step Into The Light (the best song of 2007 so far by miles)
Sing To Me (gloriously glurgy ballad)
A Conversation With God (much better than the name implies)
The Sun Is ALways Blinding Me (a bit wet, bad lyrics but a good tune)
On THe Verge OF SOmething Wonderful (damp squib as a single but not bad)
My Myself And I (excellent funky Prince-ish song, surefire second single)
Setting Sun (uber-compressed, dense squelch of fantasticness)
The Tuning Of Violins (grand, sweeping closing statement par excellence)
Neverland (sort of jaunty pizzicato-string thing)
Maybe (probably the best of the interchangeable ballads)

THROW AWAY AND DO NOT LISTEN
Bombs Up In My Face (fucking awful! HAS A RAP BIT)
The Great Big Disconnect (Darren wants to be John Lennon, or something.)
Waking The Monster (BAD Kate Bush pastiche)

Everythng else is kind of listenable but not altogether interesting. The B-side on "On The Verge..." is a lot better than the A-side but I've forgotten what it's called. Add that and the album's an easy four stars out of five. As it is, I would tend to say Lex's review is right on, though I think there's more good stuff on the first disc, though I may just be taking into account the sheer amazingness of "Step Into The Light" when I say that.