Savage Garden

Savage Garden is light, catchy, and undeniably melodic, and it's hard to believe they released their debut album in the late, not early, '90s. It's easy to say that their breakthrough single "I Want You" sounds like a revamped Roxette, but it's accurate -- it has a breezy chorus and frothy production that make it an appealing slice of mainstream pop, the kind banished from the airwaves in 1992. Occasionally, Savage Garden reach that peak elsewhere on their eponymous debut -- most notably on the second single, "To the Moon and Back," and "Truly Madly Deeply" -- but they lack the vision and discipline to make the record anything more than fitfully entertaining. But those highlights almost make the album worthwhile. [Both the Finnish and the Asian editions offer an eight-track bonus CD that includes the following: "I Want You (Xenomania Punxy Mix)," "To the Moon & Back (Hani's Num Radio Edit)," "Truly , Madly, Deeply (Australia Mix)," "Break Me Shake Me (Remix)," "Mine," "Love Can Move You," "All Around Me," and "I'll Bet He Was Cool."] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide