1. Affirmation :: This is where the album gets its title.  In the process of looking up the song, I found out that this duo originated in Australia, which would very much explain why their status always slips under everyone's radar here in America. The opening is very welcoming.  It reminds me of the feeling I get when I watch the opening sequence of a show- perhaps some anime thing.  Whatever my point was, the end result is that this song makes a good opening.  This song also establishes that this is yet more pop music.  The beat is a reminder that this is made in the 90s.  I dunno about you, but certain songs in different time periods have distinctive drum beats - especially music from the 80s in which the snare sounds like it is being hit with a bat. 

2. Hold Me :: This song seemed to be a continuation of the opening at first. It wasn't until the chorus that I realized that I have heard this song before, but I just did't remember it.  The opening had a mellow, yet determined mood.  The song's energy picked up once the chorus came up.  The song still has a sense of strong determination in it.  There's a bit of a half-time feel about two-thirds into the song and the song wraps up after that.  It's an okay song.

3. I Knew I Loved You :: This was the first Savage Garden song I've heard and this was the one that popped up in the rotation.  I remember getting a Now that's What I Call Music Collection back when those were good and I was really young, it was the third or fourth one I think, and this song was on it. I listened to that CD a whole lot on trips and in my room so it just gives back memories.  The lyrics don't make much sense to me, but it makes for a nice love song.  The only thing bad about this song is that it could be boring for some.  Its probably one of the few songs that I listened to by Savage Garden that I at least like.

4. The Best Thing :: I've heard Savage Garden being called "soft rock" or "pop rock," and to me, that has meant pop music with a few rock elements in it- sorta what Avril Lavigne used to be or Ashlee Simpson stuff. I never really believed it until this song.  There's no hardcore guitar solos and stuff, but there's the drums and the guitars alright.  There's a reason why its called "soft."  Anyway, the song makes me think of older stuff from the early 90s with the way the background music starts and I don't really like that since I don't like that kind of music, but if you like that kind of thing, this song should be good.  The lyrics are sort of fun to listen to for the first time also.

5. Crash and Burn :: There's a broken synth in the background, which gives me the feeling of far distance.  Its a really nice atmosphere of the song... I already liked it.  The chorus has some guitars and the like to create the soft rock sound that they had.  There's nothing truly special about the song,  but it is very soft and pleasing to the ear.  Its nice to listen to anywhere and this is another song that I like and would recommend. 

6. Chained To You :: The opening is just a drum beat... a very popish drum beat. Then the soft rock comes in once the singing starts.  The song has a constrained feel to it; the singing feels held back and the instruments play in a very choppy way.  I supposed this is all supposed to bring out the "chained" feel the song is meant to have.  Not entirely sure if I really like that. I'll probably upload it sometime and let you decide.

7. The Animal Song ::  The drums are played low to seem very... uh jungly.  After the chorus starts, everything is lifted up.  I found the song to be rather cheesy in its call to be more like animals.  Listening to the lyrics put you in a very silly mood.  Whether that's a good thing or not is up to the person. Personally, I don't really like it.

8. The Lover After Me :: The song starts as another ballad and it snaps you out of the silly mood the previous song puts you in.  It's reminiscent of Crash and Burn since it has the distanced soft rock feel.  The lyrics are really moving, especially for those who have been hurt being in love.  Lyrics like that really connect with people and that's what makes songs popular... well most of the time.  I found the chorus rather catchy to boot. 

9. Two Beds And A Coffee Machine ::  Once again, this song makes the album more to the serious side.  It begins with a beautiful piano sound.  Once again, the lyrics are beautifully spelt out and people can relate.  The chorus is a bit catchy despite the fact the song is a bit to the down-tempo side.  The entire piano part makes me think of Simple Plan's Untitled, though I think the two can't be compared further than that since the songs are about two totally different things. 

10. You Can Still Be Free ::  The song is very slow moving at first.  However, about halfway through- the song dramatically picks up.  The feel of this song gets you out of the depressingly sad/serious ditch that the previous two songs put you in.  The song is okay to listen to though in terms of songs that are pleasing to the ear.

11. Gunning Down Romance :: The beat is very ambient, yet there are some dark feelings in there.  Its a refreshment in the album since the mood and the instruments make this song stand out.  It totally makes up for the boringness of the first-half of the song. 

12. I Don't Know You Anymore ::  The song reverts you to sadness.  Its beautifully played on the piano, the lyrics are meaningful like most of their stuff, and it's beautifully sang.  The whole mood makes you ill in a beautiful way.  Its really nice.  However, its not the best song to put at the album since it just means that the album makes you sad because that's where the album left you.  Its probably one of the reasons why I won't listen to this album as a run-through.  However, this is one of their better songs so its work looking at.

Conclusion: The album isn't special.  Its worth a look if you like pop or soft rock, especially if you liked 90s music.  Also, there are some strong songs and I suggest that perhaps you get them individually since other songs are extremely dull.  Unless you're like me and you like getting full albums just for the sake of having music.  If that's the case, go for it.

I've been trying to avoid doing Gorillaz since I'm increasingly biased in their favor, but I figure I could be more critical of this song since I've never been a fan. I say this now but I probably will go back to praising the heavens for their songs like Dare and El Manana. 

Lets start out with the song itself.  I didn't have a clue about what this song is all about until recently despite the fact that I've listened to the song numerous times before.

Judging from the condition that is explained by "drinking too much," the speaker is drunk or something of the kind. He seems too drunk to even finish his sentences because of it.  The chorus explains the reason for drinking, especially this line:

So, there's the first verse and the chorus.  After that runs through, the very same verse repeats again and again. I'm normally not a fan when a song does that, but I can normally forgive a song that does that.  I mean, I didn't hold that against the Killer's Mr. Brightside. I really love that song.  Anyway, back to this.

I'm not really sure how to explain this, but this song bores me to tears.  I think its the only Gorillaz song that I don't like.  Don't quite quote me on that, I'll need to check that for sure.  Just be sure that I love practically all their songs and this is not one of the songs and I'll tell you why.  Listening to this song is the equivalent of listening to someone fool around on a drum-set.  While interesting for a while since it ISN'T the same thing over and over again, it gets really boring after a while.  You loose track of where you are in the song.

Now let's get to the video.  The overall feeling of the video is also repetitive in left you with the feeling of "wait... that's it?"  

The video starts out with a shot of zombie shadows with the words "zombie flesh eaters" showing up.  Then once the video starts, a statue of some kind of lizard/reptile creature is shown... well just the face at first.  "Rock it" is shown.  There's a lot of words shown in the video.  Those already mentioned are the first of many.

Well, I suppose for those ignorant ones, Gorillaz is a cartoon band.  The blue haired dude, 2-D, is the lead singer.  The girl he was giving a piggy-back ride throughout the video is Noodle, the guitarist.  Murdoc, the bassist, and Russel, drums, have very short cameos in this video.  But Murdoc is the one with a very green skin tone while Russel is not.  Normally, all of them are playing whatever instrument they play in music videos but this one doesn't. 

So the video starts out with this really creepy close-up of 2-D's face.  For some reason, his eyes being white really makes my soul shiver.  After that whole close-up, the video establishes the band strolling through a foggy area with tree branches growing towards them.  If you are obsessed with the Gorillaz as much as I am, you'll know that the group is going towards Kong Studios, the Gorillaz HQ per-say. Appearantly a lot of crazy shit happens outside that place in music videos and such.  Another example of this would be in the Clint Eastwood video.  Possessed gorillas were running about in that video.

While the group is walking, plants bloom out zombie heads of what represent celebrities, or what they establish at the end of the video as false icons. Random words that don't make sense mixed in with "bla bla bla bla...." pop out from the zombie heads.  The band totally ignore all of these heads.  Even at one point, they walk all over the ones on the ground. So the rest of the video consists of flashes of the heads, the creepy close-up of 2-D, the gang just walking, and the statue mouthing off "rock it." The video ends with the group walking by the statues and later showing the words "Reject False Icons."

I easily find that the video has nothing to do with the message of the actual song.  I can't entirely hate the music video because of the message it sends out, but I can say that it was just as boring as the song.  The same animations for the characters are used over, and over again.  I almost didn't finish the video the very first time I ever watched it. I kept on watching it in hopes that something cool or interesting might happen, but that something never came.  They might as well just say "reject false icons" and let us move on. I see the video and the song at the same level of 3/10.  Gorillaz has definitely done better and you know it.

Sigh... This is my third time re-writing this damn thing.  Most of you think I have no life typing this on easter, but I'm just waiting so I figure why not.  What happened is my web browser kept on quitting... So if this review sucks more than the previous one... that is why!

Anyway, it was rather hard for me to look at this video as just another music video and I'll tell you why: this was the last video Aaliyah did before she died.  In fact, she finished the video early and she and the people working on this pack themselves on the plane with heavy equipment.  The weight the plane was carrying exceeded what it was designed to do and the plane crash not too far from take-off.  However, people also found that the pilot was not approved to pilot the plane he was trying the pilot and an autopsy report showed traces of alcohol and cocaine... Anyway, enough with the history lesson and onto the review!

As I said in a previous entry, I think the song is pretty great. Its grooving enough to dance to and chilling enough to relax to.  Her voice seems one with the music in the sense that her words don't really say anything since its more of an instrument at this point.  I would give it a 8/10 because its one of Aaliyah's best but it isn't anything groundbreaking. 

As I analyzed the lyrics, I had a feeling that the song was a big sexual innuendo.  I was hoping that I was being way too dirty minded for my own good but this part confirmed it:

I have nothing against that since its the subject of the song.  Its a nothing message that appears in a lot of popular songs these days.  I forgive it since the song is so grooving and I just love Aaliyah.

Since the song has not much of a point, neither does the video.  To summarize the entire video, the video just features cameos of Aaliyah in different locations either baffing about or dancing with a group of dark-skinned girls.  Before the music begins, Aaliyah is walking along the shore.  She turns around and approaches the camera.  As the music starts, the camera also shows Aaliyah, dressed in white beach clothes, dancing with the girls, also dressed in white, on a completely white sailboat. 

I have to say from the start that I'm a big fan of the contrast of the white clothes and boat with the girls' skin.  It really showed off their curves and movements. I just like dark-skinned girls wearing light fabrics in general.  I remember I watched a Beyonce video once in which she was in a sunny, yellow dress and I thought she was stunning.  On the flipside, I think white girls such as myself should wear dark colors.

Now back to the video. After a certain point, the dancing girls are featured again in white tops and denim bottoms.  They seem to be dancing on water but don't quote me on that. The video flips from that scene to Aaliyah singing towards the camera facing from an upward angle.  She seems to be still standing on water.

At the end of the video, Aaliyah is shown on the beach again, but in a very red outfit complete with a red hat and bright red lipstick.  Inbetween those cameos are scenes of her gliding underwater.  She seems very mermaid-like with her clothes and wavy hair flowing with the water currents. The video ends with the camera looking on Aaliyah underwater from below and Aaliyah swims upward.  The surface is completely bright from the sun and the immense sunlight engulfs her. 

The video isn't anything special. Its really just a bunch of images put together for a song, really.  I'll give it a 5/10.  It would normally get below average.  But I love Aaliyah and her great dance moves.  I think the colors were well put together, especially on the boat scene.  I'll have to give it props for that.