Following his acrimonious split with musical partner Daniel Jones, Spin is the debut long-player from Savage Garden's Darren Hayes. The soft rock influences of the Jones era, are dumped in favour of superbly crafted pop and R&B numbers but with some more familiar sounding ballads thrown in too ("Insatiable" and "I Can't Ever Get Enough Of You"). In true Savage Garden style though, Darren's lyrics regularly descend into a confessional, cataloguing of his popular cultural tastes such as "Occasionally I can be caught dancin' to Britney... I like every single thing that Spielberg's done" ("Good Enough"), and also on the witty, 80s-tribute tune "1980 (Me)" ("...studded denim, big hair, acid wash, Rubik's cube, my boom box...") As on Affirmation Hayes manages to combine intelligent lyrical commentary on global politics and social issues, with the catchiest of backing melodies. On title track Spin, diverse issues ranging from Bosnia to HIV/AIDS are sensitively dealt with within a couple of verses over a funky George Michael-style "Faster Lover" tune. "Creepin' Up on You" sounds more Jacko, than the "King of Pop" does himself these days. This is a five-star album, which is guaranteed to give such established stars (as Jackson and Michael) a "run for their money".--John Galilee