The Garden is the first album by Australian singer Merril Bainbridge, released in Australia on 31 July 1995 by Gotham Records. The album has a main genre of alternative pop songs—some written by Bainbridge herself, Owen Bolwell, Stan Paulzen (both of Tlot Tlot) and Siew. The Garden debuted inside the top ten on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart and is her highest selling album to date, being certified double platinum by ARIA. The album nominated Bainbridge for eight awards throughout the 1995 and the 1996 ARIA Awards including; "Best Pop Release", "Breakthrough Artist – Single", "Best New Talent", "Best Female Artist", "Single of the Year", "Breakthrough Artist – Album", "Highest Selling Single" and "Highest Selling Album".

Commercial performance and singles The Garden was commercially successful in Australia and had minor success in New Zealand and the United States. In mid-August 1995, it debuted at number five on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart."Album Top 50 – 13 August 1995". Australian-charts.com. Retrieved 2 October 2008. The album dropped off the chart after five months, spending a total of twenty-two weeks on the chart."The Garden – Australian chart run". Australian-charts.com. Retrieved 2 October 2008. The Australian Recording Industry Association awarded the album a double platinum certification for shipping 140,000 copies and became the twenty-seventh highest selling album in Australia for 1995."The Garden certification". ARIA. Retrieved 19 December 2006."ARIA Charts – End Of Year Charts – Top 50 Albums 1995". ARIA Charts. Retrieved 2 October 2008. At the 1996 ARIA Awards, the album was nominated for "Breakthrough Artist – Album" and "Highest Selling Album", but lost to Tu-Plang by Regurgitator and Don't Ask by Tina Arena respectively."1996: 10th Annual ARIA Awards". ARIA Awards. Retrieved 2 October 2008. In New Zealand, The Garden debuted at number thirty-four and spent two weeks on the chart."The Garden – New Zealand chart run". charts.org.nz. Retrieved 9 August 2007.

"Mouth", the first single, became Bainbridge's most-successful single release, peaking at number-one on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart and top five on the US Billboard Hot 100."Mouth – Australian chart run". Australian-charts.com. Retrieved 2 October 2008.[ "Merril Bainbridge – Artist Singles Chart History"]. AllMusic. Retrieved 2 October 2006. Written by Bainbridge herself, it is a bubblegum pop song about relationship—"sometimes you feel you're in control and the next thing, you're insecure.""Merril Bainbridge – Bob Gajarsky". Consumable Online]. Retrieved 2 October 2008. The single was released in October 1994 and failed to chart. When it was re-issued in 1995 it gained success, being certified platinum by ARIA and becoming the fourth highest selling single in Australia for 1995."ARIA Charts – End Of Year Charts – Top 50 Singles 1995". ARIA Charts. Retrieved 2 October 2008. The song was nominated for "Best Pop Release", "Breakthrough Artist – Single" and "Single of the Year" at the 1995 ARIA Awards."1995: 9th Annual ARIA Awards" . ARIA Awards. Retrieved 2 October 2008. The second single "Under the Water" was written by Owen Bolwell and Stanley Paulzen in 1990. It became Bainbridge's second top ten hit in Australia."Under the Water – Australian chart run". Australian-charts.com. Retrieved 2 October 2008. The song was nominated for "Highest Selling Single" at the 1996 ARIA Awards, but lost to "Let's Groove" by CDB. The third and fourth singles, "Power of One" and "Sleeping Dogs", had minor success on the chart peaking at number twenty-one and fifty-five respectively."Power of One – Australian chart run". Australian-charts.com. Retrieved 2 October 2008.

Track listing

In late 1996, the album was re-released in Australia with a bonus disc containing several music videos and three remixes.

Personnel

Merril Bainbridge – background vocals, vocal arrangement Owen Bolwell – electric guitar, keyboards, programming, producer, engineer Angus Burchall – percussion, drums Jason Catherine – vocal percussion (track 4) Gary Costello – double bass (track 3) Mark Domoney – acoustic guitar Tony Espie – mixing (tracks 1, 2, 5, 7, 9 and 11) Ross Fraser – mixing (tracks 4 and 12) Aaron Humphries – assistant engineer Chong Lim – piano (tracks 6 and 12)

Michael Losin – violin (tracks 8 and 11) Brian Marsh – engineer Roger McLachlan – bass Sam Melamed – electric guitar, keyboards, programming, producer, engineer, mixing Greg O'Connor – graphic design Steve O'Hara – strings (tracks 1 and 5) Adrienne Overall – photography Siew – keyboards, programming, producer. Mark Wallace – accordion (track 1) Chris Wilson – harmonica, vocals (track 2)

Charts

Weekly charts + Weekly chart performance for The Garden Chart (1995) Peakposition Australian ARIA Albums Chart5 Chart (1996) Peakposition New Zealand RIANZ Albums Chart34 US Billboard 200[ "Merril Bainbridge - Artist Albums Chart History"]. Allmusic. Retrieved 2 October 2006.101 US Billboard Top Heatseekers1

Year-end charts + Year-end chart performance for The Garden Chart (1995) PositionAustralian ARIA Albums Chart27

Certifications

Release history + Release history and formats for The Garden Region Date Label Format Catalogue Australia 31 July 1995 Gotham Records CD, cassette GOTH95032 Japan 21 February 1996 BMG Japan CD BVCP-914 New Zealand 24 March 1996 — CD — United States 24 September 1996 Universal Records CD 53019

References