Darren Hayes is finally at peace with his Savage Garden past, writes CAMERON ADAMS DARREN Hayes has reclaimed his past. Almost.

He's spruiking a Savage Garden best-of, Truly Madly Completely. They only had two albums, you say? Hayes agrees.

``I hate best-ofs,'' he says. ``As an artist it's hard enough carrying on after being in a band as successful as Savage Garden. But having a Savage Garden best-of out the minute I put out a solo record would have sent out a really awful message.

``Initially I tried to distance myself from Savage Garden, but I've made my peace with the past now. I'm embracing it.''

Selectively, it seems. The album comes with a DVD featuring their international videos -- all the videos except the early (and, it must be said, dodgy) ones made for Australia then reshot for the rest of the world.

Remember that one on the back of a car -- I Want You -- or the budget sci-fi To the Moon and Back in which Hayes was suspended in space as someone threw glitter in his face?

``I want to embrace my past but I don't want to embrace it that much,'' Hayes says of airbrushing Savage Garden's visual history.

``I don't want those dodgy old videos on there. People can find them on the internet if they want them. What was I thinking with my hair? I don't know. I looked slightly Rastafarian in the I Want You video. And in To the Moon and Back I had hair like Winona Ryder.

``In the treatment it sounded like 2001: A Space Odyssey. In reality it looked more like the clip for Video Killed the Radio Star.''

Truly Madly Completely exists because Hayes got his way and selected the final track listing. Two new Hayes songs are on the compilation. They were almost Savage Garden songs. Almost. Hayes and Savage Garden partner Daniel Jones planned to write songs together to include on the compilation. Hayes had a two-month window during which he was free, but the timing wasn't right for Jones, working as a producer behind the scenes.

``We sent emails back and forth,'' Hayes says. ``My take on it was they were going to put this record out anyway, I wanted it to be something special, not some dodgy thing that would get thrown in the bargain bin at service stations.

``We entertained the idea of working together for a while. It just became too difficult. In retrospect, I'm glad it didn't happen. It would have sent out the wrong message, that the band were getting back together.

``I don't have any plans to get the band back together, I never have. It would have been a nice thing for karma. I'm sure Daniel will pop up on stage with me some time.

``It would have been nice, but even for me it would have been hard. I've changed so much in the way I've written songs. Daniel thought it might not work, so fair enough.''

Hayes says not attending Jones' recent wedding to Hi-5 star Kathleen de Leon wasn't a major issue some have made it out to be.

``Obviously I'm not in his life,'' Hayes says. ``Why would I go to his wedding? There's no falling out. Honestly, my relationship with Daniel lately is not unlike what it was when we were in the band. It's kind of beautifully dysfunctional.

``Think about the way the band broke up. There was no confrontation. We didn't talk about it for eight months on tour. I did an interview and it came out. If Daniel walked in a cafe now, I'd throw my arms around him, but even in the band it's not as if we went bowling or to the movies together. We're just such different people. I'm still in touch with the people we used to work with and he has a very separate life now.

``It's very weird. I'm sure it must be weird for the public, because even I can't define what it is. But I love him and have a lot of respect for it.''

Hayes says a Savage Garden reunion tour is unlikely, except perhaps for a charity.

``My music has gone off on such a different tangent. It probably rebelled as much as it ever will on the last record (The Tension and the Spark). I still feel very protective of what we achieved. I don't want to sound mean and say never, but I can't imagine it.'' So protective that Savage Garden refuse all (lucrative) requests to use their big ballads -- Truly Madly Deeply and I Knew I Loved You -- for movies and advertisements.

``We've never licensed them for commercials or compilations,'' Hayes says. ``Those songs we've always felt protective of. They wanted Truly Madly Deeply for Scooby-Doo, but I said no. It's just too good. It was `my' song before it became `our' song for people.

``I want people to associate Truly with a relationship they've had, rather than a pair of sneakers. Maybe I'll have other songs I'll want people to associate with sneakers, but it will never be Truly Madly Deeply.

``I know I'll sing those songs for the rest of my life, and that's fine. They're the reason why I'm still here today.'' It's those two songs that have made Savage Garden millionaires. They still get regular play on American radio, which means hefty royalty cheques for Hayes each year.

``I've never really known how the money works, I just get a statement every year that breaks down radio play. And it's mainly those two songs. It wasn't (solo single) Pop!ular, I'll tell you that. I wish it was.'' Hayes is in an interesting position. His last solo album, The Tension and the Spark, was the musically cutting-edge album he'd always wanted to make. But it confused fans who were wanting to hear ballads and soft rock.

Hayes received the best reviews of his career, but the worst sales.

``I got critical acclaim, but at a cost of sales, definitely,'' he says. ``But there are no regrets. I wouldn't change a thing. Best thing I ever did.

``I adore that album. It's just one of those records people will rediscover one day.

``I'm glad I did it. I've always wanted to make a record with that mindset of `if it sells, it sells'.

``I always said `I want to be Bjork', then someone sat me down and said, `Do you realise how many records Bjork sells?' It's not that many.

``I've sold enough records to be in the position to make those kinds of decisions. Believe me, I haven't been scared back into any kind of shell.''

He says he was concerned people might think releasing the ballad So Beautiful (from the best-of) was a damage-control move.

``People might think, `Oooh, he's been rapped over the knuckles and gone back to ballads', but not at all. I want a lot of people to hear my music.

``I'm trying to work out the common thread, what do I do that works? People don't care if I'm cool or not. I'm apparently not cool. You can't really change that.

``People care if the song becomes part of their lives. I want radio to play my songs and have my songs heard by people, but not at the cost of me being miserable. I'd rather sell no copies than just be some imitation of what I used to be.''

Hayes says his third solo album, which he's still working on, will be a balance between the music he wants to make and the music people expect him to make.

``I want to touch people, I want to work out how I can say what I want to say and still make it relatable. I won't dumb myself down.

``I don't want to call it going back to my roots, but maybe it is.

``Madonna's doing it now, Kylie's done it. It can be difficult as an artist. You think `Just let me grow, let me be something else', but then you think `Actually, what I did wasn't all that bad'.

``Singing is my soul,'' Hayes admits. ``I'd love to work out a way to be tremendously commercially successful, but not at the cost of my soul.''