SAIGON KICK — Saigon Kick (review)

Album · 1991 · Hard Rock

5/5 · 2010-04-17
Bomb Brigade

Forget about The Lizard and it's excusably laughable offspring LOVE IS ON THE WAY,which,by the way,is the central cause for the diffisusion and inevitable rift between guitarist Jason Bieler and singer Matt Kramer,that caused the briiliant vocalist to exit the band.This album is what Saigon Kick is really all about.Having been "discovered" by members of Skid Row upon performing opening duties for the Skids at a club called Summers On The Beach in Ft.Lauderdale,Florida,and then being brought to the attention of Atlantic Records chiefs,Saigon Kick wasted no time at all with delivering their harbinger to the public en masse. With an untitled musical introduction,heavily borrowed from Jane's Addiction's UP THE BEACH,that segues directly into the dramatic and powerful NEW WORLD,Saigon Kick wastes no time in letting the listener know that they have arrived.With epic lyrics that shout out and tell you to forget the world that you've known all along,Kramer and company pull you into,as the title suggests,a new world that is populated by glorious colors and rhythms,the likes of which this band was unable to ever grasp a hold of again.NEW WORLD clutches the listener around their throat and threatens to rip out its jugular.WHAT YOU SAY continues this saga,with the band's first ever release for commercial radio,or the band's first single,if you will.But,fear not;WHAT YOU SAY is certainly no wimpy LOVE IS ON THE WAY,in terms of a musical flavor.This song reflects both an unforgivably solid melodical structure and groove,along with a central power to its delivery,that hooks the listener from about three seconds into its all to catchy refrain.WHAT DO YOU DO and SUZY continue this psychedelic musical journey,both with somewhat experimental tones to their structure.These songs suggest an altogether new genre,almost whimsical in nature,of rock/metal that hadn't yet been explored by any band of this sort. Saigon Kick doesn't run out of colors to chose from on their gigantic pallet just yet,and the next track lets you know just that.COLORS is an entrancing journey,painted with an array of bold and unusual shades,with Kramer and Bieler's dueling vocals suiting the song perfectly.Saigon's pallet of hues was,indeed,a fruitful and beautiful one in 1991,encompassing every shade from the blackest of blacks to the whitest of whites. LOVE OF GOD and DOWN BY THE OCEAN are somewhat unusual little dittys that catch the listener off guard and break down any notions of this being a headlong hard rock album,when the band blindsides with the moshing ACID RAIN.Timing in at just under two minutes,ACID RAIN is a take no prisoners grinder that would allow for the band's live audience to break into their customary and appropriate mosh pit at just the right moment.One minute and thirty eight seconds of mosh make way for a silly number called MY LIFE,complete with a kazoo,that's right,a kazoo solo.What made the band apt for a kazoo ,rather than a traditional guitar solo,is unclear;but,crazy as it sounds,it works.MY LIFE is,again,followed up by two moshers that lead into,perhaps,the album's crowning achievement in the form of the majestic COME TAKE ME NOW. COME TAKE ME NOW finds Saigon Kick at their lyrical best,finding Matt Kramer singing of a somewhat suicidal journey and beckoning for The Lord to take him away from his suffering...a warm place where he'll be sheltered from the rain. The album concludes with a straight-forward,no-frills rocker in the form of I.C.U.,that is neither the album's strongest nor weakest moment.I.C.U. simply serves as an ending point with hopes of great things to come in the future from this band.But,alas,it was not to be.The Lizard was next on the band's roster,and we all know what that heralded.Although blanketing the group in much deserved commercial success and appeal,the album would serve only to trick the public into believing that Saigon kick was one of many of the,at that time,current ilk of power ballad,hair bands,which they were clearly not at all.This album was then singer Matt Kramer's swan song,and the group went progressively downhill from there.Water came next and paved the way for Devil in The Details,and things became even worse. In the footnotes of musical history,Saigon kick is mostly remembered by a single power ballad on a compilation album with widespread commercial appeal and sales.Saigon Kick could have been so much more.They presented a new formula of rock n' roll that was both refreshing and powerful;a meld of psychedelia and heavy metal,for lack of a better description.