After the success of 1992\u2019s The Lizard<\/i> and its smash ballad \u201cLove Is On the Way,\u201d Saigon Kick underwent some changes. Vocalist Matt Kramer and bassist Tom DeFile had both quit amidst a sea of animosity. In came new bassist Chris McLernon, and guitarist Jason Bieler became the sole singer\/songwriter\/producer. With that, the band\u2019s musical personality began to shift away from the heavy eclecticism that sparked their first two discs.<\/p>\n
Opener \u201cOne Step Closer\u201d is one of the band\u2019s heaviest tracks and is still one of their absolute best. Bieler\u2019s vocals sound great, and musically, the band is as strong as they were on their first album. Unfortunately, the rest of the album does not entirely follow this righteous path.<\/p>\n
All of \u201cWater\u201d has an electronic type of feel to it that feels out of place and leaves the listener really scratching their heads, wondering \u2018what the hell am I listening to?\u2019 The cover of \u201cSpace Oddity\u201d is just bizarre and there\u2019s really no reason for it to be here; in essence, it would\u2019ve been better suited as a B-side. \u201cFields Of Rape\u201d is interesting because it was intended to be the original album title, which explains the confusing cover art. The song feels a bit like a ballad, but it is so weird and almost a bit unsettling, at least to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI Love You\u201d was the disc\u2019s first single, and just like \u201cAll I Want\u201d from their previous album, it is a saccharine, schmaltzy ballad designed to win over the housewives. \u201cThe Way\u201d drags on a bit too long, feeling a bit slow and not really going anywhere. \u201cOn And On,\u201d however, is a standout. It\u2019s a bit poppier than other material, but the musicianship is really good and gives the song a bit of extra punch.<\/p>\n
Towards the end, the band gets a little weird \u2013 the orchestra and piano on \u201cWhen You Were Mine,\u201d the jazz riffing of \u201cSentimental Girl,\u201d the almost baroque arrangement of \u201cClose To You\u201d \u2013 this is not the band you remember from that first disc and this is what caused the fanbase to drift away to grunge and the like.<\/p>\n
This was the end of the line for the major label years for Saigon Kick. They continued on for a few more years, but were never able to recapture the success of The Lizard<\/i>. But for folks like me, they\u2019ll always be a band that took chances and did whatever they wanted. Honestly, if it wasn\u2019t for \u201cOn and On\u201d and \u201cOne Step Closer,\u201d this record would\u2019ve been a total washout, but thank God, it wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":33305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7601],"rating":[5619],"class_list":["post-45116","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-saigon-kick","rating-rating-c"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=45116"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=45116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}