Saigon Kick - THE LIZARD

Anyone here dig this band/album? Always dug these guys. I'm spinning THE LIZARD for the first time in a while right now and thinking it was kinda unfortunate that this band got lost in the Great Hair Metal Glut of the late 80s/early 90s, cuz they were head and shoulders above a lot of their shaggy contemporaries. Jason Bieler was a killer guitarist and Matt Kramer had one of the more interesting singing voices of the period. You've got a little bit of everything on here - hard rock ("Hostile Youth"), thrash ("Body Bags,"), pop metal ("All I Want"), punk ("My Dog"), alterna-style ("Peppermint Tribe"), and of course the obligatory power ballad ("Love Is On The Way," which was their only hit, albeit a minor one.) With so many styles represented on this album (and their other ones as well), it seems like Saigon Kick may have been just a little too weird for their own good. They were too "alternative" for the hair metallers, but too "hair metal" for the alternative crowd (maybe if their label had figured out which crowd to market them to, it might have helped) so this band and album slipped thru the cracks.
Overall, a good melodic hard rock disc and a band that deserved better than it got. The self titled debut isn't bad either, though the third album ("Water") saw Kramer get the boot, Bieler take over lead vocals, and the sound change to almost full-on alternative (well hell, it was 93 by that time), which was a disappointment.

Thoughts?

I haven't played this one in quite a while as Love Is On The Way still reminds me of an old flame I really loved back during it's heyday. Don't tell the wife that though. I might just drag it out and stroll down memory lane a while.

I have not played that one in quite awhile, either. I'll dig it out and listen to it.

Fantastic cd by a great underappreciated band....

although I must say their s/t debut is a much better offering!!!

Excellent band. I like Water. "One Step Closer" is such a badass song! I don't really hear the alternative thing, at least not anything close to full-on alternative, I should say. Yeah, it had a more modern sound, but it still sounded like a rock band to me, just one experimenting a bit. A few tracks did seem like they belonged on the Scorps's Eye II Eye album, though, and those I can live without.

Anyone heard their Bastards album? I saw a copy tonight for $14.99 used. Too much for me, though.

I pose this question.

Florida - Saigon Kick
\/ /\
Seattle - Alice In Chains


Would music history be different?

Great album. Great band.

Good one. Need to get it out and listen again.

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Anyone heard their Bastards album?

I didn't even know there was a recent album until i noticed on amazon. I too wonder what it sounds like.

I had this cd for a brief time back in the day, but it never did anything for me. I'm a little more open-minded with my music these days, so I might have a different opinion, but I'm not rushing to pick up any of their music. My want-list is long enough as it is.

Haunting. great album.

http://www.livevideo.com/video/0C7B91C53502475882E13985D04AF07A/saigon-kick-all-i-want.aspx

I love this album! I remember I saw the video for hostile youth on headbangers ball one saturday night and went out and bought the disc the next day. This album is truly underrated, I think the only reason most people bought it was for "love is on the way". Too bad more people didn't listen to the whole album. I see used copies of this in just about every cd store I go to. My favorites on the album are hostile youth, freedom, all alright, and peppermint tribe. Really though, there's not a bad song on it, though I do always skip the two ballads.

Great album although I like the S/T a little better.

tohostudios wrote:

Great album although I like the S/T a little better.

Funny that this old thread of mine popped up again today, cuz I happen to be listening to Saigon Kick's S/T right now. I do like the S/T a lot as well, but THE LIZARD was their first CD that I bought, so that's the one that hooked me on the band.

I also read on Blabbermouth earlier today that Saigon Kick is getting back together to play a Rocklahoma-style called "Rock Gone Wild" somewhere in the US (I forget where) soon.

Great band I saw them live at one of those free radio concerts, it was after Matt Kramer left and Jason was handling both vocals and guitars, it was a great show. The only reason I can think of they got labeled as a hair band was due to their hit ballad " Love is on the Way". I have both Lizard and Water, prefer "Water" and it has the coolest David Bowie cover I have heard of "Space Oddity", cool band who never got their due and were unfairly labeled.

Think I gave mine to Arttie. Don't even rememer if I listened to it first...

You gave Arttie The Lizard??

kmorg wrote:

Think I gave mine to Arttie. Don't even rememer if I listened to it first...

You don't know what you're missing. This band has a unique sound.

spectrefate wrote:

You gave Arttie The Lizard??

Yeah, he specifically asked if he could have my lizard....

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I think the only reason most people bought it was for "love is on the way".

That's probably why I owned it in the first place.

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I see used copies of this in just about every cd store I go to

I've seen my fair share of copies as well.

This was a great release, lots of catchy tunes! I also enjoyed Devil In Detail as well as Water. The Bieler Bros also had a nice variety of Metal, Rock, Alternative and Punk bands on their label-TJ

Todd Jaymz wrote:

This was a great release, lots of catchy tunes! I also enjoyed Devil In Detail as well as Water. The Bieler Bros also had a nice variety of Metal, Rock, Alternative and Punk bands on their label-TJ

"Devil" was the only one I thought was pretty weak. The rest of them are really good and very diverse.

I think that's what I like about Saigon Kick. Their music has all sorts of influences, from metal to The Beatles. It doesn't get boring because each song is different.

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I think that's what I like about Saigon Kick. Their music has all sorts of influences, from metal to The Beatles. It doesn't get boring because each song is different.

Exactly.

It would have been interesting to see them tour with a band like the Galactic Cowboys who also incorporate the beatles type vocal harmonies.

I see they are playing the Rock Gone Wild Fest in Iowa, august of 09-TJ