LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Saigon Kick: Band
built 290 days ago
Saigon Kick were both blessed and cursed with diversity. By trying to explore every style imaginable, the band could be very exciting. Ultimately... they spread themselves too thin, confused fans, and imploded in a mess of egos. This greatest-hits collection quickly proves this point as the band shifts gears from the irritatingly pop-minded and chorused vocals of "What You Say" to the full-on metal assault of "Coming Home" to the tasteful alternative melodies of "Colors." These, along wi...[ read more ]
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Hard rockers Saigon Kick formed in Miami in 1988 with a lineup including Matt Kramer, Jason Bieler, Tom DeFile and Phil Varone. The band played around the region, and signed with Third Stone/Atlantic in 1990.
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One of the numerous band struggling to catch on the 80's hair metal fame, Saigon Kick gains a few pointers for originality. Kind of a King's X cousin band, they add lots of pop influences in their music creating a rather refreshing sound while never forgetting metal is all about "heaviness". Lead by guitarist/songwriter Jason Bieler and vocalist Matt Kramer on their successful first two albums, the band turned into a trio when their singer called it quits to be replaced by none other than their own guitarist, Jason. Their sound, then, became even poppier but the band failed to reach the sales of his first two outfits. After a final album (Bastards, 1999) of a lower quality, Saigon Kick disbanded never to return. 4 high quality albums are still proof of Saigon Kick's huge talent.
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For music fans, the film is laced with some good footage of live performances from both Saigon Kick and Skid Row and begins happily enough. However, it goes on to tell how badly he was treated financially by the industry and his former band Saigon Kick. He then goes on to become the drummer for Skid Row and while he enjoys all the trappings of a rock star he inks a very poor financial deal with the band and ends up with nothing at the end of the day. The movie then discusses the topic of groupies and there's more than enough tour bus, hotel room and backstage booby footage here to satisfy anyone, to the point that it quickly becomes boring and gratuitous. Really, five minutes would have been more than enough. The viewer then explores the rapid decline of Phil Verone and his related drug problems which completely engulf his life and eventually result in heart problems but again, the footage is too long and monotonous and could have been edited down significantly.
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The final song, "Nearer," is the only song that sounds like (and actually features) Saigon Kick. Once this song kicks in, it is easy to tell how poor the production and sound of the rest of the album is since this song is far louder and fuller sounding than the rest of the album. "Nearer" is fairly fast–paced and a bit similar to "Solitary Jerk" in feel and tempo. The back–up vocals and solo are especially nice, and though the song doesn't quite rank with the best of Saigon Kick's material, it is certainly not bad and is better than the other material on this album. Since "Nearer" is the only song to feature the true band, though, Jason would have been better keeping the other ten songs on the shelf and including "Nearer" on "Greatest Mrs."
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Matt Kramer, for those of you who may not know (and there very-well may be a lot of you), was the original singer for the band SAIGON KICK. Remember them? They were one of the many hard rock bands to surface in the early 1990s that hit with a ballad. Their big hit was a song called “Love Is On the Way” (it was all over MTV and radio; it was hard to miss).
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