Saigon Kick
Water

THE REVIEW

Faced with this album, there are conflicting opinions: some even consider it the masterpiece of the group (???), others consider it a hideous mess (???). Two completely exaggerated extremes: it's not a masterpiece, but not a mess either—a middle ground, a decent album and (perhaps) necessary after the masterpiece "the Lizard." Neither fish nor fowl from my point of view, but there's something cooked, and also something undoubtedly raw, which is hard to digest.

After Kramer's departure in the middle of the sessions, Saigon Kick is left with a new trio lineup where the singer is... none other than Jason Bieler, the guitarist, and with surprising results! Tom DeVile remains on bass (who will leave right after) and Phil Varone on drums. And here's "Water" from 1993. 

The songs that remind us of the old Saigon, the hard, rocky, and bad ones that surely don't go soft, can be found on the opener "One Step Closer" (beautiful), "Torture" (heart-stopping!), "My Heart" (nice...) and... that's it! The rest of the album is totally different: it ranges from sounds mixing redundant flutes and keyboards as in the case of the decent "Close To You" or in typically acoustic diversions like the truly successful cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity" or in the decent "Fields Of Rape" and "Sgt. Steve".

The disappointing notes are, without a doubt, the one that was (my god!) even a hit single in Asia, namely "I Love You" (ugly, really ugly) or in the case of the boring "On And On" which, even having funky influences, sounds like a Prince song! The same goes for "The Way" which certainly doesn't stand out for... grit!

Other experiments, however, succeed quite well, as in the case of the title track "Water" introducing almost spiritual choruses, or in the rhythmic "Sentimental Girl" with a faint sixties aftertaste. But if you want, there's something for everyone; just listen to the violins in "When You Were Mine" or the piano-bar of "Reprise" (what it's reprising, I have no idea...).

Ultimately, if you're looking for the old Saigon Kick, go get the first two albums and the subsequent "Devil In The Details" (really excellent and underrated in my opinion). But if you are open-minded, this album will make you happy. If, like me, you don't get it at first... try listening to it again to understand what they had in mind in '93 and if they hadn't smoked too much marijuana!