AMG Review of Greatest Hits Live

Greg Prato
All Music Guide

They may have wanted to be placed in the "hard-to-categorize file" (à la Jane's Addiction), but Miami's Saigon Kick is probably best described as a cross between King's X and Extreme -- due to their Queen-like vocal harmonies, metal solos, ambitious songwriting, and their fondness for the "acoustic ballad." With members coming and going and the group being activated and deactivated several times after 1992's The Lizard (which contained one of the last acoustic power ballads from a metal band to scale the charts, "Love Is on the Way"), the group faded away. But as evidenced by the 2000 compilation Greatest Hits Live, Saigon Kick had no problem re-creating their sonically rich sound on the concert stage, especially such tracks as "What You Say" and "Water." That said, you simply can't title a Saigon Kick release Greatest Hits Live and not contain their best-known track, the aforementioned "Love Is on the Way," or such fan favorites as "Hostile Youth" (which had a video that was aired quite a bit on the Riki Rachtman-era #Headbanger's Ball). With bad blood supposedly still simmering between vocalist Matt Kramer and guitarist Jason Bieler (each exchanged verbal shots via interviews on the /Metal Sludge website), Greatest Hits Live may be the closest fans will get to hearing the two on-stage together again.