Princess Gone...The Saga Bed (VP, 2006)

*GUEST REVIEW*
Ever read a review of a CD you own and feel like the reviewer must have been listening to an entirely different album? Here is an example of that for me. I feel like Trammell Scruggs gets the generalities correct -- this is a fairly light, sparkling roots album for Jah Mason that is definitely designed for mass appeal. And yet the details are all wrong. To start at the top, his least favorite track (the opener "Saga Bed") is one of my favorites; the sing-songy chorus, Mason's impassioned delivery, and the plunky acoustic guitar running throughout the track are all very enjoyable and add up to a very appealing, rootsy song. I find this one to be stronger than the title song on his more recent Wheat and Tears for example, though the latter is a darker, heavier tune, and more in line with what one would expect from Jah Mason based on past albums. But even if that half of the title doesn't do it for you, its successor, "My Princess Gone," is a very pleasant lovers tune with a soft, minimalist backdrop, and a meandering half-falsetto melody that is impossible to dislike. I'd love to hear this song with some backing vocals and at least one section of fuller instrumentation, but as is, it is still a very striking track for the artist. In some respects, this album reminds me of Sizzla's softer output, for example Light Of My World. Your tolerance for fire-flinging Rasta singjays dipping into crooning lovers territory may in part determine your reaction to this album. Unlike Light Of My World, though, this album still has a lot of roots righteousness running through it. See for example "Get Along," "Stop It" (with its dubby bass and echo effects), and "Stick Nor Stone," which features somewhat unusual instrumentation, including piano and a snarling electric guitar sound, and has Mason going from a fiery Capleton-like chanting in the verses to a nasally Capleton-like croon in the choruses. There is an assortment of sounds and moods here, but it's all in a traditional reggae vein -- not many digital sounds and no dancehall -- and the level of quality is high. Jah Mason is really in stride now, releasing several very good albums lately in this, Wheat And Tears, and Most Royal. Mason and Lutan Fyah are, in my view, two of the young bright hopes in the flooded singjay market -- worthy successors to Sizzla, Capleton, and Buju Banton, who are still putting out some quality albums in their own right. Princess Gone is a strong release if you like this style.

- Dale Cooper