"Rise" turned out to be a flop after all. After that false start, make way for "Princess Gone... The Saga Bed", which lands on VP. An album that impresses with its solidity and homogeneity, all too rare among this generation of artists. And which (let us forget "Rise") fills a long absence of Jah Mason from albums. A winning return, as "Princess gone..." strings together one success after another without faltering. If a few repeats are not avoided, they at least count among Jah Mason's good tracks: his standard-bearer Princess gone and the excellent Plan out and Waiting for. But the best is elsewhere: the unreleased tracks hold some of the deejay's most convincing songs.
The themes tackled remain much the same: in Jah Mason we find this tension between two poles, on one side the rage of the condemnations of Babylon and its way of life, on the other the lightness of a love chorus. An opposition inherent in Jah Mason's style which, as a good pupil of Capleton, alternates coaxing singing with raspy, sharp toasting. We already knew the deejay's abilities, and it is above all the quality of the riddims that strikes. Acoustic and richly layered, they prove particularly effective at accommodating his urgent delivery. Round, imposing basslines, raging guitar riffs (as on Stick nor stones where he asserts that "neither stones nor sticks will break his bones"), horn lines to excellent effect (Get along or Stay in my heart and their devastating verses): the success of the whole, very homogeneous to boot, is undeniable, and shows from the opening with Saga Bed and its sharp mix. A glance at the booklet reveals the secret: it lists the contributions of Dean Fraser (sax), Earl Chinna Smith (guitar), Leroy Wallace (drums) and Sticky Thompson (percussion).
After the success of Turbulence's "Notorious", VP once again delivers a very polished project. In the end only the last two tracks (Real lioness and Can't control me) depart from the sonic unity on display, and these we file under anecdotes. No matter, "Princess gone... Saga bed", though a little short, proves largely indispensable.
