Search - Lady Saw :: Walk Out

The Door is Always Open for Lady Saw. . .

Achis | Kingston, JA/Philipsburg, SxM | 04/17/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This one (maybe) is for the end of one of the oddest relationships dancehall and all of reggae for that matter, has ever seen. Lady Saw released her first album for VP Records, Lover Girl, when she was just 25 years old and this year the St Mary's native will turn 38 years old. Walk Out marks the seventh `child' of the relationship which hasn't been exactly sparkling at all times. Mixed in the middle was a five and a half year drought which saw the two year delay of the eventual album, Striptease and public discontent on behalf of Saw (and rightfully so) while many of her even less marketable and certainly less talented peers received a big push from the label who eventually signed two different distribution deals (not including a deal with Virgin for Beenie Man) while Saw pretty much set on the sidelines. All this was done while Saw, undoubtedly one of the label's biggest names (despite the stretch of inactivity) continued to maintain a high profile here in Jamaica, performing on some of the biggest stage shows and festivals, and recording for some of the biggest producers and appearing on most of the mixtapes coming down the road. But the reward for those of us who were paying attention the entire time has been Saw herself. Over the thirteen years we've virtually watched Saw grow up, and while countless amounts of the artists she came in with have all but disappeared, shockingly it is Saw with just a handful of others (I.e. the Beenies, Bountys, Capletons and Bujus of the world) who have endured the test of time. Her reward is achieving a level of popularity which can only be described as dancehall ROYALTY. Thus, should she so much as cough on an album, if you are a fan of dancehall, you need to pay attention.



But now she's walking out. After thirteen years her contract with VP has culminated (I'm going to `go out on a limb' and assume that it was more than one contract she signed, I HOPE it was, for her sake) and she (as the cover shows!) is packing her bags in search of greener grass. Its an unusual situation to say the least (although I wouldn't be surprised at all should she keep her bags packed and catch a bus right back to VP and just. . . get a bigger room) in that, without a doubt, there isn't a label, including a major probably, that can give Lady Saw the attention she deserves. She is royalty, as I mentioned, and VP knows it. Thus, you can feel free to check out VP's release schedule and notice that it virtually cleared out a 2 month block (which includes delaying Da'ville's VP debut) since the label's last big release, Richie Spice's In the Streets to Africa and did pre-release promotion for Saw's album. I don't know of a place she can go and get that type of attention for her releases at this point. You'll find reviews for Walk Out in most major urban music publication from the states and down here, you won't walk a country block without seeing a poster somewhere for the album, the bottom line being that when its Saw's time, VP acts like its Saw's time!. . . They just have a hard time deciding when its to be Saw's time and not everyone else's, and only couple of their artists receive such attention outside of Saw, Capleton, Beres Hammond and now, presumably, recent signee Bounty Killa. I HOPE she doesn't go the route of Greensleeves (or even worse Jetstar) and thus even cut that status she enjoys now even more (despite the fact that Greensleeves is getting better), but it'll be very interesting to see where she goes.



With the label taking care of their part when its her time to he shine, even they don't do as good of a job as Saw does for herself and pale in comparison. Lady Saw hasn't enjoyed such a long run for being pretty or for being one of the few females amongst the countless lines of males in the industry, she can actually flow. Not blessed with lethal story telling style of dancehall poet/lyric demon (and close friend who gets a thank you in the liner notes) or the hybrid singing style of dancehall princess Cecile (who also gets a thank you) Saw is from the old school of the early 1990's dancehall when it was about building a vibes and developing a STRICT DJ style, which is what she did, her peers. besides the more well known, are the Terror Fabulous, Mega Banton, Silver Cat etc. of the world. And she held her own as a DJ amongst some of the entirely more hardcore names dancehall has ever seen. Her style was sexual but no more so than any of the rest, she just held the oddity of being a female so she received more attention (and critique) for cutting songs which wouldn't receive any if done by a male artist from a male point of view. She also developed a style of doing like a country style in her music, at first I couldn't stand that, but even now its almost a given when Saw releases an album you'll get at least one or two `country-hall' tracks as a given (Walk Out is no different). Lady Saw has truly been one of the pillars of the dancehall, deserving just as much credit as Beenie Man and Bounty Killa as artists who began in the dance, established in the dance, made their fortune in the dance and STAYED in the dance.



Her latest release, Walk Out, apart from its `historical' significance is, of course, a solid album and actually a bit better than its predecessor, the solid Strip Tease, as its cut down to a trim 14 tracks, as opposed to the 20 track monster which was the Strip Tease album. Its pretty much everything you've come to expect from Saw with one (HUGE) deviation and a few minor twists and turns; solid and world class dancehall delivered by its undisputed greatest daughter. Handling production on her own for Walk Out, Saw has compiled an album which doesn't exactly fit in on the previous era too much (where the albums where pretty much compilations) but an apparent attempt was made to build Walk Out on exclusivity, so many of these tracks have yet to be released (either that or I've been hanging around St Maarten too long and not listening to the radio) and they're not just her over the latest big riddims, although there is some of that as well (though she has historically had a problem with JA radio playing her songs last on the riddim or not at all in some cases), Walk Out appears to have been built for the sake of Walk Out and not just as singles.



By far the most interesting and finest tune on the album is the first single, the self produced No Less Than a Woman (Infertility). Lady Saw touted the tune as being one that was very rare in that it's a song about a woman who has tried for years unsuccessfully to have a child. As a man the vibe didn't really touch me just hearing about it, but as an actual release, the song is DIVINE! Recorded with producer Noel Alphonso, son of legendary late and great JA hornsman and saxophone player Roland Alphonso at her home studio, Saw put her heart and entire energy in the tune and complete with the Ras Kassa directed video. The song is one of the biggest of her career and may be the place where the true strength of Walk Out rests as it has been getting more spins in rotation both the audio and the video than any other Saw tune in memory. The song has also, apparently, been getting quite a few spins stateside and of course throughout reggae-starving Europe. Definitely a big track and one worth the price of admissions alone for Walk out.



No Less Than a Woman is actually the second track in a line of five tracks on Walk Out which keep it from being your stereotypical standout dancehall album. The first of the five, Silly Dreams is actually a pretty straight forward r&b track (with the nice slight one-drop of course, Lenky and Robbie do play on the track after all) which features Ms. Hall pretty much straight forward singing, showing versatility which I just said she didn't have lol; following No Less Than a Woman is complete Sly & Robbie production Not the World's Most Prettiest in which Saw addresses mental and spiritual beauty as opposed to physical beauty. Saw's look has always been one which one wouldn't necessarily describe as `drop dead' gorgeous and things have been said, and again, its very interesting to hear her address such a thing as the subject (and I for one, always thought she was beautiful), but I guess as she's Walking out, she's making sure she completely closes the door on all matters; fourth in the line of unusual tracks is You Need Me. . . You guessed it! The obligatory country-hall track is You Need Me. The track is pretty much what you get and it's a matter of like or dislike, lyrically it's a very solid track about a falling or fallen relationship and Saw does what she does with the vibes (both she and Bushman seem to have this love for country music, they should do a combination!). And lastly rounding out the line of five is the very very interesting Baby Dry Your Eyes, with Alphonso on the boards (as he is for You Need Me as well). This track is a combination r&b/swing era/ska on which Alphonso turns back the clock to his father's day playing with the legendary Skatalites, I love the song, completely something different and unexpected.



But this IS a dancehall album.



The title track is an older track which comes from Shams Baddis Ting riddim, one of my favorite dancehall riddims of the past few years and before when it was just Main Street's Baddis, I love the riddim and now through what is probably a couple dozen different tracks on the riddim overall, Saw's Walk Out is amongst the best and I don't remember hearing it, but that goes back to JA radio's unwillingness to play her tunes, which made a bad thing into a good thing in this situation. Also loving Me and My Crew as Saw absolutely rips Suku's new riddim (which is mad! Suku turning into a genius these days), very very hype track which is actually the second official JA single (with the first being Chat to Mi Back over Roach`s Mad Thing riddim). Saw wouldn't be Saw if she didn't touch the slackness at least a little and does so here mainly in the form of the self produced Power of the Pum a kind of anthem like sounding sing-a-long track about. . . Well you know what its about, but its 100% trademark Lady Saw and none do it better. Lastly, Saw tackles two of her longtime boyfriend John John's riddim with the first effort being the excllent solid Big Up over the riddim of the same name which has an old school appeal and captures glimpses of vintage Lady Saw and the wicked wicked album closer Stray Dog over the well powerful Battlefield riddim.



Overall, I can't help but recommend Lady Saw's Walk Out. Besides the collector's appeal of the album, its really one of her strongest. My favorite version of Saw is that mid-late 1990's style which she absolutely ruled and on Walk Out you don't really get that vibe directly, but its an album which shows she's actually still developing, I don't know if she could have ridden some of these riddims (particularly the Battlefield) just a few years ago during her hiatus, but now she's nearing that same perfection over the modern vibes. This album, however, can center and revolve around the piece that is No Less Than a Woman, such a powerful and revealing tune is not to be missed, nor is the latest piece from a talent which Jamaica regards as one of our finest exports at her highest current level. Biggup Lady Saw, she's Walking Out. . . and wherever she goes, I'm going with her!



"

Lady Saw

K. Jessup | NJ | 05/28/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Great cd! If you are a Lady Saw fan, then you have been waiting for this cd. A must buy for reggae fans!!"

I Love Dis lady

Evolvin08 | MIA | 06/24/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I fell in love with dis lady when she came out wit I got your man, thats the first time i heard her I was like dis lady is the realeast more raw uncut woman and I love it!"