With sex being the topic 90 percent of the time,
Lady Saw isn't the most versatile woman in dancehall and a better singles than album artist. Fortunately, the XXX
Strip Tease sounds like a greatest-hits collection with only a couple moderate tracks. Nearly everything on the album finds
Saw nasty as ever, taking unexpected, playful turns and adding more R&B to her sound. "Loser" is the straight-up dancehall stunner with
Ce'Cile guesting. You'll need a note from your parents to listen to it, but "Pretty Pussy" is the album's most forceful track and the unquotable lyrics are exhilarating. The big singalong, party tune "I've Got Your Man" could dominate R&B radio if given half a chance, while the
R. Kelly meets
Mae West "Thug Loving" smoothly kicks off the album's fantastic pillow-talk wind down. All this horniness ends with the thoughtful "Dedicated to Mama," and if you're skeptical
Lady Saw can touch the soul, know that her lack of candor is both in her sexual numbers and the ones from her heart. "Now I know/What it's like/Raising a family and being a wife," she sings, and admits she had no idea how hard the struggle must have been for her mother. It's a rare, vulnerable moment from the singer that almost doesn't fit with the rest of the hedonism. Luckily the softer fourth quarter of the album sets it up as well as you could and shows executive producers
Christopher Chin and
Lady Saw were taking great care constructing the album. If parental advisory stickers make you consider an album in the least, keep moving. For everyone else,
Strip Tease is
Saw's most thrilling album yet with a surprisingly sincere and moving closer. ~ David Jeffries