Scottish based Mungo's Hi Fi's new album Forward Ever opens with the late Sugar Minnott's dubplate intro in a scrubadub style. Other featured artists include '80s legend Kenny Knots and Pupa Jim, one of Europe's new vocal talents.

The backbone of the album evolved from the Jamaican Reggae Soundsystem tradition, capturing spontaneous moments from live sessions and taking them into the studio. Each track has been picked based on crowd reaction and compiled in the order Mungo's would play them live. The music here represents a natural progression of reggae, dub and dancehall music.

The album features covers from Everyman Different and Rasta Pace performing an Errol Dunkley hit and Charlie P putting a new spin on 'Billy Jean'. Soom T brings a personal level with her tale of a 'Bad Bad Boy' following Ranking Levy's laidback foundation DJ style. The session is rounded off with a cameo from Gentleman's Dub Club.

It's stating the obvious, but this is an album that will only really be welcomed by fans of progressive reggae. Of the 15 tracks on this album my personal favourite was Mr Williams's 'Computer Age', which charts the dizzying rise of consumer technology.

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Nick Smithson