Big Audio Dynamite has always succeeded in making the trendy accessible, absorbing everything from hip-hop to house into a distinctive and inviting sound. Like the band's other three albums, Megatop Phoenix boasts danceable beat-box rhythms and infectious melodies yet remains arty as all getout. And if some of the songs are a little weak, they are redeemed by an undeniable joie de vivre.

Credited for "Universal Inspiration" is everyone from De la Soul to the Who, which is fitting for a record that boasts both an endless parade of clever sampling and an Englishness that runs so deep it's downright exotic. Songs end abruptly, then launch into curious segues – collages rife with intriguing samples and odd little musical references. B.A.D.ster Don Letts, who is also a video director, cuts loose with his typical cinematic sound bites, cannibalizing movie soundtracks, silly music-hall tunes and Run-D.M.C. Like the work of a savvy jazz drummer, his interjections always illuminate and never interrupt – he's a master of the art of noises.

"Rewind" opens the album with a giddy blast of cyber-funk synth, chattering rewinding tape and a sublime high-velocity percussion solo. "James Brown," the first single, turns key phrases from the Godfather of Soul (and even an ironic sample of "America," from West Side Story) against the United States for imprisoning Brown. "London Bridge," on side two, is a Ray Davies-like mash note to the city by the Thames. Amazingly, this is the same Mick Jones whose earlier band, the Clash, bellowed "London's Burning" on its debut. What a difference a decade makes.

Jones recently recovered from a nearly fatal illness, but there's no sermon about how great it is to be alive (although the liner notes thank the staff of his hospital). Then again, what other message is there on an album brimming with energy and invention? (RS 563)

MICHAEL AZERRAD