Roni Size / Reprazent - 'New Forms II' (Mercury) Released 07/04/08

What a year 1997 was; Oasis released their highly anticipated third album ‘Be Here Now’, Radiohead were emerging as serious contenders with ‘OK Computer’, Glastonbury was a mud bath and the singles chart was very much alive and kicking. It was also a year that saw the continued dominance of The Spice Girls, a political shift of power and the death of Princess Diana and over a decade on, it’s the usual suspects who are still making the headlines. 1997 was also the year that saw Roni Size / Reprazent’s magnum opus, ‘New Forms’ win the Mercury Music Prize and to celebrate that fact, 2008 see’s the re-release of the five times platinum seller, in well, a new form, imaginatively titled ‘New Forms II’.

It’s an album that allows those still basking in the reminiscent nostalgia of Drum n Bass to relive those hazy daze when E’s cost much more than three quid, raves were organised by word of mouth rather than on the internet and hoodies were a fashion accessory not an ASBO waiting to happen. It’s also an album that is still a pleasure to listen to and has surprisingly stood up to old father time, even if the skeleton of its former self has been given a new coat of armour, brought up to date through advanced techniques and technology and with three new tracks added to its already formidable arsenal.

For those in the know and those who aren’t, the classics, ‘Brown Paper Bag’, ‘Heroes’ and ‘Share The Fall’ et al are all still there and while not exactly sounding fresh as such, are wearing extremely well all the same, maintaining the dignity of an elder statesman as befits the ambassador role that the original ‘New Forms’ was so instrumental in playing.

What is perhaps more interesting to fans of the Bristolian Drum n Bass collective are the new tracks that have jostled for position on the reinvented masterpiece. The latest single ‘Don’t Hold Back’ is an aggressive MC retrospective that spans the past decade while ‘Less Is More’ is a funky Drum n Bass workout for the 21st Century that adequately covers all bases and ‘Heart To Heart’ is a chilled journey through what Reprazent’s MC Dynamite has been working on in recent times.

All in all while fans of the collective will embrace all they can get with open arms, it’s questionable as to why three new tracks have been forcibly inserted in the first place. ‘New Forms’ is still and arguably will always be a thoroughbred in terms of what it achieved and represented, but the fact that its been re-released a decade after its inception, seemingly for the sake of it, new lick of paint or not, is a head scratcher.