There’s no easing into this album; press “start” and you are plunged like a lobster directly into the cauldron. Except you don’t get eaten, and the hot cauldron is of mento- and reggae-flavored musical pleasures, swirling with guitar, percussion, rough-hewn vocal harmonies and miscellaneous other sounds, such as (huh?) banjo. So it’s not that you can’t escape, but why would you want to?

That first track is identified as an “inspired improvisation,” although “bunch of folks having fun” would fit too, as would “jam session by a mishmash of musical friends.” Sure, the jamming is jarring, but you’ll soon have to acknowledge the vibrant affinity between the perpetrators: The Overtakers, a Jamaican mento group, and Scenic Isle, a bluegrass outfit from the USA.

So the mishmash isn’t as chaotic as it might seem initially, and the album settles (if that’s the word for something as pulsating as this) into a joyful, tuneful and occasionally beautiful experience. The enthusiastic, busy mento of “Jamaica, Jamaica” is followed by “Gypsy,” a rural delight with its relaxed reggae one-drop and intriguing, only half-comprehensible lyrics. The one-drop continues with the pure roots of “Rock of Gibraltar,” complete with gospel influences and references to “Jah Jah children.”

The album’s dominating tune may be what comes next, simply because it’s an eight-minute, charged-up version of the jauntily unforgettable “Bluegrass Tafari,” the title song of a wonderful album by Snake Oil Medicine Show. It turns out Snake Oil and Scenic Isle are pretty much the same folks, and they’re recycling their tune for the occasion. Fine with me.

The album’s playful mood changes with the 12-minute “Pugilist (Version).” It begins as a meditative instrumental, develops seamlessly into a gentle groove with abstracted vocal and from there into passionately subdued banjo-led reggae. The musical heat has cooled, and my mind wanders way back to early Grateful Dead, not a bad place to retreat to. A friendly “Loop de Loop” closes the album.

’Pon Scenic Isle makes me appreciate the musical chefs who are creative and courageous enough to throw differing ingredients into the huge, simmering cauldron of possibilities. It can produce mighty tasty musical nourishment. I feel healthier already.