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We give up! Just when we thought the gravy train had stopped running, the last train to skaville pulls into the station with 16 jaunty numbers fusing ska and rocksteady with a healthy dose of Jamaican soul at the hands of Jackie Mittoo and the Soul Brothers under the guidance of Coxsone Dodd! After the Skatalites busted up in the mid 60s, Dodd set about assembling a new house band, bringing Mittoo and a number of the original members of the Skatalites, including Lloyd Brevett and Roland Alphonso, together with some of the new, younger talent, and the fine folks at Soul Jazz have assembled a mighty, mighty set of their finest moments. But as Coxsone says in the liner notes, let's "Cut the chatter and spin the platter"! Includes "James Bond", "Voodoo Moon", "Chicken & Booze", "Hpney Pot", "Mr Flint", "Dr Ring Ding", "Got My Boogaloo", "Home Made", "Sufferer's Choice" and "Hot & Cold".

The debut of a genius group that would forever transform the sound of electric jazz in the 80s – and a brilliant set that few others could match at the time! Pieces Of A Dream first snuck onto the scene with a sound that was refreshingly subtle at the time – almost a back-to-basics approach to electric jazz, and one that got past some of the excesses and more dancefloor-oriented styles that hit a lot of fusion at the end of the 70s. The approach here is often quite light – still soulful and rhythmic, but mostly with a gentle focus on the group's keyboards by James Lloyd, which really set the scene wonderfully for the flowing mellow soul style of the record. The jazz component of the work is still relatively strong, too – even on the tunes that feature vocals by singer Barbara Walker – a great fit for the group's sound on the cuts "Warm Weather" and "Lovers". Other titles include "Body Magic", "Touch Me In the Spring", "Steady Glide", and the classic "Pieces Of A Dream".