The Bassheads ‘Is There Anybody Out There?’ (greg wilson edit)

124 bpm

Never previously shared.

‘Is There Anybody Out There?’ was one of the all-time Rave classics. It was particularly interesting for me to witness its runaway success given that I knew its creators, Desa and Nick Murphy, who lived on the Wirral. Desa used to come to some of the local clubs I deejayed at as far back as 1977, before he started out as a club DJ himself (he remembered me switching between the Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes and Thelma Houston versions of ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’ at the Golden Guinea in New Brighton), whilst I’d done some recording with Nick, who had a home studio, a few years before The Bassheads formed.

The name, The Bassheads, had come from The Bassment, a night Desa started in Birkenhead in 1988 (in a room where I’d deejayed myself 12 years previous, when the club opened as The Deerstalker). Initially pressing up their own white labels, The Bassheads blew up big time with ‘Is There Anybody Out There?’ – exactly the right tune at the right time. They worked on the track with Shaun Imre, who I also knew from my time living in London during the late 80’s, which took its title from the Pink Floyd recording it sampled, whilst other well-known acts sampled included Talking Heads, The Osmonds and Afrika Bambaataa. Having seen me use mine, Desa bought himself a Revox B77 reel-to-reel, utilizing it in fine style to help bring his ideas to life (as fate would have it, I bought this very machine from Desa a few years back, and it’s one of two I currently rotate for my DJ appearances).

Having been huge on white label during 1991, DeConstruction Records signed 'Is There Anybody Out There?' up and scored a top 5 hit before the end of the year. Prior to issuing the single they had to remove the Floyd sample though, and although the overall track still sounded brilliant and was now somewhat cleaner (Bam was still there, and the other key samples had been replayed to great effect), it was a shame the Floyd was missing for all those who knew the original.

Moving forward to 2009 and I thought it’d be the perfect track to kick off with at the Big Chill Festival, opening up with the atmospheric Floyd ambience. I dug around for the white label 12”, but couldn’t find it, so I got in touch with Desa to ask if he could burn me off a copy. His turntable was broken, so he was unable to do this in time, so he sent me a wav of the DeCon mix instead. I decided to see if I could re-create the original intro myself, so I pulled out my CD of ‘The Wall’ and set about reconstructing the beginning of the DeConstruction version. However, unlike the original, I also added the acoustic guitar section, which provides a great mellow prelude before the in-your-face ‘Crazy Horses’ guitar enters. Suffice to say that it worked a treat at the Big Chill and brought the house down.

I subsequently went back to it and did some further tinkering, most notably extending the aforementioned acoustic guitar section, whilst doubling the length of the euphoric piano breakdown, and building the tension before Bambaataa’s rap to add extra impact.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of this bona fide dancefloor anthem, so it presents the perfect moment to make this edit public as we move deeper into the summer months, whilst acknowledging how Desa, Nick and Shaun stamped their indelible mark on Rave culture.

Greg Wilson – June 2011

Check out my label's music at: https://superweirdsubstance.bandcamp.com

The Bassheads 'Is There Anybody Out There?' (greg wilson edit)

Bookings: matt@thepool-london.com 
Promos: promo@gregwilson.co.uk 
DJ Dates: https://blog.gregwilson.co.uk/upcoming-dj-dates/
Greg began DJing in 1975 and is regarded as one of the most important figures on the UK dance scene. He enjoyed hugely popular residencies in the early eighties at Wigan Pier and Manchester’s majorly influential Legend, having originally started out in his hometown, New Brighton. A pioneer of mixing in the UK, he became the first ‘dance music’ specialist hired for a regular weekly session at Manchester’s now legendary Haçienda club in 1983. Greg was instrumental in breaking the new electronic, post-disco records coming out of New York, a sound he has dubbed ‘Electro-Funk’.

In 2003 he set up electrofunkroots, a website documenting this crucial era in the evolution of dance culture. After a two decade hiatus from the booth, he returned to DJing and soon welcomed bookings throughout Europe and, subsequently, worldwide.

Greg was the first DJ to mix live on British TV, putting together the first UK radio mixes of their type for Piccadilly 261 in Manchester and showing a certain Norman Cook (later Fatboy Slim) how to scratch.

Nominated by DJ Magazine for outstanding contribution, and also named amongst their top twenty remixers of all-time, Greg’s remix credits include Grace Jones, The XX, Groove Armada, Bryan Ferry, Confidence Man, Gilberto Gil and Simian Mobile Disco, whilst he’s edited tracks by A Guy Called Gerald, Talking Heads, O.M.D., Electronic, Imagination and Missy Elliot.

In January 2009 Greg’s reputation was further enhanced when his Essential Mix on BBC Radio 1 received almost universal acclaim and was selected as one of 10 classics that spanned the show’s near 17 year history.

Greg’s Blog, ‘Being A DJ’, was launched in June 2010 for observations on various aspects of club culture now an online touchstone for an ever-increasing amount of dance enthusiasts and aficionados.

In August 2010 he co-curated areas at the inaugural Vintage Festival at Goodwood, which was named ‘Best New Festival’ at the UK Festival Awards.

He has produced a series of documentary podcasts, Time Capsule, Random Influences and Early 80’s Floorfillers, as well as the long-running blog series, Living To Music.

Greg has given talks on music and DJ culture at a number events at venues The Tate Gallery in Liverpool and London's Southbank and Institute Of Contemporary Arts, whilst in 2013 he was invited onto a panel alongside legendary figures Nile Rodgers and Giorgio Moroder @ ADE in Amsterdam. 

In 2014 he unveiled the multi-media label Super Weird Substance, focusing on recording and live events. In 2015, the label released 8 vinyl singles, brought together in the 2 CD comp, 'Greg Wilson Presents Super Weird Substance'. September 2015 saw a memorable Festival No.6 Happening in Portmeirion and Greg rounded off the year with the Liverpool-based celebration of the 40th anniversary of his first club date in 1975 as well as being presented with DJ Magazine's Industry Icon award.

Greg launched his Credit To The Edit club collective at 2016's Festival No.6 and since then has taken it to Liverpool, Berlin, Brixton, Bethnal Green and finally back to Portmeirion for Festival No.6 2017.

2017 saw his label host the epic 14 Hour Super Weird Happening at Liverpool's Florrie, following a mixtape collaboration with Alan Moore, who also appeared at the Happening, whilst it also saw the digital release of The Super Weird Society's 'Gone With The Vibe', released the following year on the first Substance Select 12" vinyl alongside 'The Ghosts Of Watling Street', 'The Best Is Yet To Come' and 'Summer Came My Way'. 2018 also saw the release of Vol.3 in Greg's long-running Credit To The Edit compilation series.

After a handful of further releases, the label was put into hibernation with the onset of covid. Diversifying, ‘Greg Wilson’s Discotheque Archives’ was issued during 2020 lockdown as a limited run paperback, with more books, both Wilson’s own projects and by other authors, now planned.