there´s another one i did for my sets ;-)

Freak Power - Turn On, Tune In, Cop Out (J.G. 2k13 Re-Edit)

I’m going to get some more edits/reworks uploaded in the coming months, starting off with one I did in conjunction with Henry Greenwood, a rework that was getting a major response until the pandemic went and spoilt the party. 

Recorded by Brooklyn’s Linda Clifford for Curtis Mayfield's Curtom label and mixed by Jim Burgess, ‘Runaway Love’ was somewhat overshadowed by her Disco take on ‘If My Friends Could See Me Now’, from the ‘60s Broadway musical/film, ‘Sweet Charity’. Although ‘Runaway Love’ and ‘Gypsy Lady’ were also listed when the album of the same name topped the US Disco chart, ‘If My Friends Could See Me Now’ was very much the lead track. ‘Runaway Love’ however was the choice cut in the R&B realm where, having been issued as a single, it reached #3.

As big as it was in the Stateside clubs I can’t ever remember ever hearing a DJ in this country playing ‘If My Friends Could See Me Now’ – it was all about ‘Runaway Love’ here, which, from the moment the LP came in on import in ’78 the specialist DJs seized upon. It could have been a UK hit, but was only issued on the flip side of ‘If My Friends Could See Me Now’. Besides, it was all about the full-length 12” version, the truncated 7” compromising its wonderful flow and build. The single stalled at #50 – the fact it got as high as that was all to do with the B Side.

To my ears it’s a track that should be as familiar as Rufus & Chaka Khan’s ‘Ain’t Nobody’, but ‘Runaway Love’ is a hidden classic far too rarely heard. This prompted me to team up with Henry Greenwood to put together a DJ friendly rework that retained the song in all its glory, whilst providing a mix in and out and adding contemporary weight to its already infectious groove. I couldn’t have wished for a better outcome, the audience response the proof in the pudding.

The third in a trio of late-‘70s reworks I’ve collaborated on with Henry, following on from Marshall Hain ‘Dancing In The City’ & El Coco ‘Mondo Disco’, which were pressed back to back on limited vinyl as part of the A&R Edits series.

Linda Clifford 'Runaway Love' (greg wilson & henry greenwood rework)

The Love Unlimited Orchestra -Welcome Aboard (Tonbe Edit)/free download/

Taken from Remixed with Love by Joey Negro Vol.2

Double CD & Vinyl available now from ZR - http://www.zrecords.ltd.uk/new-releases

Digital - https://zrecords.lnk.to/JoeyNegroRemixedLove2


Grace Jones Pull Up To The Bumper Joey Negro Remix

Kid Creole And The Coconuts - I'm A Wonderful Thing Baby (Greg Wilson Edit)

Mike Anthony - Why Can't We live Together (Extended Dance Version) 1982

LDSR 224

Chakachas ‘Jungle Fever’ (greg wilson edit)

99 bpm

Previously limited vinyl only 2010.

Following on from last week’s Crystal Grass upload, here’s the track that appeared on the other side of GW Ruff Edits #4, ‘Jungle Fever’ by Chakachas (aka ‘Belgian Jungle’), a deliciously wicked downtempo groove that’s been described as ‘one of the first Disco records’. Somewhat bizarrely, this was a Latin combo from Belgium, who’d been recording since the 50’s. Chakachas (or The Chakachas, as there name also appeared) were certainly unlikely Disco pioneers, but ‘Jungle Fever’ became a UK Top 30 hit in 1972, and would no doubt have climbed much higher had it not been pulled off the BBC airwaves because the sighs and heavy breathing were deemed too risqué for the British public’s sensibilities (Donna Summer’s ‘Love To Love You Baby’ still more than 3 years away). However, it was in the US where it found its greatest success – a massive hit, it reached #8 on the US Pop chart, and #11 R&B, selling a million copies in the process. 

As with Crystal Grass, the reason I edited it was purely to extend the length, adding over 2 minutes to the original version. The first time I remember playing it out was at Café Mambo in Ibiza in 2009, which was also the first mix I ever uploaded to SoundCloud:
http://soundcloud.com/gregwilson/cafe-mambo-ibiza-27-09-09-greg-wilson-dj-mix/ 

Greg Wilson – November 2011

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

Chakachas 'Jungle Fever' (greg wilson edit)

The Clash - The Magnificent Seven (Extended Rework Disco Tech Edit)

Here’s the second of the reworks I’ve recently put together with Henry Greenwood. This time it’s a brooding Balearic treasure from the late-‘70s, recorded by a group who experienced a fleeting moment of fame with this pop/rock treat and its addictive downtempo dance beat. It’s these qualities we’ve tried to enhance, making the track more contemporary for DJs to play out now, whilst retaining the distinctive essence of the original.

Before we set about the rework, I played it last year as my final track when I appeared at Glitterbox in Hi! Ibiza (I’m back this year for the closing party on Sept 28th). It was after hearing how well this worked as my Glitterbox finale (mix here: https://soundcloud.com/glitterboxibiza/greg-wilson-glitterbox-hi-ibiza-150917) that I approached Henry, who has a wonderful feel for downtempo grooves, to work on an update with me. Anyhow, I think it’s definitely mission accomplished, feedback since I’ve been playing it extremely positive.

Released on EMI’s progressive label, Harvest, in 1978, Marshall Hain’s ‘Dancing In The City’ was a huge UK hit, reaching #3 on the singles chart, as well as scoring big in Europe, Australia and South Africa, and just missing out on the US top 40. 

The duo behind the track, keyboardist Julian Marshall and vocalist/bassist Kit Hain had met as pupils at Dartington Hall School in Totnes, Devon, just a few years beforehand, but their success would be short-lived. A follow-up, ‘Coming Home’, was less memorable, just about scraping into the top 40 before, as with the band itself, completely vanishing from the pop realm, indifference to their album, ‘Free Ride’, the final nail in the coffin.

Marshall would become a member of The Flying Lizards, whose oddball post-punk/avant-garde cover of the R&B classic, ‘Money (That’s What I Want)’, released on Virgin, went top 5 in 1979, before forming Eye To Eye, who released 2 albums for Warner Bros. in the early-‘80s. Hain pursued a solo career, recording the albums ‘Spirits Walking Out’ for Deram (1981) and ‘School For Spies’ for Mercury (1983), before subsequently moving to the US and turning her attention to songwriting.

Available to pre-order on 12" here: https://www.juno.co.uk/products/gw-henry-disco-mondo/739367-01/

Pre-Order

Marshall Hain 'Dancing In The City' (greg wilson & henry greenwood rework)

Bandcamp

Patti Jo - Make Me Believe In You (Jack Tennis 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.