Edit The Edit ‘Two Sides Of Sympathy’ (greg wilson edit of pta mash-ups)

112 bpm

Previously limited vinyl only in 2007 & 2009.

Of all the tracks I’ve played since my DJ return at the end of ’03, this has been undoubtedly the most requested. It was very much a signature track for a number of years, and still makes an appearance from time to time nowadays.

It all stems from when I picked up a 12” from Piccadilly Records in Manchester during the summer of 2005. It was by The P.T.A (Paul Martin and Tyrrell) on Throw Away Records, and included two mash-ups, both of which used the vocal from Amerie’s ‘1 Thing’, which had been a big R&B hit earlier that year. On one side of the 12” it had been mashed with Massive Attack’s ‘Unfinished Sympathy’ (this was titled ‘Unfinished Thing’), whilst on the other, ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ by the Rolling Stones (‘One For The Devil’). Not only had each of these combinations melded brilliantly, but both had ‘Sympathy’ in the title. This impressed me no end – some genius juxtaposition going on there.

Listening closer it was clear that there’d been some tampering, but it wasn’t until much later that I realised that, apart from the Amerie acappella, everything had been re-created by Canadian producer / DJ Tyrrell, including Keith Richard’s iconic guitar solo, which sounded better than ever - I’d presumed that the version of ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ he’d used had come from some Andrew Loog Oldham type instrumental (as was the case when The Verve famously sampled Oldham’s orchestral arrangement of the Stones’ ‘The Last Time’, on their 90’s classic ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’), so this only added to my awe at what Tyrrell and Paul had somehow managed to magic up.

Brilliance on vinyl is all good and well, but I’d bought the track with the dancefloor in mind, so it was now a case of how it walked the walk. Straight away I had a problem – which side to play? They were both really strong and I couldn’t make my mind up at first, but then I went between the horns of this dilemma and decided to mix one straight into the other, as though it was a single continuous track. I originally did this live (they appear together this way on a recording from Birmingham’s much lamented Jigsaw night, where I played in August ’05), but then I decided to put together an edit so I could take the combined length down by about three minutes and tighten the idea up. I called this version ‘Two Sides Of Sympathy’ – I utilized the percussion from ‘One For The Devil’ for the intro, before moving into the main body of ‘Unfinished Thing’, which then mixes back into ‘One for The Devil’ during the breakdown, reaching its climax with the guitar solo. To round things off I gave it a customary peppering of samples and spins.

The edit went Big with a capital B for me, and everywhere I went people were asking for it – it was one of those tracks you couldn’t stop playing because you knew that people would be disappointed not to hear it. When I came to put together my Essential Mix for Radio 1 in January ‘09, ‘Two Sides Of Sympathy’ was probably the first track on my list (the mix focusing on the tunes that had served me best since my comeback five years previous).

A limited 12” on the Edit The Edit inprint was made available in 2007 – as the name suggests, this was for my edits of other peoples edits (or mash-ups, as in this case). The original P.T.A release was fully credited on the label – I’d made contact with Tyrrell via email and he’d given his blessing for the 12” to be pressed. We got to meet for the first time when I was in London appearing at Plastic People in April ’07, where he’d hear me play ‘Two Sides’ over that killer system.

In 2009 it would re-appear on vinyl, this time as the second release in the Reactivate series (following on from ‘I Was A Teenage DJ’ / ‘Gotta Keep Workin’ It’), a new wave of DJ demand resulting from its Essential Mix inclusion.

Given that I can’t list the artists as Amerie, Massive Attack & the Rolling Stones (because two thirds of that trio are Tyrrell in disguise), I’ll stick to Edit The Edit ‘Two Sides Of Sympathy', which is how it’s been listed most often, Essential Mix included.

When I asked Tyrrell if he was happy for me to upload it here he told me to ‘go ahead, spread the love’. So here it is, maintaining the bi-yearly sequence – 2005 original P.T.A 12”, 2007 Edit The Edit 12”, 2009 Reactivate 12”, and now 2011 SoundCloud download.

Greg Wilson – August 2011


Edit The Edit 'Two Sides Of Sympathy' (greg wilson edit of pta mash-ups)

Biography
At school they said Jason Wallace’s obsession with music may have a detrimental effect on his future. On the contrary… from his infatuation with music his life has been enriched and inspirational.

It all started at a very young age at home when his father would ask him to change a record once they had finished playing. Later, when he was merely 14, he would sit for hours at his father’s club watching, mesmerised by the DJ. It wasn’t long before one of them showed him the ropes and he, himself got to play while the DJ took a break. This was the most exhilarating experience of his life. A life cast to follow the love of the beat.

Jason started hosting school parties for the older kids, just so he could practice, combining old turntables with a cassette player. Desperately wanting to be near the music he got a job mastering and editing in a sound studio in Johannesburg.

1995 was the start of the dj club scene for Jason in London’s The Gardening Club, Milk and Two Sugars and Tribe. During those two years he also played for Girls FM, which was locally based pirate radio station.

On Jason`s return to South Africa he became a resident in the legendary Foundation Club in Johannesburg, at the same time he was gaining all of this valuable experience he was playing alongside international professionals such as Carl Cox, Jeff K (Masters At Work), Judge Jewels, Fat Boy Slim, Sasha and John Digweed, Sonique and Dillon & Dickens, as well as many other stars of that era.

In the late 90`s he hit a real milestone when he started hosting his own nights and taking part in the development of the deep house scene in South Africa.

Over the next 6 years he became resident at Opium, Black Sheep, Ministry of Sound, Tilt, 330, Dream Scapes, Carfax, Mother, Time, Truth…some of South Africa’s top clubs and events.

2006 made a turn again as his migration back to the northern hemisphere, this time landing in Zurich, Switzerland.

It didn’t take long before he had set up his own party label called Digital Love, doing parties in Luzern and Zurich.

As his popularity grew he was offered a resident position in the underground scene in Zurich’s infamous Hive Club, where he is well known for his deep jumping house and techno sets. Hive being voted the 2nd best club in Europe for the 2009 Club Awards for Mix Mag.

Finding his niche in the Rakete (Rocket) party label, number one in Zurich for the past 3 years, each month presenting a music melt down from all around the world, he was able to experience playing along side the best talents of their kind such as Steve Bug, Kollektive Turmstrasse, Christian Burkhardt, Loco Dice, Booka Shade, Jens Bond, Oliver Koletzki, Sebo K, Martin Landsky, Fritz Kalkbrenner.. You get the idea…


Currently he hosts the 4 Jahreszeiten ( 4 Seasons) party label in Hive as well as playing with labels such as, Mobilee Rec, Poker Flat, Soul/Berlin and Watergate/Berlin, Connoisseur Rec.

Blessed by being surrounded by creative, talented musicians and friends since living in Switzerland, his world and passion has been strongly reinforced, his crowds continue to fill up dance floors and get swept along on his sets of ever smoothly flowing styles.

So glad I grew up when we partied in warehouses or fields. Everyone was your friend and music brought us together. If it was strawberries & cream or white doves, we partied til the sun came up and loved every minute of it. I fell in love with rave and all the tunes and journeys it took me on.  A little older now but music is still my passion 🙌❤️🙌

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.