soul old skool

Content hosted for Greg Wilson's www.electrofunkroots.co.uk website.

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

www.electrofunkroots.co.uk

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mixes

80's

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Recording from warehouse party at Autumn Street Studio, Hackney Wick, London 20.07.13.

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

AUTUMN STREET STUDIO LONDON 20.07.13 (greg wilson live mix)

The new album 'Feelin' Good' is out now on Warp Records, buy from - 

iTunes - http://smarturl.it/zvhv3g
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Buy 'Feelin' Good'

Fun Mix #1

In the mix

Shep Pettibone Mastermix Danceparty Part 1 from the Summer 1983 aired by the best early 80's dance music station in New York City: Kiss FM 98.7 WRKS.

Shep Pettibone Mastermix Part1

Shep Pettibone Mastermix Danceparty Part 2 from the Summer 1983 aired by the best early 80's dance music station in New York City: Kiss FM 98.7 WRKS.

Shep Pettibone Mastermix Part2

From latest blog post - 'Manchester Vibes In The Area':
http://www.gregwilson.co.uk/2011/10/manchester-vibes-in-the-area/

The Electric Chair, with its legendary residents, The Unabombers (Luke & Justin), ran from 1995-2008, hosting 151 ‘executions’. A who’s who of guests, from both sides of the Atlantic, appeared during this time, and it was the favourite UK night of so many DJ’s. After 13 years they decided to go out at the top, their beloved ‘dirty basement’ still packed to the rafters for the monthly sessions (the venue, the Music Box, was previously another seminal Manchester club called Rafters, which I first became aware of in the late 70’s when it was at the forefront of the North’s Jazz-Funk scene, with DJ’s John Grant and Colin Curtis at the helm). Luke & Justin now run a successful bar, Electrik, in Chorlton, Manchester, whilst still making DJ appearances – they also host the Electric Elephant Festival in Croatia once a year.

Playing for the first time at the Electric Chair, on February 26th 2005, was a big deal for me, not only because it was the leading night on the scene I was now a part of, but also because it represented a lineage of cutting-edge Manchester clubbing dating right back to the 60’s, including Legend and The Haçienda, 2 landmark clubs I had the good fortune to be personally associated with 2 decades earlier. 

So, as you can appreciate, there was a deeper sense of time and place, almost a sniff of destiny, about that night at the Electric Chair for me. I’d prepared in accordance, putting together some new edits for the occasion. I started off with a mash-up, ‘Soul Squelch’, which coupled a contemporary track, ‘Squelch’, by Manchester’s own Dubble D, a Chair regular, with the classic Rakim rap from ‘I Know You Got Soul’ (Eric B & Rakim), which harked back to my 80’s Hip Hop connections with the city – this would be pressed-up on the first Redux 12” as ‘Soul Squelch’ (by Dubble D & Rakim). 

My final track, again specially edited for the occasion, was Mr Bloe’s harmonica workout, a feelgood favourite from my younger years, 1970’s ‘Groovin’ With Mr Bloe’. This would later be become more widely known as the closing cut on my first ‘Credit To The Edit’ compilation, which was issued the following August. 

The recording features an additional ‘one for the road’ track, which was an extended edit I did of ‘The Word’ by The Beatles. Luke and Justin always played the last spot, but they got me to come up at the end of the night to spin a final tune, and this is what I went with. Also, the recording is presented here for the first time as a whole 2 hour mix. It was originally split into 2 CD length halves, hence the fade out you’ll hear on ‘WFL’ by the Happy Mondays at the end of what was Disc 1.
  
Prior to my initial Reels Of Steel at Band On The Wall, Stretch Disco, who were hosting the night, put a YouTube piece online, where I was interviewed about my career defining ‘Manchester Moments’ - Legend and The Haçienda first time around, and Music Is Better and the Electric Chair more recently. Here’s what I said about my Chair debut:

“I knew about the Electric Chair beforehand, and I’d recognised it as the leading night on the scene, not just in Manchester but nationally. I think Electric Chair is one of these nights that, now, I don’t think people give full credit to - it will need a separation of time, give it 10 years and people will talk about the Electric Chair in real hallowed terms because, you know, the amount of nights up and down the country that I’ve done since that have said that they got their inspiration from the Electric Chair. It was just such a great night! 

What they were doing was mixing all the different styles together and I think that reconnected to the original spirit that went back to my time (at Legend). I can remember when I first went in there, listening to some of the tracks that were being played - I knew that Justin (Unabomber) had come from an Indie side, he was in a band called The New Fast Automatic Daffodils, and I was aware of this, but I didn’t know much about Luke at the time. I thought there’s a connection back to the black scene here, but I couldn’t quite work out what it was, and then I realised what it was, it was that Luke was from Sheffield and he’d been schooled at a night called Jive Turkey, which Winston (Hazel) and Parrot were the DJs at. Now they were kids on the scene who used to come to the All-Dayers that I used to do - no doubt that they came to Legend and stuff. So it’s all within that side of things, and he (Luke) made his connection there, and that made perfect sense to me as to why that black sensibility was there within the music that was being played at the Electric Chair. 

It was an incredible night, I mean they still do one-offs now, but obviously the night was at The Music Box - not the original though, they started in pubs in the 90s. I mean it was going for a long time beforehand but eventually found its home at The Music Box with a real dedicated crowd who were really into the music and everything. So when I came to play there it was like a homecoming in a way, and in a sense it made me feel like I’d arrived as a DJ again - it had gone beyond the stage that here’s somebody from the past and there’s a novelty value aspect to it, to somebody who’s current and doing stuff now, and I felt that very much with playing at the Electric Chair, with the warmth and reception of the crowd.”

The full ‘Manchester Moments’ clip can be viewed here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXHJQ_mDPiU

Greg Wilson - October 2011


ELECTRIC CHAIR MANCHESTER 26.02.05 (greg wilson live mix)

Boogie Mix

This Sunday (New Years Day 2011) the Living To Music selection is the self-titled debut album by The Stone Roses. This reminded me of the one and only time I’ve played the LP’s opening track, ‘I Wanna Be Adored’ in a club. I wrote:

“In Dec 07 I was the final DJ, bar the residents, to play at Manchester’s now fabled Electric Chair – one of the city’s most important club nights in recent memory. I wanted to finish off with a track that truly summoned up the spirit of Manchester, and settled on ‘I Wanna Be Adored’ – an ethereal anthem from an era that placed the city at the forefront of popular culture. Whilst ‘Fools Gold’ is obviously the Roses track most geared to the dancefloor (and the one I'd later feature in my Essential Mix), ‘I Wanna Be Adored’ evoked the unity evident in that E’d up epoch, subsequently echoing through to the Electric Chair and still dearly cherished by those who experienced it first hand, whilst becoming a source of continued fascination for those who didn’t.”

Full blog post here: http://www.gregwilson.co.uk/2011/12/living-to-music-the-stone-roses-the-stone-roses/ 

I talk about the Electric Chair, and its legacy, in greater detail in the blog post ‘Manchester Vibes In The Area’: http://www.gregwilson.co.uk/2011/10/manchester-vibes-in-the-area/ 

The aforementioned Electric Chair event, the ‘Last Supper’ as they called it, featured a whole host of previous guests, all playing for half an hour each. As I mentioned, I was the final guest to appear and, given the significance of the occasion, I wanted my selections to be symbolic of the city’s club heritage, linking back to the underground days of the early 80’s, when I was at Legend (and, just prior to my retirement as a DJ, The Haçienda). The 5 tracks I decided on consisted of a trio of classic home-grown tunes from the height of the Madchester era, along with a couple more tracks, one from New York and one from Italy, which had originally been associated with Legend, but would later gain a secondary association as massive oldies played at The Haçienda later in the decade.

Having had to rush across town from a previously arranged booking (as fate would have it, a Haçienda revival night at Sankey’s Soap), in time to make my 4.30am slot, it wasn’t possible for me to set up all my equipment at the Chair, so this was one of the rare occasions when I’ve played from CD. Aware of this ahead of the gig, and knowing that the time frame only enabled me to play a handful of tracks, in preparation I did some editing and overdubbing on the tunes I’d selected, the first of which, 808 State’s ‘Pacific State’, would prove to be particularly inspirational for me a little over 12 months later, as this was where I first used the Jesse Jackson ‘Wattstax’ invocation, which would play such a pivotal role in my Essential Mix , where it features in both the opening track, DFP’s edit of ‘Down To Love Town’ and the concluding one, which is, of course, my ‘Electric Chair Edit’ of ‘Pacific State’.

I uploaded it earlier this year, so you can get the full lowdown / download here
http://soundcloud.com/gregwilson/808-state-pacific-state-greg 
Here’s the link to the Essential Mix:
http://soundcloud.com/gregwilson/essential-mix-greg-wilson-mix-for-bbc-radio-1 

The ‘Last Supper’ selection continues with Hashim’s ‘Al-Naafiysh (The Soul)’, now an acknowledged Electro classic, but originally a tune that had first blown-up big time on my Wednesday nights at Legend, when I started playing it as an import on a brand new NYC label, Cutting Records, which, as the decade unfolded would bridge Electro and House, not least with the cult anthem, ‘Let’s Get Brutal’ / ‘This Brutal House’ by Nitro Deluxe, a clear hybrid of these styles.  I’d later include ‘Al-Naafiysh’ as one of 12 era defining choices on ‘Classic Electro Mastercuts’, which I compiled in 1994:
http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/misc/classic_electro.html 

Hearing ‘Al-Naafiysh’ played at The Haçienda’ at the height of the Rave period always brought a smile to my face, as I was the first DJ to play it there, back in 1983 when the clubs regular indie / student type customers, who were pretty hostile to the ‘dance shit’ I was known for, and which was packing the floor at Legend and Wigan Pier, where I worked with a predominantly black audience. The Haçienda was slow off the mark, but when it finally got there a few years down the line, it really got there with a vengeance, so to see this track ecstatically embraced as a classic 5/6 years on was, for me, a respectful nod back to what had gone before. Only problem being that the Acid House / Rave explosion was generally being reported as something new, with way too many writers totally unaware that what was happening at The Haçienda linked directly back to the Electro era, and before. The influence of the underground black scene was, as a consequence, pretty much whitewashed out of the story, whilst the romance of the Ibiza myth was increasingly cited as the inspiration behind what was happening in the rainy city, and neighbouring House music hotbeds, like Sheffield, Nottingham, Birmingham and Leeds, previously Jazz-Funk / Electro-Funk strongholds.

The third track here is a perfect illustration of this. Klein & MBO’s ‘Dirty Talk’ would appear as the opening track on the 1997 compilation ‘Viva Haçienda – 15 Years Of The Haçienda’. Described as a ‘certified Haçienda classic’, the sleevenotes would state “released pre-house, this Italian electro-disco curio only really made sense after the Chicago invasion”. This obviously wound me up something rotten, for, in reality, whilst it might have become a Haçienda classic a few years down the line, it had originally been one the biggest tunes of ‘82 bar none at Legend, featuring in my ‘Best Of ‘82’ mix on Piccadilly Radio. Rather than not really making sense pre-House, this was a track that made perfect sense to the black crowd long before Chicago began to make its impact in the mid-80’s. The reason it took off at The Haçienda in the first place was due to its popularity on the black scene in Manchester.

When The Haçienda ‘s original resident, Hewan Clarke, played it there one night, New Order, who co-owned the club, asked him if they could borrow it as a reference for a track that they were working on in the studio at the time, which turned out to be one of the defining releases of the 80’s – ‘Blue Monday’.

I’ll always be grateful to Harry Taylor at Spin Inn for putting me on to ‘Dirty Talk’ – I wrote about it in my 12x12 Wax Poetics selection: http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/lists/12x12.html 

The version I include here is the one I used to play at Legend and Wigan Pier, the instrumental ‘USA Connection’. The following summer Flexx Records in Belgium approached me to put together an official edit of the track, which they’d licensed. This was issued on 12” in Sept ’08, and this would subsequently appear as one of the selections on my ‘Credit To The Edit Vol 2’ compilation in 2009.

The penultimate inclusion is the Paul Oakenfold mix of ‘WFL’ by the Happy Mondays (in the Essential Mix I went for the Vince Clarke version). Again, from my Wax Poetics 12x12 piece, here’s what I wrote about it:

“Following the introduction of the drug ecstasy to the city (the legend has it that Mondays dancer, Bez, was the catalyst), an ever increasing number of white kids turned on to the dance grooves previously associated with the black scene. The underground was about to go mainstream, and Manchester (or ‘Madchester’ as it would be temporarily re-named) was right at the cusp of things.

The Happy Mondays had anticipated this with the release of their 1988 single “Wrote For Luck”, an addictive downtempo groover and the key track in their memorable live sets of the period, which echoed back to the Punk-Funk ethos of an earlier time. They chose my old club, Legend, to record the video, which had a theme of a children’s party, with a multi-racial audience, which seemed to sum up the cultural melting pot that had been stirring in the city for a number of years.

“WFL” was “Wrote For Luck” remixed…and how! Not one, but two brilliant remixes back to back courtesy of Vince Clarke (then Erasure, formerly Depeche Mode and Yazoo) and Paul Oakenfold (assisted by Terry Farley) working alongside programmer / engineer Steve Osborne. The Oakenfold / Osbourne combination would go on to produce the bands most commercially successful releases.

I’ll never forget the first time I saw the video to “WFL” (which used the Vince Clarke mix). Once again it was shot in Legend, but this time the children had been replaced by a club full of what were now termed ‘ravers’. A brilliant visual representation of those early ‘E’ days, perfectly capturing the time and the vibe, this video obviously made a deep impression on me. Seeing the same dancefloor that had been packed with black kids on my nights earlier in the decade, now full of white kids, was hugely symbolic of the way youth culture in this country was changing.”
http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/lists/12x12.html

Then, finally, it’s ‘I Wanna Be Adored’, which, on the night, very much had the desired effect, generating a tingling of emotion throughout the audience, especially, as I mentioned, the old school contingent who, hands aloft on the dancefloor, felt the intensity of those first time around feelings come flooding back for a few precious minutes. 

Highlighting the lineage between past and present, my hope was that this short mix would provide was a fitting personal homage to not only the Electric Chair, but to The Haçienda before it, and Legend before that.

Greg Wilson – December 2011


ELECTRIC CHAIR LAST SUPPER 29.12.07 (greg wilson live selection)

To tie-in with the re-launch of my Electrofunkroots resource I'm going to be uploading some audio content that was either recorded in the early 80's, or looks back on the era.

I hope you check out the To tie-in with the re-launch of my Electrofunkroots resource I'm going to be uploading some audio content that was either recorded in the early 80's, or looks back on the era.

I hope you check out the redesigned revitalized website, we've added loads of new stuff, and will continue to do so on a regular basis - your feedback would be very much appreciated: 
http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk website, we've added loads of new stuff, and will continue to do so on a regular basis - your feedback would be very much appreciated: 
http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/mixes/the_best_of_82.html 

There's also a blog post, which gives you the full lowdown - Redesigned Revitalized: 
http://www.gregwilson.co.uk/2012/01/redesigned-revitalized/ 

Greg Wilson - January 2012

THE BEST OF 82: THE YEAR'S BIGGEST UNDERGROUND CLUB TUNES
In May 1982 I began putting together regular mixes for Mike Shaft’s Piccadilly Radio Soul Show, ‘T.C.O.B’ (Taking Care Of Business). The original mixes were as live, but as the year went on I began to utilise edits to a greater extent, using the station’s editing booths to try out some basic ideas. By the end of the year I’d bought my own equipment, so I could make the mixes from home, including two Technics SL1200 turntables and a Revox B77 reel-to-reel. Apart from allowing me to master the mixes and, of course, experiment further with editing, the simple dub effects on the mix were done via the Revox (which, as I’ve previously said elsewhere, was the best piece of equipment I ever bought).

Listening back to ‘The Best Of 82’, the first end of year mix broadcast by the station, I can’t help but cringe at the naivety of it, not to mention the general sloppiness! However, when this went out over the airwaves in December 1982 it would become part of local radio folklore. At the time you’d have thought I’d created a masterpiece judging from all the acclaim it received! It probably took me about 2-3 hours to put together, which, at that point, would have been the longest amount of time I’d ever spent on a mix, and it included 52 different tracks, some of which were just brief snippets. 

All of the tracks, as the title suggests, were major floorfillers at my venues during 1982. Apart from Wigan Pier and Legend in Manchester, which hosted the North’s top black music nights of the period, I also had two other successful weekly sessions during the second half of ’82 – Thursday nights at The Stars Bar in Huddersfield and Fridays at The Exit in Manchester. Apart from this I made guest appearances at the top All-Dayer events in the North and Midlands.

Copied from the original ¼” master, ‘The Best Of ‘82’ was one of the few mixes I managed to salvage from Piccadilly. However, due to damage at the end of the tape I had to fade-out before the final track, which was the US mix of 'Ease Your Mind' by Touchdown.

Also see The Best Of 83: http://soundcloud.com/gregwilson/the-best-of-83-by-greg-wilson

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

THE BEST OF 82 (by greg wilson for piccadilly radio manchester 1982)

To tie-in with the re-launch of my Electrofunkroots resource I'm going to be uploading some audio content that was either recorded in the early 80's, or looks back on the era.

I hope you check out the To tie-in with the re-launch of my Electrofunkroots resource I'm going to be uploading some audio content that was either recorded in the early 80's, or looks back on the era.

I hope you check out the redesigned revitalized website, we've added loads of new stuff, and will continue to do so on a regular basis - your feedback would be very much appreciated: 
http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/mixes/the_best_of_83.html 

There's also a blog post, which gives you the full lowdown - Redesigned Revitalized: 
http://www.gregwilson.co.uk/2012/01/redesigned-revitalized/

Greg Wilson - January 2012

THE BEST OF 83: THE YEAR'S BIGGEST UNDERGROUND CLUB TUNES
Although it may sound pretty rough around the edges by today’s standards, Greg Wilson’s “Best of 83” mix was viewed as groundbreaking back in the day (as was the previous year’s “Best of 82”), and revered as inspirational by a new generation of DJs who’d take up where he left off. These end of year mixes would become something of a tradition on Piccadilly Radio (later Key 103), which broadcast throughout the North-West of England, with the series continuing on into the next decade. Courtesy of Chad Jackson (84/85) and Stu Allan (86-92), including DJKA’s mix in '87.

The mixes focused on the biggest tracks played on the black music scene during the previous year, “Best of 83” cramming in as many floorfillers as possible (even if it only be a brief snippet) from the main clubs of the time, Wigan Pier and Legend in Manchester.

Also see The Best Of 82: http://soundcloud.com/gregwilson/the-best-of-82-by-greg-wilson

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

THE BEST OF 83 (by greg wilson for piccadilly radio manchester 1983)

NO SELL OUT - ELECTRO RETROSPECTIVE
LEGEND / WIGAN PIER MAY 1982 – DEC 1983
MIXED BY GREG WILSON FOR A GUY CALLED GERALD - SAMURAI FM 2005

This is the most involved mix I’ve ever put together, even more so than my Essential Mix in 2009, for which ‘No Sell Out’ very much provided the prototype. I intended it as a definitive document to the period May 82 – Dec 83, when Legend and Wigan Pier were at their most influential, the new Electro-Funk sound turning the black scene on its head as the old gradually gave way to the new.

As I wrote at the time:
“The tracks on this mix represent this now distant time of both musical and cultural change. I’ve selected the records that were regarded as controversial at the time within black music circles, the ones that the traditionalists were up in arms about. I’d originally chosen 50 of the biggest tracks played at Legend and the Pier, but this was upped to 60, all of which needed to be edited down to an average of a minute and a half in length, which was no small task in itself! Realising that there were still other tracks I wanted to include, I decided to keep it to the main 60, but drop in snippets of additional records from the period, not only Electro, but also other big floorfillers from my nights. I never played purely Electro, but mixed it in alongside Soul, Funk and Disco (or as people refer to it nowadays, Boogie), and this is reflected by the numerous ‘references’ sprinkled throughout the mix.

It’s good to be able to place some of these tracks back into their original context. Tracks like ‘The Message’, ‘Rockit’ and ‘Buffalo Gals’ would become big hits in the UK, but they were completely unknown when first played at Legend and the Pier. A perfect example would be ‘White Lines’, which was an underground favourite for many months before the penny finally dropped with the mainstream audience and they came to appreciate it as the wonderful record it is, resulting in a chart stay of over a year! Nowadays, ‘White Lines’ can be played pretty much anywhere to a great response. It’s a sure-fire floorfiller, regarded as a dance standard, but it wasn’t always that way - without the initial specialist support it could quite easily have ended up as just a minor hit.

The title of the mix, ‘No Sell Out’, comes from the opening track. It seemed an appropriate name, given the fact these records were very much regarded by the purists as the selling out of black music, rather than its salvation (something which pretty much everyone can now, with hindsight, clearly see). Listening back to these tracks you can trace the evolution of Hip Hop, Techno and House. This was the point in time when black music fully embraced the available technology and took dance to new dimensions. Hearing these records for the very first time, we knew that the future was upon us and that dance music had entered a whole new phase of its development.”

The ‘No Sell Out – Electro Retrospective’ page at Electrofunkroots gives the full lowdown and complete tracklisting. It includes an introduction by Gerald Simpson (aka A Guy Called Gerald), for whose Samurai FM podcast this mix was originally put together.

http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/mixes/no_sell_out.html 

Greg Wilson – February 2012

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

NO SELL OUT ELECTRO RETROSPECTIVE (by greg wilson for a guy called gerald - samurai fm 2005)

A deep progressive and spiritual safari through my favorite beats 
inspired by the beloved mother nature and the echoes of the forest

Recorded on Pioneer CDJ 800 and Allen n Heath Xone

Meaty beats for funky peps  !

Speacial thanks to all the artists who's music 
made this mix possible keep doing your kickass tracks

And mad props to, Jaira Rec, Geometryx, BlasterULF, Ur Funktion
and all you mad hippies and kickass homies out there 






Woodlum Hoodlum

SHEP PETTIBONE – MASTERMIXES       
 
 A SELECTION OF RARE EDITS, UNRELEASED MIXES AND UNDERGROUND CLASSICS 

Out March 2012 Limited Edition CD Only.

Remixer Shep Pettibone first emerged during the early '80s as a force in disco, boogie, hip-hop and house. Starting with Arthur Baker, he was responsible for Afrika Bambaataa and the Jazzy Five's influential "Jazzy Sensation," and concurrent with the rise of scratching and other turntable innovations created KISS-FM's "MasterMixes."   By the mid-'80s,Pettibone was in hot demand, producing and remixing tracks for such dance-pop innovators as the Pet Shop Boys and New Order; his most successful collaboration, however, was with Madonna, for whom he produced a series of hits, including "Vogue," "Causing a Commotion," and "Justify My Love."  For a long time it was impossible to live in New York without hearing 'This is a KISS Master Mix... Mix... Mix... by Shep Pettibone!' resounding across the airwaves and into the streets. While there had been disco radio mixes before Pettibone, there was never anything like the buzz that kept building on the streets until demand was such for his remixed tapes that Prelude released the landmark KISS Master Mixes LP. 
Pettibone, at 22, worked part time at 'WBLS, where he won recognition for his remix of MFSB's 'Love Is The Message' in 1980.  Shep’s perspective differed from others in that he had a strong pop orientation and the fact that he liked to get right to the point, where the remix needed to be as familiar as the song itself. Stating in a rare interview with Steven Harvey which appeared in the Collusion magazine in 1983 “Basically, it's up to my mood and my feeling. Nobody calls me and tells me what to do. I've gone two weeks at a time without a take on a mix, and then I'll turn around and produce four in one week. The key is to make each one different”.
 Shep's "Mastermixes" were remixes of hit post-disco and dance songs of the time, and continued into 1983, after which Shep became more closely involved with Salsoul Records and expanded into studio mixing and production. He was one of the first to submit multiple remixes (with different approaches) to be released all on the same single. Today this is standard practice to market a song to a multitude of different radio formats and markets.  Shep's "Mastermixes" would often incorporate the "dub" version or instrumental version of the 12" single, using the vocal-only track or other unique portions of the various versions of the 12" singles. Shep made ample use of tape splicing and other methods of editing to create repetitive lines of music or vocals, often in quick, staccato rhythm, and he also made judicious use of tape delay and digital delay effects, usually opting for an eighth-note 'triplet' continuous echo effect either effected on a specific vocal or musical point, or set on a continuous mode with limited delay length to allow for an echoing effect as the music played.  Some "Mastermixes" he did for 98.7 Kiss FM which featured these effects significantly include those for "Do It To The Music" by Raw Silk, and "So Fine" by Howard Johnson (both hits in 1982). In late 1982 Prelude Records released the infamous double-album LP set of "Mastermixes" by Shep Pettibone for a number of Prelude-released songs. The remixes Shep did for D-Train's "You're The One For Me" and "Keep On" are considered classic "Mastermixes" from this set. 
Shep Pettibone added to his work at 98.7 Kiss FM from 1982 by working in the studio on a number of well known 12" singles for Salsoul Records in 1983, including hits by Skyy, Inner Life, the Salsoul Orchestra and Loleatta Holloway, among others. His now classic remix of First Choice's "Let No Man Put Asunder" is the version now found in the majority of urban DJ's record crates.  During Shep Pettibone's peak years at the end of the 1980s, he copied an effect of the use of a sequenced "machine gun"-sounding snare drum sequencing of the Roland TR-909 drum machine, typically as an end-of-bar fill. Shep's "bazooka snare" evolved into a singular sound that can be used with great accuracy to identify his remixes from the period 1988 to 1992, though his attempt to claim credit for the initial use is spurious. Current hip hop and dance recordings, such as the long mix of Beyoncé's "Sweet Dreams" or Azari & III ‘Reckless With Your Love’ continue this tradition.   During his hiatus from radio remixing, Pettibone played records at Better Days, a Black gay bar in the Times Square area. Every club's sound reflects its demographics and, at Better Days, Pettibone spun almost exclusively Black urban post R&B style disco. He constantly mixed over-the records, dropping in extra hand claps (like the delayed intro clap in Prince Charles' 'Jungle Stomp') and effects and hardly ever seemed to let a record play through. The peak would come when he juxtaposed an accapella such as a version of Chocolate Milk's 'Who's Getting It Now' with the instrumental version of Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean', creating a new song that remains perfectly in sync for minutes; A DJ practice that is now standard in a digital age and with software but back then he was constantly having to tease the discs with his finger and tapping the rims of the turntable to bring records into sync. 
 At Better Days, where Shep Pettibone was often to be found spinning alongside the club’s infamous resident Tee Scott, the loyal crowd there had nostalgia for old classics. In the original Collusion interview he tells Steven Harvey, "True. The music right now is not good. I'm sick of hearing drums and synthesizers. I'd like to hear music again; Strangely enough, all these computer records started after 'Thanks To You' by Sinnamon. It was kind of like that computer sound within a Black vein."   Although never the intention of the inventor, re-mixers such as Pettibone have generated a culture of re-mixers who now have the ability to reach a higher status of recognition than the artist they mix and achieve a legacy that can be even more enduring. Over the years since following Shep taking a back seat from studio a number of porducers both in the States and in Europe have been inspired by his pioneering early work including Masters At Work, Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley,  Jellybean Benitez, Joey Negro, Greg Wilson, and Tensnake,

Shep Pettibone MasterMixes blend 96kbps

Taken from blog post:
http://www.gregwilson.co.uk/2012/05/it-was-back-in-82/

IT WAS BACK IN ’82:
One of the defining moments of my DJ career took place exactly 30 years ago, on Monday May 10th 1982, when my first radio mix was broadcast on Mike Shaft’s show, ‘T.C.O.B’ (Taking Care Of Business), on Manchester’s hugely influential Piccadilly Radio, which played a major part in bringing black / dance music to wider attention during the 70’s and ‘80’s - from Soul, Funk and Disco, through Jazz-Funk and Electro, and on into Hip Hop, House and Techno. I go into its rich legacy in greater depth here:
http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/articles/dont_touch_that_dial.html   

The mix had been recorded a few days earlier, as live, one afternoon at Legend in Manchester (the club closed at the time). Mike Shaft had brought along a Revox B77 reel-to-reel to record onto, the machine being the portable unit of choice throughout the radio industry in this country back then. This was the first time the Revox, which has since played a constant role in my work, entered my life. At the time I had no means to record at home, but by the end of the year, following the runaway success of the mixes, which would subsequently become a regular feature on Piccadilly, I’d purchase a couple of Technics SL1200’s and a Matamp Super Nova mixer (this was at a time when, with the exception of London DJ, Froggy, who used them for his Roadshow, no UK DJ’s had such equipment at home). To top things off I bought my first B77, so I could put together my mixes at home, which would serve to lead me ever-deeper into my obsession with editing. So glory be to Mike Shaft and to Piccadilly Radio for facilitating this life-defining arc of continued discovery.

The reel of ¼ tape onto which that first mix was recorded onto was, as with most of my radio mixes (the final one, ‘The Best Of ‘83’, being aired in December 1983), lost – probably copied over at some point or other, having been stored at the station. I managed to salvage a few of these mastertapes, most importantly ‘The Best Of ’82, but the original mix wasn’t amongst these, and I only had it on an extremely lo-fi cassette recorded from the radio at the time.

As the author / DJ Dave Haslam once said, the mixes “were probably some of the most taped programmes in Manchester radio history”. These tapes would also spread further afield than the Greater Manchester region that Piccadilly broadcasted to, with copies, and copies of copies, finding their way into cassette players and ghetto blasters in all corners of the country, often without people having a clue about their source – this was the ‘mixtape’ in its earliest form from a British perspective. One such recipient of my mixes was Stafford based Pezz, then a 14 year old lad discovering his musical influences, and later of the fabled Nottingham-based soundsystem and DJ collective, DiY, who were amongst the pioneers of the UK free party scene, having formed in 1989.

I’d meet Pezz at the Liverpool offices of 3Beat, the record shop / label he worked for – this was in 2002, 20 years on from when my radio mixes first aired. My DJ comeback was still in the future, and I was very much an obscure name from the past at best, most people of Pezz’s age brought up on a later generation of DJ’s. So his excitement at meeting me was unexpected – he was talking about this tape from back in my Piccadilly days that had made a big impact on him and his friends at the time, as they set off on their own personal dance music odysseys, and asked me if I could identify a couple of the tracks featured (these id’s having eluded them for 2 decades). It turned out that one of his big mates back then was Dean Meredith, later of Bizarre Inc, who enjoyed chart success in the early 90’s, and more recently  Chicken Lips (whose ‘He Not In’ I edited on my first ‘Credit To The Edit’ compilation in 2005), and that this tape had been a major influence on the sound of his latter project, which, along with Bizarre Inc, was produced in collaboration with partner Andy Meecham.

Pezz takes up the story in the sleevenotes of a limited run CD (300 copies only) from 2007, to mark the 25th anniversary, which he called ‘It Was Back In ‘82’:

“As soon as I’d met Greg, an excited call was made to Dean. ‘…. Hey kid, guess what! I just met Greg Wilson – No way – I need you to send me a copy of the tape up as soon as possible….’ Then came the months of waiting more phone call’s hassling to get a copy before eventually with the bribe of digitally remastering it onto CD it finally arrived!

In the meantime I’d had many conversations with Greg and e-mail’s were exchanged, one of which contained a list of essential Electro-Funk releases. This list was full of records I, and anyone I showed it to, had never heard of, apart from some obvious classic’s such as the Peech Boy’s ‘Don’t Make Me Wait’, and Afrika Bambaataa’s ‘Planet Rock’. When I finally sent him a copy of the tape I’d got from Dean he identified mysterious artists and titles like The Gunchback Boogie Band’s ‘Funn’ and Jimmy Spicer’s ‘The Bubble Bunch’. I began hunting down these tracks on the internet, the first to arrive was Larry Graham’s ‘Sooner Or Later’, and the excitement of finally getting my hands on these tunes was unreal, mindblowing! I hadn’t had such a buzz from buying records in years. A goal was then set to collect every track on the tape. Gradually over the coming weeks all but a handful were found. In the meantime, Greg found the old tracklistings for his first ever mixes for Mike Shaft, which just happened to be the two mixes contained on the legendary tape. I was then able to find all but two tracks, or rather two small drum sections he used in the first of the mixes. Not even Greg can recall where these came from!

Before long it seemed obvious that listening to this 20-year-old tape was not enough. After collecting these, and a host of other early 80’s Electro-Funk releases, I decided that the only thing left to do was to re-create the mixes myself! Rather than just re-do them as Greg did back in ‘82 on the decks at Legends. I decided to use the computer to ensure the tightest of mixes and present them in today’s highly polished manner (I also lifted and cleaned the missing drum parts direct from the tape). The whole concept of taking someone else’s work and re-creating it is quite strange, and actually completing it and then re-presenting it to Greg felt even more bizarre. Thankfully he was really into what I’d done, especially as the original ¼” masters have been lost and, like myself, the only copy of these mixes that Greg had was recorded onto cassette from the radio.”

Pezz’s full sleevenotes can be read at:
http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/it-was-back-in-82/

So, to mark its 30th anniversary, this reconstructed version of my first ever radio mix, which was painstakingly pieced together by Pezz, has now been uploaded onto my SoundCloud.

The mix would be the first of its type on British radio, and following the fantastic response to mix 1, Mike Shaft decided to make it a regular feature, with new mixes every 3-4 weeks. It would have an instant impact in the clubs, with Legend’s attendance, which was already on the up, going through the roof in a matter of weeks. It was a momentous month, which also saw the release of the seminal Electro track, ‘Planet Rock’ (see: www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/articles/when_the_planet_rocked.html) and the opening of a new Manchester club, which I’d DJ at later down the line, called The Haçienda.

My career was about to go into overdrive, and ‘The Greg Wilson Mix’, as Mike, in his distinctive mid-Atlantic drawl, would introduce it, was a major part of this process.

Greg Wilson May 2012

IT WAS BACK IN '82 (by greg wilson for piccadilly radio manchester 1982 reconstructed by pezz 2004)

Live recording from Connoisseurs Corner at the Southport Weekender in Minehead 12.05.12.

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

SOUTHPORT WEEKENDER MINEHEAD 12.05.12 (greg wilson live mix)

One of the world’s most celebrated clubs, The Haçienda, opened 30 years ago today, on Friday May 21st 1982. I’ll be heading over to Manchester tonight for the anniversary celebrations, joining other DJ’s from the club’s history to play a few tunes at a ticket only event (proceeds to charity) in the car park where the club once stood.

To mark the occasion I’ll put some related stuff up on the blog later today, under the heading ‘The Haçienda – 30 Years On’:
http://www.gregwilson.co.uk/2012/05/the-hacienda-30-years-on/

I also thought it would provide the perfect opportunity to upload my ‘Walking On Confusion’ mash-up here, which combines 2 Arthur Baker productions from New Order and Rockers Revenge – it’s origin was outlined by Peter Hook in his 2009 book ‘The Haçienda – How Not To Run A Club’, where the New Order bassist recalled the time I asked him if I could remix ‘Blue Monday’ back in 1983, when I was the club’s Friday night resident DJ. 

He wrote; “I remember him coming up to me, asking if he could remix ‘Blue Monday’. I told him to fuck off, thinking it was the most disgusting thing anyone had ever suggested – why should we let someone tamper with our work? How times change. Nowadays the remixes are often better than the originals. I don’t remember much of Greg beyond that episode, although I know he mixed ‘Walking On Sunshine’ by Rockers Revenge into New Order’s ‘Confusion’, which was ingenious. The first mash-up.”

A more comprehensive piece about ‘Walking On Confusion’ (via Nuphonic / Turk Records in 2005), called ‘Confused Beats For Electro Freaks’, can be read here:
http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/confused-beats-for-electro-freaks/ 

Greg Wilson 21.05.12

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

New Order & Rockers Revenge 'Walking On Confusion' (greg wilson mash-up)

Funky House Party mix from Horse Meat Disco for the upcoming House Party event on Channel 4 on the 24th August

HMD Channel 4 House Party Mix

Edition #9 of Early 80’s Floorfillers takes a look back to September 82. 
You can see the Top 10, complete with label or record sleeve scans and individual track credits, here: 
http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/greg-wilsons-top-10-floorfillers-sept-82/ 

Greg Wilson – September 2012

GREG WILSON’S EARLY 80’S FLOORFILLERS: 
A fascinating insight on how the fading Jazz-Funk scene gave way to the emerging Electro-Funk movement in the early 80’s, ‘Greg Wilson’s Early 80’s Floorfillers’, marks the 30th anniversary of when these tracks first appeared. Compiled from his record lists of the time, and unfolding month by month, Greg Wilson counts down the Top 10 Floorfillers played at his venues during the key years of ’82 and ’83. Featured, most notably, on his Tuesday sessions at Wigan Pier and Wednesday gatherings at Legend in Manchester, the most cutting-edge weekly black music nights of the era, these were the clubs most associated with the evolving Electro-Funk sound.

The majority of music played on the black scene in the UK was initially only available on import, mainly out of New York during this period, with the club nights described as ‘upfront’, meaning that the DJ’s were way ahead of the curve – what they played now, others played later, or not at all. Without these DJ’s, many now classic dance tracks would never have become UK hits (many without enjoying similar crossover success in the US) – the reason they were released here in the first place was because these specialist DJ’s were breaking them via the underground.

Things would change in a big way during those 2 years; we were entering the hybrid age for dance music, and the oncoming House and Techno and Hip Hop directions would all owe a huge debt to this era of dance alchemy and groove experimentation.

This podcast is also available on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad via the Radio ditto app, which is downloadable for free from iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/app/id464200632?mt=8

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

GREG WILSON'S EARLY 80's FLOORFILLERS - SEPTEMBER 1982

Edition #10 of Early 80’s Floorfillers takes a look back to October 82. 
You can see the Top 10, complete with label or record sleeve scans and individual track credits, here: 
http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/greg-wilsons-top-10-floorfillers-oct-82/

There’s also a blog piece to accompany this edition:
http://www.gregwilson.co.uk/2012/10/the-edm-from-way-back-when/

Greg Wilson – October 2012

GREG WILSON’S EARLY 80’S FLOORFILLERS: 
A fascinating insight on how the fading Jazz-Funk scene gave way to the emerging Electro-Funk movement in the early 80’s, ‘Greg Wilson’s Early 80’s Floorfillers’, marks the 30th anniversary of when these tracks first appeared. Compiled from his record lists of the time, and unfolding month by month, Greg Wilson counts down the Top 10 Floorfillers played at his venues during the key years of ’82 and ’83. Featured, most notably, on his Tuesday sessions at Wigan Pier and Wednesday gatherings at Legend in Manchester, the most cutting-edge weekly black music nights of the era, these were the clubs most associated with the evolving Electro-Funk sound.

The majority of music played on the black scene in the UK was initially only available on import, mainly out of New York during this period, with the club nights described as ‘upfront’, meaning that the DJ’s were way ahead of the curve – what they played now, others played later, or not at all. Without these DJ’s, many now classic dance tracks would never have become UK hits (many without enjoying similar crossover success in the US) – the reason they were released here in the first place was because these specialist DJ’s were breaking them via the underground.

Things would change in a big way during those 2 years; we were entering the hybrid age for dance music, and the oncoming House and Techno and Hip Hop directions would all owe a huge debt to this era of dance alchemy and groove experimentation.

This podcast is also available on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad via the Radio ditto app, which is downloadable for free from iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/app/id464200632?mt=8

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

GREG WILSON'S EARLY 80'S FLOORFILLERS - OCTOBER 1982

Edition #11 of Early 80’s Floorfillers takes a look back to November  82. 
You can see the Top 10, complete with label or record sleeve scans and individual track credits, here: 
http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/greg-wilsons-top-10-floorfillers-Nov-82/ 

Greg Wilson – November 2012

GREG WILSON’S EARLY 80’S FLOORFILLERS: 
A fascinating insight on how the fading Jazz-Funk scene gave way to the emerging Electro-Funk movement in the early 80’s, ‘Greg Wilson’s Early 80’s Floorfillers’, marks the 30th anniversary of when these tracks first appeared. Compiled from his record lists of the time, and unfolding month by month, Greg Wilson counts down the Top 10 Floorfillers played at his venues during the key years of ’82 and ’83. Featured, most notably, on his Tuesday sessions at Wigan Pier and Wednesday gatherings at Legend in Manchester, the most cutting-edge weekly black music nights of the era, these were the clubs most associated with the evolving Electro-Funk sound.

The majority of music played on the black scene in the UK was initially only available on import, mainly out of New York during this period, with the club nights described as ‘upfront’, meaning that the DJ’s were way ahead of the curve – what they played now, others played later, or not at all. Without these DJ’s, many now classic dance tracks would never have become UK hits (many without enjoying similar crossover success in the US) – the reason they were released here in the first place was because these specialist DJ’s were breaking them via the underground.

Things would change in a big way during those 2 years; we were entering the hybrid age for dance music, and the oncoming House and Techno and Hip Hop directions would all owe a huge debt to this era of dance alchemy and groove experimentation.

This podcast is also available on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad via the Radio ditto app, which is downloadable for free from iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/app/id464200632?mt=8 

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

GREG WILSON'S EARLY 80'S FLOORFILLERS - NOVEMBER 1982

Larry Levan - Paradise Garage - 1979

Edition #14 of Early 80’s Floorfillers takes a look back to February 83. 
You can see the Top 10, complete with label or record sleeve scans and individual track credits, here: 
http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/greg-wilsons-top-10-floorfillers-feb-83/

Greg Wilson – February 2013

GREG WILSON’S EARLY 80’S FLOORFILLERS: 
A fascinating insight on how the fading Jazz-Funk scene gave way to the emerging Electro-Funk movement in the early 80’s, ‘Greg Wilson’s Early 80’s Floorfillers’, marks the 30th anniversary of when these tracks first appeared. Compiled from his record lists of the time, and unfolding month by month, Greg Wilson counts down the Top 10 Floorfillers played at his venues during the key years of ’82 and ’83. Featured, most notably, on his Tuesday sessions at Wigan Pier and Wednesday gatherings at Legend in Manchester, the most cutting-edge weekly black music nights of the era, these were the clubs most associated with the evolving Electro-Funk sound.

The majority of music played on the black scene in the UK was initially only available on import, mainly out of New York during this period, with the club nights described as ‘upfront’, meaning that the DJ’s were way ahead of the curve – what they played now, others played later, or not at all. Without these DJ’s, many now classic dance tracks would never have become UK hits (many without enjoying similar crossover success in the US) – the reason they were released here in the first place was because these specialist DJ’s were breaking them via the underground.

Things would change in a big way during those 2 years; we were entering the hybrid age for dance music, and the oncoming House and Techno and Hip Hop directions would all owe a huge debt to this era of dance alchemy and groove experimentation.

This podcast is also available on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad via the Radio ditto app, which is downloadable for free from iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/app/id464200632?mt=8

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

GREG WILSON'S EARLY 80's FLOORFILLERS - FEBRUARY 1983

Roy Thode - Paradise Garage - 20.10.1979

Spoken word sample of Dennis McKenna taken from the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast.

Mad funky drum breaks played by the hyper-talented Benjamin Hendry. PM me for his details if you are keen to work with a consummate professional session drummer.

Jitter

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.