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SOUL FOOD – THE BROAD CHURCH OF NORTHERN SOUL
This podcast accompanies a blog piece ‘Northern Renaissance’, which simultaneously went online. Below is an excerpt; you can read the full piece here: 
https://blog.gregwilson.co.uk/2013/11/northern-renaissance/

As I hope this piece will illustrate, Northern Soul back in the 70’s was a much broader church than many might imagine. Whilst the stompers were central to the scene, especially when Wigan Casino was at its peak, not everything ran at breakneck pace as is often suggested, the movement encompassed a whole spectrum of styles and tempos. The scene was notoriously very snobbish about its music, dropping a previously loved record like a hot potato because it had subsequently achieved commercial success, although it was this fervent elitism that played a major part in its success and longevity. It’s also the reason why a track many might consider to be as Northern as they come, like Jackie Wilson’s ‘(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher And Higher’ (a Detroit artist doing an uptempo dance track with Funk Brothers backing) isn’t Northern Soul according to those at the cutting-edge of the scene, despite the fact it was a big favourite in the Soul clubs following its 1967 release. It’s sin was that it became a UK hit in 1969, just before the Northern scene got into its stride, so, along with a whole heap of Tamla Motown tunes that are Northern in everything bar their success in connecting with the masses, it was banished to the realm of pop. This is why another famous Jackie Wilson track, ‘I Get The Sweetest Feeling’, this time a 1968 recording, which, on the surface, given it’s much mellower vibe, is far less stereotypically Northern than ‘Higher And Higher’, is, in contrast, considered a bone fide Northern classic – the reason being that ‘I Get The Sweetest Feeling’ didn’t become a hit until 1972, having broken out of the Northern scene, then in full swing.

So, with the various aspects considered, I’ve put together an epic 3 hour 20 minute podcast selection of records that I hope will reflect Northern Soul in its wider context, from the nailed on classics to those with more nominal status. What can’t be disputed is that each and every track included has been played, at least somewhere at one point or another, under the Northern Soul banner. There are 70 tracks in all, with just 2 artists with more than 1 inclusion, the aforementioned Jackie Wilson and the great, but tragic songstress Linda Jones (3, if you count Frankie Valli, here both solo and with the Four Seasons). The idea to put this together grew out of a CD compilation I made for myself back in the 00’s to listen to whilst I was driving, which I called ‘Soul Food’, and the intention is for it to act as solid introduction for those wanting to hear what Northern Soul was all about, in all its diverse glory, whilst I’d like to think it will also evoke fond memories for those who were there at the time. The fact I wasn’t a part of the scene has hopefully allowed me to approach this selection in a more objective way than someone embroiled within it, who may not be able to resist the inclination to pack it with tracks nobody else, apart from other ultra-obsessives may know, or who might want to brush a few of the inclusions under the ‘you had to be there at the time’, carpet. Consider this, if you will, a beginners guide, of which I love all of the selections, each in its own way - just wonderful wonderful uplifting music.

Greg Wilson – November 2013

SOUL FOOD - THE BROAD CHURCH OF NORTHERN SOUL (greg wilson selection)

ESSENTIAL MIX - JAN 2009
Uploaded on 17.01.10 and exclusive to SoundCloud. Available for the first time without voiceovers and jingles,12 months on from original Radio 1broadcast on 17.01.09.


EMAILSHOT A FEW DAYS AHEAD OF MIX BEING AIRED:
2009 kicks in for me this weekend with my first gig of the year for Udio (1st birthday) at The Gramaphone Club in Shoreditch, London on Friday night, which coincides with the airing of my only just completed in the nick of time Essential Mix on Radio 1, made up of 43 tracks in just under 2 hours.

Given that the 5th anniversary of my DJ comeback has only just passed, I decided to take the opportunity to make the mix totally representative of this period, with all the selections being amongst the biggest tracks I’ve played since I made my second debut at Music Is Better in Manchester.

Five years represents a significant package of time, a fixed point from where I can reflect on what’s been a continually snowballing sequence of events, set in motion when Danny Webb asked me to appear in Manchester on that December night back in 2003.

There were less than 100 people there that night, but they were the right people, and I was taken aback by the response to my return, both on the night itself and during subsequent days, when people who were there began to post on the forums. I’d never expected all the feedback be so totally positive!

I’d figured that I’d play that night, using the combination of laptop and reel-to-reel for the first time, then go away and think about what worked and what didn’t before I made my next move. I would never have believed that things could come together so immediately, it was as if I’d hit a completely unexpected hole in one, especially when two of the people who were there, Ralph Lawson, DJ from Back To Basics in Leeds, and one of my fellow DJ’s that night, Richard Hardcastle (Solid State) from Society in Sheffield, both asked me to play at their nights no sooner had I finished my spot.

One thing kept leading to another and, in Sheffield, I was approached by Tony Daly to play at the now legendary Tyneside Cinema party in Newcastle, a bespoke event where he took on the substantial risk of presenting me in a city I’d never DJ’d in previously (unless you count the 1983 TV appearance on The Tube, which was filmed in the Tyne Tees studio). Then, of course, there was London, where Steve Kotey and Bill Brewster booked me for their parties, bringing me to the capital within the first few months of my return for Ouch and Low Life.

The bookings kept coming, and I found myself driving up and down the country on an increasingly regular basis. Later in 2004 I was approached by Sav Remzi, from Tirk / Nuphonic, with the idea of putting together an edits album, which would be issued the following year as ‘Credit To The Edit’. This would help bring my name to the attention of people outside the UK. There was soon a need to step things up further, now that I was receiving enquiries from Europe, and so began a fruitful relationship with my agent, Matt Johnson (Matty J), who’s done a wonderful job of representing me during recent years.

The last few months have been, to say the least, manic for me, with 25 flights, including 6 long haul, taking me to gigs in the US, Japan, Australia, Brazil and Europe. From a personal perspective I still find it remarkable the way everything has developed, pretty much organically, since I made the decision that I was going to be a DJ once again – had I concocted some sort of comeback masterplan, it could never have worked out anything like as well as it has. It’s definitely been a case of ‘from small acorns’.

It still never ceases to amaze me that people from another continent are interested in my DJ past. Back in the early 80’s, before I went into retirement for 20 years, the furthest I travelled (with the exception of the appearances I made in the South of England as part of The Hacienda Review in late ’83) was to places like Birmingham and Nottingham, when I played at All-Dayers, so to find myself in clubs on the other side of the world is pretty nuts!

Anyhow, I’d like to wish everyone all the best for 09. Big thanks to all the promoters who booked me and everyone who danced to the tunes I played during ’08 in Adelaide, Barcelona, Belfast, Berlin, Birmingham, Blackburn, Brighton, Bristol, Dublin, Dundee, Edinburgh, Fukuoka, Glasgow, Hamburg, Leeds, Lisbon, Liverpool, London, Los Angeles, Manchester, Melbourne, Milan, New York, Newcastle, Nottingham, Paris, Porto Alegre, San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Sheffield, Sydney, Tokyo and Warsaw. Also the festivals and special events that I appeared at - Bestival (Isle Of Wight), Big Chill (England), Camp Bestival (England), Garden Festival (Croatia), Ibiza, Lovebox (England), Notting Hill Carnival (England), Rockness Festival (Scotland), Sonar (Spain) and the Southport Weekender (England).

Hope to see you soon.

Greg


FORUM POST DURING FOLLOWING DAYS:                                                        
Thanks for all the positive words. The feedback has been pretty phenomenal, far exceeding what I’d hoped for, especially on the BBC page, where I’d expected that some people would criticize the amount of older music included - the Radio 1 audience is used to current stuff ('in new music we trust'), so I’d anticipated a more mixed reaction. What’s particularly pleasing is that they were all made without the people seeing what each other wrote (they all came online at once, having been checked first by whoever moderates the BBC pages, I presume for swearing etc following the Ross / Brand controversy).

You always hope something you've done will be well received, but the response to this has blown me away.

Greg


ANSWER TO POST RE MIXING PROCESS:                                                      
It was quite a laborious process. Before I could start the actual mixing part I had to edit every track to a coherent length of around two and a half minutes average, inclusive of in and out points. I had a pool of about 90 tracks that fitted the criteria I'd set (a representative selection of the biggest tunes I've been playing during the past 5 years). It wasn't as straightforward as just editing the 43 tracks I ended up featuring - in order to have the necessary options once I started to piece the mix together I needed to have all the tracks at my disposal, just as I would have if I was out deejaying in a club, so the only thing to do was edit all 90 to the required length, even though I knew that only half would make the cut .

Once that was finally done they were all taken across into my laptop, enabling me to vari-speed them via PCDJ whilst I recorded across to my home computer into Cool Edit Pro, where I put the mix together track by track, before adding overdubs (fx, samples, textures) in a similar way to what I do live using the Revox (reel to reel).

I could quite easily have spent another day, tweaking bits here and there and adding more overdubs (the older I get the more finicky I become), but I had a deadline to work to, so, as it moved ever nearer, it became a race against time, with me doing as much as I could before the cut off point arrived.

Greg
                       

Greg Wilson - 2009


ESSENTIAL MIX (by greg wilson for bbc radio 1 2009)

MUSIC IS BETTER RE-EDITED HIGHLIGHTS 20.12.03
Related blog post here:
http://www.gregwilson.co.uk/2011/09/music-is-better-re-edited-highlights 

When I upgraded my SoundCloud account it was with the intention of adding selected mixes from the period 2003-2009, bringing everything under one roof by placing them alongside the ongoing additions that have been continually made available since I uploaded the first of my SoundCloud mixes, recorded at Café Mambo in Ibiza exactly 2 years ago today (27.09.09). So it’s fitting that Music Is Better Re-Edited Highlights, the mix that marked my return to the DJ world, should kick off this process, with further uploads to be added periodically.

The following piece was written in 2004, some months after the Music Is Better mix had been made available as a limited CD via Manchester's Piccadilly Records.

MUSIC IS BETTER RE-EDITED HIGHLIGHTS:
Last December, twenty years on from when I stopped deejaying professionally, I came out of retirement, so to speak, and made what seemed like, as I described it at the time, a ‘second debut’ (my first being way back in 1975). In the two decades that have passed since I decided to call it a day, I’ve made the odd guest appearance here and there, but had no inclination to seriously start up again.

That all changed during 2003, with the launch of the electrofunkroots.co.uk  website, which I’d set up to document the crucial early 80’s period, when dance music (or black music as it was still referred to) was going through some radical changes that would have a huge bearing on the subsequent course of club culture. It was at this point in time that I was fortunate enough to find myself behind the decks in two of the greatest British clubs of the era, Wigan Pier and Legend in Manchester, where I’d bring a new flavour of music to the table, along with a fresh (from a UK perspective) approach to the way I worked, as one of just a handful of British DJ’s back then who had made the decision to switch the emphasis of their presentation style from microphone to mixing. 

I had no idea that, all these years on, an ever-increasing amount of clubbers were now beginning to look back to exactly this time and rediscover the great underground music, mainly from New York, that preceded House, and which was originally played here in the UK on the specialist black scene. Having decided to become pro-active in drawing people’s attention to this hugely important, but largely overlooked period, it was a pleasant surprise to realise that this process was already underway. Before I knew it, I began to receive enquiries about possible DJ bookings and it soon became obvious that the logical next step for me to take was back into the clubs, so I could actually play these records to an audience who’ve finally come to appreciate their significance in inspiring the music that inspired them.

Had this been all about playing some tunes for old times sake to the people who were there at the time, there’s no way I’d have been into it as anything more than an occasional one-off. However, the fact that there’s a whole new generation who are looking for a return to underground values, as well as an older audience who (having maybe got into dance stuff at a later stage) missed much of this music first time around, prevents it from becoming a purely nostalgic exercise and, instead, presents a whole new dynamic. For this is something relevant to now, which is rooted in the past, yet forward looking.

To further emphasise this link, the equipment I decided to use was a Revox B77 reel-to-reel (past), vinyl (present) and laptop (future). It was also important that I didn’t just stick to the records that I used to play, but included a few more recent releases, from artists with a clear respect for what’s gone before, like Chicken Lips, Metro Area and Diplomat. The laptop would also allow me to feature my own re-edits and the Revox to add live sounds and effects. Having been regarded as progressive in my approach to deejaying back then, I figured it was only right that I should continue to work by the same principles, trying new ideas alongside the old ones in an effort to highlight the ongoing links between then and now.

The night I chose for my ‘comeback’ appearance was called ‘Music Is Better’. It was held at The Attic in Manchester. It obviously had to be Manchester as this, although not my actual home, is certainly my ‘spiritual home’, the place where I found my ultimate DJ highs – so it was important to make that vital connection with the past immediately. ‘Music Is Better’ was the perfect type of night for me, suitably low-key, whilst attracting the kind of people who understand that four-to-the-floor isn’t the be all and end all.

I’d planned to use the night as a tester, so I could identify what worked and what didn’t, before I started accepting the bookings I’d been offered in other parts of the country. I’d anticipated a gradual acclimatization for myself, estimating that once I’d got 3 or 4 appearances under my belt I’d be able to gauge things better. In no way did I expect this first night to go so well for me, without any of the teething problems I’d envisaged. 

The night wasn’t recorded, but it was decided that, to mark the occasion, I’d re-create it track for track for a limited edition CD (edited down from the two and a quarter hours I played to single disc length). 

So this is how ‘Music Is Better – The Re-Edited Highlights’ came to be. The 500 copies that were made have now all gone, the response to the CD echoing the positive reaction on the night. I’ve since taken bookings (and often re-bookings) in Birmingham, Bristol, Dublin, Glasgow, London, Leeds, Limerick, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham, Plymouth, Sheffield and Wrexham, along with further dates in Manchester. 2004 has been a year I’ll never forget and I can’t thank everyone enough for their support, their warmth and their energy. Having been totally detached from the club scene for so many years, it’s all been a bit of a Rip Van Winkle re-awakening for me! 

I never thought I’d say it, but it’s great to be a DJ once again. 

Hope you enjoy this mix,

Greg Wilson
http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk
 
WRITTEN FOR SIX MILLION STEPS WEBSITE IN 2004

UPLOADED ONTO SOUNDCLOUD 27.09.11


MUSIC IS BETTER RE-EDITED HIGHLIGHTS 20.12.03 (by greg wilson for ltd cd 2004)

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ADJUST YOUR RADIO - MARCH 2004
Six Million Steps (named after the Rahni Harris & F.L.O track from 1978) are a collective of old soulboys who really know their mustard. Their website www.sixmillionsteps.com is a veritable treasure trove of radio shows and mixes aimed at black music enthusiasts. In early 2004, aware of my return to the DJ realm, they asked me if I’d be up for doing a mix for them, and, being an old soulboy myself, it would have been extremely rude not to oblige my Southern-based brethren.

Given that the site was geared to radio rather than the clubs, I wanted to do something a bit different for them – something that contrasted with, yet complimented the Music Is Better mix, which I’d just put together (see http://soundcloud.com/gregwilson/music-is-better-re-edited). I decided to kick things off with the intro part of a favourite track by Parliament, ‘P Funk (Wants To Get Funked Up)’, which had blown me away when I first got a copy on import 7” in March '76 (one of the first imports I ever bought, released back to back with the equally wonderful, but more club friendly ‘Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker)’). I looped the opening lines to set the tone - ‘good evening, do not attempt to adjust your radio, there is nothing wrong, we have taken control as to bring you this special show, we will return it to you as soon as you are grooving…’.

I also had some old jingles that fitted the theme I had in mind, which was a radio show, but without a presenter - instead the tracks would be segued together via edited sections, sound bites and samples. It’s a real cut-up, very raw and experimental, referencing a wide spectrum of black music, mainly from the 70’s and early 80’s, taking in Soul, Funk, Disco, Jazz-Funk, Electro-Funk, Hip Hop and Boogie, but with a few curve ball edits thrown in for good measure. Listening back I can clearly hear that, in some respects, I used it as an ideas pad, a number of which came to fruition later down the line.

It’s not a mix in the traditional sense, where the emphasis is placed on dancefloor flow – here the tracks are forged together in a more abstract manner via the link sections I created, and there’s certainly nothing linear about the programming, the tempo likely to slow down or speed up at any given juncture. Included is an old tape sketch, ‘Get Ready I’m A Comin’’, that I remember editing together in ’86 - the main loop being the drum break of Kool & The Gang’s ‘Jungle Jazz’, which would turn up the following year on the huge chart hit ‘Pump Up The Volume’ by M/A/R/R/S. There are some edits in progress, with the working titles ‘Still Lovin’ It’, ‘Sesame Seed’ and ‘T’s On The Mike’, which would appear a year later on Credit To The Edit Vol 1 - ‘Ooh, I Love It (Love Break)’ by The Salsoul Orchestra, ‘Open Sesame’ by Kool & The Gang and ‘Do It Anyway You Wanna’ by Mike T (‘Sesame Seed’ and ‘T’s On The Mike’ retained these titles for the first of the accompanying Credit To The Edit 12” releases). There was ‘Amp Trouble’ (mashing Amp Fiddler with rappers Double Trouble), which was later included alongside ‘Gotta Keep Workin’ It’ on the Young Dog Alien 12” in 2006. Then there were also a few more ruff’s that never got to see the light of day, at least not as yet – ‘Worldwide’, ‘Just A Touch’ and ‘This Is For You’.

Greg Wilson – October 2011

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

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ADJUST YOUR RADIO (by greg wilson for six million steps 2004)

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)

A mix consisting of music from some of the finest dance music artists who have contributed to the last three seasons of BROAD CITY, including  exclusive remixes & unreleased tracks from the show!!!!

http://www.mixmag.net/feature/meet-matt-fx-the-man-behind-broad-citys-dope-soundtrack

Jarina De Marco - Tigre (FORTHCOMING)
Jefferson909 - Wut Else? (Original Mix)
Kane West - Power of Social Media
Night Drugs - Bogho (feat. Magho)
Jaw Jam - ssssyyyygg (Vibes Mix)
Doctor Jeep - Bang ft. TT The Artist
Normaling - Low Drop ft. Rye Rye & TT The Artist (Tony Quattro's Alternate Electro Mix)
Whiskers Po - Yes (Corporal F Remix)
Swick & Lewis Cancut - Wishes (Ft. Tkay Maidza)
Kid Kamillion & Jesse Slayter - Warehouse Plates
Bruce Smear - TOUCHY
Gnucci - Work Hard (Kaptain Cadillac Remix)
Zebra Katz - Marijuana (Tony Quattro Remix)
Hunt For The Breeze - Wishes 
Ducky - Brush
Photay - No Sass
Acemo - Through The Pressure

Sounds of the City: Mixmag

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)

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)

GREG WILSON presents The Chic Organization – 1977-79 Selection Reworked
 
Greg writes about the mix and all things Chic at his blog:
http://blog.gregwilson.co.uk/2018/06/the-chic-organization-1977-79-selection-reworked/
 
Chic had a sound of all their own, the crack rhythm section of Nile Rodgers (guitar), Bernard Edwards (bass) and drummer Tony Thompson providing the highly infectious grooves that characterised their records. They would be massively influential as a consequence, their anthemic tracks still loved all these years later, with a new younger generation embracing their good time vibe in the same way their parents might have.
 
The mix consists of 12 edits / reworks of 9 Rogers & Edwards produced tracks, all of which happened to be originally recorded during 1977-79, the years which saw Disco peak and decline, with Chic at the helm during those halcyon days, their own recordings providing 4 US top 10 singles, including a pair of #1s, whilst Sister Sledge, whose success they mentored, weighed in via the hit-laden ‘We Are Family’ LP. They even found time for a French excursion via Sheila & B Devotion’s ‘Spacer’.

SISTER SLEDGE ‘THINKING OF YOU’
1.‘Things You Do For Me’ - Killer Funk Disco Allstars Edit
2.Sister S ’Living Ecstasy’ – Norington Remix
CHIC ‘CHIC CHEER’
3.Leroc Sportif Edit
SISTER SLEDGE ‘HE’S THE GREATEST DANCER’
4.’Greatest Dancer’ – Daz Digs Disco Re-Edit
5.’One Nite In A Disco’ – Late Nite Tuff Guy Rework / Greg Wilson Edit
CHIC ‘I WANT YOUR LOVE’
6.Todd Terje Edit (incorporates Moodyman ‘I Can’t Kick This Feeling When It Hits)
CHIC ‘STRIKE UP THE BAND’
7.’Feel The Rhythm’ – Deep & Disco Edit
CHIC ‘LE FREAK’
8.Chewy Rubs ‘Future Freak’
SISTER SLEDGE ‘LOST IN MUSIC’
9.DSD Balearic Mix
CHIC ‘DANCE, DANCE, DANCE (YOWSAH, YOWSAH, YOWSAH)’
10.Greg Wilson Rework
11.In Flagranti ‘A Brag Mount’
SHEILA & B. DEVOTION ‘SPACER’
12.Greg Wilson Edit
 
Addition overdubs / editing by Greg Wilson
Recorded June 2018
 
Greg Wilson is set to support Chic in Manchester, Wed 27th June at Castlefied Bowl, alongside a live performance from Crazy P.
 
http://gregwilson.co.uk

GOURANGA MIXTAPE: Greg Wilson - The Chic Organization - 1977-79 Selection Reworked

Taken from blog post ‘Festival Anthems’:
http://www.gregwilson.co.uk/2012/06/festival-anthems/

Back in March, in the lead up to the Rainbow Disco Club festival in Tokyo (an event that would frustratingly be rained off), I was asked to make a list of my 10 favourite festival tracks. I came up with a dozen, all edits which have served me well during recent years and certainly merit anthemic status. Around the same time I was approached, via the Garden Festival’s PR dept. to supply an exclusive mix for the oki-ni series. As an example, I was linked to Derrick Carter’s contribution, where he referenced the mixes he used to hear on Chicago dance station WBMX in the early 80’s, focusing on Disco & Classics. 

Whilst thinking about a suitable theme for my mix, I had the brainwave of working with the list of festival favourites I’d recently compiled– I thought that putting these 12 tracks together into a single mix would not only provide a solution, but gives me the opportunity to document some of the music that’s served me so well in the festival environment, which I’d never otherwise play all together. So, from there, it was just a case of finding a way to jigsaw them into a coherent whole, which didn’t prove to be difficult, the mix coming together in no time.

It wasn’t until I’d submitted it that I found time to have a look at the oki-ni website and check out some of the mixes already on there, a pretty substantial 75 of them. It was only then that I realised that my approach was somewhat  out of sync with the ethos of the series, which was outlined as follows; ‘the series aims to venture off the dancefloor, allowing the artists involved the freedom to produce unique and personal mixes that speak directly to them. The results are always eclectic, compelling, and unique’. 

Being that this was supposed to be more a personal choice of tunes you wouldn’t play out, rather than the clearly themed mix I’d mistakenly believed it was, I pointed out this anomaly, but was assured that all was fine. Had I not been off to the US that weekend, then onto Japan, I’d have probably insisted on doing something else, which fitted their criteria, but they maintained that they were more than happy with what I’d done, so it became mix #76 in the oki-ni series (and exclusive to their website for the past few months):
http://www.oki-ni.com/scat/mixes 

Half of the tracks are my own edits, half other people’s (big up Psychemagik, Dimitri From Paris, Joey Negro, Bermuda Triangle, Leftside Wobble and Michael Cook). The mix features some iconic names, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Talking Heads, The Clash, Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell, Prince and Fleetwood Mac included. As they say, great music never dies, especially when there’s an edit that helps introduce it to a whole new younger audience, whilst rejuvenating the spirit of an older one in the process. Hopefully this collection of climatic tunes will help bring on the festival spirit – here’s to sun and mud to come!

I’ll be appearing at the following festivals / special events:

23rd June – The Summer Soiree / Blackpool
http://theblackpoolball.com/#/ball-info/4548984235
 
6th / 7th July – The Garden Festival / Croatia 
http://thegardenfestival.eu/ 

15th July – Vintage / Northamptonshire
http://www.vintagefestival.co.uk/about/vintage-festival
 
28th July - Camp Bestival / Dorset 
http://www.campbestival.net/#/home

4th August – Eastern Electrics / London
http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/easternelectrics/2012/

5th August – Standon Calling / Hertfordshire
http://www.standon-calling.com/ 

2nd September – Preston Guild / Preston
http://www.prestonguild2012.com/?OBH=413&ID=583 

8th September – Bestival / Isle Of Wight
http://2012.bestival.net/

Greg Wilson - June 2012

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

GREG WILSON FESTIVAL ANTHEMS (for oki-ni 2012)

County Fair - Joe Walsh
Space Machine - Undisputed Truth
Cold Back On Me - Wendy Waldman
Jasmine Blossoms (inst.) - MF Doom
Misa Criolla - Fuego (Lee Douglas edit)
Anabalina - Las Grecas
A Gira - Trio Ternura
Keep My Love Alive - Heart
Amplified Emotions (PHB edit) - The Dragons
Llama Al Centro - Phenomenal Handclap Band
Way Back When (Underdog edit) - Brenda Russell
Boogie Drome - Psychemagik
Someone Out There -    Aka Jk
Spirit of Sunshine - Chuck Davis Orchestra
I Love Voodoo Music - Shocking blue 


Flying Unicorn Mix - Phenomenal Handclap Band

3 years in the making, 3 DJs working with over 150 tracks to recreate one of the seminal sampling albums of all time. Cheeba, Moneyshot and I bring you ‘Caught In The Middle Of A 3-Way Mix’, our tribute to the classic Beastie Boys album ‘Paul’s Boutique’. Remixed and re-imagined from all the original samples plus a cappellas, period interviews and the Beasties’ own audio commentary from the reissued release.

Add to this a custom illustration from Paul’s Boutique super-fan and all-round great guy Jim Mahfood, and you have an alternate version of the album. The mix was over half way finished when we heard the tragic news of Adam Yauch‘s passing this May so this is also our nod to his memory, RIP MCA.

Big respect to Cheeba and Moneyshot for all their hard work and for the latter for inspiring the project with his classic mix of their ‘Check Your Head’ three years ago. Obviously massive respect goes out to The Beasties, The Dust Brothers, Mario C. and all involved in the making of the original album.

Caught In The Middle of A 3-Way Mix – a tribute to The Beastie Boys‘ ‘Paul’s Boutique’ album

Tracklist:
DJ Cheeba section:

To All The Girls:
Mike D – Pauls Boutique Audio Commentary (Dialogue)
Idris Mohammed – Loran’s Dance – Kudu
Beastie Boys – Triple Trouble (a cappella) – Capitol Records
Beastie Boys – Paul Revere – (DIY a cappella)
Fatboy Slim – The Weekend Starts Here – Skint Records
Beastie Boys – 3 MCs and 1 DJ (a cappella) – Capitol Records
LL Cool J – Rock The Bells – Def Jam  Recordings
Beastie Boys – Ch Ch Ch Check It Out (a cappella) – Capitol Records
Beastie Boys – Shake Your Rump (a cappella) – Capitol Records
David Berman – Pauls Boutique Release Party (Dialogue)

Shake Your Rump:
Alphonze Mouzon – Funky Snakefoot – Blue Note
Beastie Boys – Shake Your Rump (a cappella) – Capitol Records
Rose Royce – 6 O’Clock DJ (Let’s Rock) – MCA Records
Rose Royce – Born To Love You – MCA Records
John King – The History of The Dust Brothers (Dialogue) 
Mike D – Pauls Boutique Release Party (Dialogue)
Diana Ross & The Supremes – No Matter What Sign You Are – Tamla Motown
The Sugar Hill Gang – 8th Wonder – Sugar Hill Records
Rose Royce – Daddy Rich – MCA Records
Alan Moorhouse – Soul Skimmer – KPM Music
Afrika Bambaataa & James Brown – Unity Part 2 (a cappella) – Polydor
Funky 4+1 – That’s The Joint – Sugar Hill Records
Bob Marley & The Wailers – Could You Be Loved – Island Records
Rose Royce – Yo Yo – MCA Records
Mike D – Pauls Boutique Release Party (Dialogue) 
Black Oak Arkansas – Hot and Nasty – ATCO Records
Paul Humphrey – Super Mellow – Inner City Records
Harvey Scales – Dancing Room Only – Casablanca Records
Ronnie Laws – Tell me Something Good – Blue Note

Johnny Ryall:
Kurtis Blow – AJ Skratch – Mercury
Paul McCartney – Momma Miss America – Apple Records
Beastie Boys – Johnny Ryall (a cappella) – Capitol Records
Jean Knight – Mr Big Stuff – Stax
Chris Stein – Military Breakbeat – 360 Records
Pink Floyd – One Of These Days – Harvest
Donny Hathaway – Magnificent Sanctuary Band – ATCO Records
MCA – Pauls Boutique Audio Commentary (Dialogue)
David Bromberg – Sharon – Columbia
LL Cool J – Discusses the Beastie Boys (Dialogue)
Mike D – Pauls Boutique Release Party (Dialogue) 

Egg Man:
Lightnin’ Rod – Sport – United Artists Records
WYFF News – Which Came First…? (Dialogue) 
Beastie Boys – Egg Man – (DIY a cappella)
Curtis Mayfield – Superfly – Buddah Records
Tower of Power – Drop It In The Slot – Warner Bros. Records
Elvis Costello – Pump it Up – Radar Records
John Williams – The Theme From Jaws – MCA Records
Public Enemy – You’re Gonna Get Yours – Def Jam Recordings
Bernard Herrmann – Suite For Strings – Sony Classical
Mike D & MCA – Pauls Boutique Audio Commentary (Dialogue)
Sly and The Family Stone – Dance To The Music – Epic
The Commodores – I’m Ready – Tamla Motown
Public Enemy – Bring The Noise – Def Jam Recordings

High Plains Drifter:
Interview with The Eagles introduction (Dialogue)
The Eagles – Those Shoes – Asylum Records
The Fatback Band – Put Your Love (In My Tender Care) – Polydor

DJ Moneyshot Outro

DJ Moneyshot section:
DJ Moneyshot – “Can’t Stand DJ Cheeba Intro” – mp3

Sounds Of Science:
The Beatles – The End – Apple Records
Beastie Boys – Sounds of Science (DIY a cappella) – Capitol Records
James Brown – Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved – Polydor
Paul’s Boutique – Audio Commentary – Capitol Records
Beastie Boys – Sounds of Science – Capitol Records
The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) – Capitol Records
BDP – My Philosophy – Jive
The Beatles – When I’m 64 – Capitol Records
Issac Hayes – Walk From Regio’s – Polydor

3 Minute Rule:
Paul’s Boutique – Audio Commentary – Capitol Records
Beastie Boys – 3 Minute Rule – Capitol Records
Fancy – Feel Good – Big Tree Records
Sly & The Family Stone – Brave And Strong – Epic
Beastie Boys – 3 Minute Rule (DIY a cappella) – Capitol Records
Sly & The Family Stone – Poet – Epic
Loggins & Messina – Your Mama Don’t Dance – CBS

Hey Ladies:
Kool & The Gang – Jungle Boogie – De-Lite Records
Disco Dave & The Force Of the Five MC’s – High Powered Rap – Mixmaster Mike and Disco Dave Records
Afrika Bambaataa – Jazzy Sensation – Tommy Boy Music
Jeanette Lady Day – Come Let Me Love You – Prelude Records
Beastie Boys – Hey Ladies (a cappella) – Capitol Records
Cameo – Shake Your Pants – Chocolate City
The Bar-Kays – Holy Ghost – Stax
Kurtis Blow – Party Time – Mercury
Zapp – Dancefloor – Warner Bros. Records
James Brown – Funky President – Polydor
The P-Funk Allstars – Pumpin’ It Up – Epic
The Commodores – Machine Gun – Motown
The Sweet – Ballroom Blitz – Capitol Records

5 Piece Chicken Dinner:
Eric Weissberg & Steve Mandell – Shuckin’ The Corn – Warner Bros. Records
DJ Moneyshot – Rinse Out Jungle ish – mp3

Looking Down The Barrel Of A Gun:
Tougher Than Leather dialogue sample – New Line Cinema
Ocean – Put Your Hand In The Hand – Kama Sutra
Paul’s Boutique – Audio Commentary – Capitol Records (dialogue)
Beastie Boys – Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun (a cappella) – Capitol Records
Pink Floyd – Time – Harvest
Mountain – Mississippi Queen – Stateside
Incredible Bongo Band – Last Bongo In Belgium – Pride
Beastie Boys – Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun – Capitol Records
YouTube Audio – MTV 1998 Beastie Boys Biography (dialogue)

DJ Food section:
Car Thief:
Funk Factory – Rien Ne Va Plus (ATCO Records)
Boogie Down Productions – The Bridge Is Over (Instr.) (B-Boy Records)
Trouble Funk – Drop The Bomb (Jamtu Records)
Beastie Boys – Car Thief (a cappella) (Capitol)
The Jackson 5 – I’ll Bet You (Motown)
Max Yasgur – Speech at Woodstock (dialogue)
Donovan – Hurdy Gurdy Man (Pye Records)
Led Zeppelin – Moby Dick (Atlantic)

What Comes Around:
Gene Harris – Put On Train (Blue Note)
Alice Cooper – It’s Hot Tonight (Warner Bros. Records)

Shadrach:
Sly & The Family Stone – Loose Booty (Epic)
Funky 4+1 – That’s The Joint (Sugar Hill Records)
Rose Royce – Do Your Dance (Whitfield Records)
The Riddler – Batman TV soundtrack (dialogue)
The Sugar Hill Gang – Sugar Gill Groove (Sugar Hill Records)
Trouble Funk – Say What? (D.E.T.T. Records)
Ballin’ Jack – Never Let ‘Em Say (Columbia)
The Fatback Band – King Tim III (Personality Jock) (Spring Records)
James Brown – Funky Drummer (King Records/Polydor)

Ask For Janice:
Paul’s Boutique radio ad (cassette) (dialogue)

B-Boy Bouillabaisse -
59 Christie Street:
Burundi Black – Burundi Black (Barclay)
Jimi Hendrix Experience – Are You Experienced? (Polydor)
Run DMC – Here We Go (Live At The Funhouse) (Profile)
Cerrone – Rocket In The Pocket (Live) (CBS)
Malcolm McLaren & The World Famous Supreme Team – Buffalo Gals (Charisma)
Boogie Down Productions – My Philosophy (Jive) Fab 5 Freddy – Change Le Beat (Celluloid)
Stop That Train:
Southside Movement – Save The World (20th Century Records)
Beastie Boys – Stop That Train (a cappella) (Capitol)
Scotty – Draw Your Brakes (Trojan Records)
A Year And A Day:
Tower Of Power – Ebony Jam (Warner Bros. Records)
The Isley Brothers – That Lady (Epic)
Led Zeppelin – When The Levee Breaks (on 45 rpm) (Atlantic)
Disco Dave & the Force of the Five MC’s – High Powered Rap (Mixmaster Mike and Disco Dave Records)
Hello Brooklyn:
Led Zeppelin – When The Levee Breaks (on 33rpm) (Atlantic)
Beastie Boys – Hello Brooklyn (demo version)
Johnny Cash – Folsom Prison Blues (CBS/Columbia)
Dropping Names:
The Meters – Hey Pocky A Way (Reprise Records)
Stephen King’s It / Andy Griffiths show – He thrusts his fists… (dialogue)
The Sweet – Into the Night (RCA Victor)
The Crusaders – The Well’s Gone Dry (Blue Thumb / ABC Records)
Bob Marley interview with the BBC (dialogue)
Lay It On Me:
Kool & The Gang – Let The Music Take Your Mind (De-lite)
Jim James – No Sleep ‘Til Brooklyn lyrics (dialogue)
Mike On The Mic:
Love Bug Starski – Starski, Live At The Disco Fever (Fever Records)
A.W.O.L.:
Chic – Good Times (Atlantic)
Beastie Boys – A.W.O.L. (Capitol)
Trouble Funk – Good To Go (4th & Broadway)
Idris Muhammed – Loran’s Dance (Kudu)
Rise – MCA tribute (dialogue)
Beastie Boys – Sureshot (a cappella) (Capitol/Grand Royal)
Rakim – Dedication (mp3) (dialogue)

Caught In The Middle of A 3-Way Mix

This is the mix I put together for Resident Advisor 4 years ago – it’s no longer available via their website, so I thought the time was right to share here. It was very well received back then and certainly served to enhance my reputation within the RA community, coming, as it did, 4 months before my BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix brought my name to wider attention. 

I’d decided to buck the trend by highlighting the lower bpm’s of the music I was playing in the clubs, rather than, as was the norm, going for a more typical uptempo vibe. Here’s how I described it at the time in the accompanying interview I did with RA - ‘I'd just done a BBC 6mix, which, with regards to tempo, was geared around the 116-120 region, so I wanted to do something different here, concentrating on the more downbeat side of what I play, which, despite being a rich and fertile segment of dance spectrum, many DJ's dismiss as being too slow. I also took the opportunity to put together some new stuff, with the mix providing the impetus for me to bring a few ideas to fruition—so thanks are due to Resident Advisor for its role as muse.’ The full interview can be found at RA: 
http://www.residentadvisor.net/podcast-episode.aspx?id=119 

I also added in the comments section, in answer to a question asking how I put the mix together – ‘I recorded the tracks into my studio PC using Sound Forge, then overdubbed textures and fx in Cool Edit Pro, in a similar way to how I use the the Revox live, spinning additional sounds over the top of the tracks I'm playing. The mix itself was pretty straightforward, but I spent a fair bit of time in the preparation, editing up some new stuff - 'Body Movin' Freaks', 'One Lifetime' and 'Re-Working The Illusion' (which was based on a previous mash-up I did a few years back) - whilst adding the Donna parts to the Eddie Drennon edit I'd put together a little while back, inserting the Martin Luther King speech in the intro of 'Why Can't We Live Together', and sticking the 'Good Times' vocal at the end of Adrian Blunt's Ting Tings edit to conclude the mix.’ Full comments here:
http://www.residentadvisor.net/forum-read.aspx?id=48550 

Greg Wilson - October 2012

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

RESIDENT ADVISOR MIX (by greg wilson for ra.119 podcast 2008)

Tame Impala - Mind Mischief
Aeroplane feat. Jamie Principle - In Her Eyes (Tiger & Woods Remix)
Sohight & Cheevy - Travel Anthem (Moullinex Remix)
Moebius - Light My Fire
John Talabot & Pional - Braves
Greg Henderson - Dreamin'
LDR - Blue Velvet (Lindstrøm Remix)
RAC feat. Penguin Prison - Hollywood (Escort Remix)
Vanilla Ace - Vanilla Sky
Kill The Hero ft. MK de Monde - Surrender (Shazam Remix)
N.O.I.A. - The Rule To Survive (Ajello Vox Dub Remix)
Was (Not Was) - Wheel Me Out
Underwater - Harry Thumann
Chic - Everybody Dance (Zimmer Rework)
Strawberry Alarm Clock - Incense & Peppermints

Jupiter - Far Out Mix

Following the worldwide success of the 'Paul's Boutique' remix project 'Caught In The Middle of A 3 Way Mix'  (produced with fellow Solid Steel DJs; Moneyshot and DJ Food) DJ Cheeba returns with another documentary style mix charting the huge influence and mass appeal of arguably the greatest rock band of all time: Led Zeppelin. 

This mix has been made to coincide with the release of  'Celebration Day' and digs chronologically through the band's first six albums (1969-1975), picking out key tracks, their influences, subsequent covers and some of the notable examples of where they were sampled in hip hop, dance music and pop.

From 'Good Times, Bad Times' to 'Kashmir' this is a DJ mix made for everyone from the die hard fans who were there in 69' to the kids who only know the name from the iconic tee shirts. Turn it up loud... there's no other way to hear it!

There is a permanent download link here: https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/cheeba/LED+ZEPPELIN+-+Remastered%2C+Remixed+and+Sampled.mp3






Track listing (including spoken word clips):


Uncut radio interview. 1969 

1) Led Zeppelin - Good Times, Bad Times
2) Red Hot Chili Peppers - Drum Homage (Live in Hyde Park)

UK television interview. 1970

3) Steinski - It's Up To You (Television Mix)
4) Led Zeppelin - Communication Breakdown
5) Alabama Shakes - How Many More Times 
6) Led Zeppelin - How Many More Times (Live. 1969)
7) Led Zeppelin - How Many More Times
8) Led Zeppelin - You Shook Me

Robert Plant Interview

9) Joan Baez - Babe I'm Gonna Leave You

Howard Stern - The truth behind Led Zeppelin

10) Led Zeppelin - I Cant Quit You Baby
11) Otis Rush - I Cant Quit You Baby

Uncut radio interview. 1969 

12) Led Zeppelin - What Is and What Should Never Be

John Peel intro (Top Gear) 1971

13) Led Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Love
14) Tina Turner - Whole Lotta Love
15) Dread Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Love
16) The Prodigy - Voodoo People
17) Led Zeppelin - Heartbreaker
18) Ice T - Our Most Requested Record
19) Nirvana - Heartbreaker (Live)

Early Nirvana interview 

20) Led Zeppelin - Moby Dick
21) The Beastie Boys - What Comes Around
22) Led Zeppelin - Ramble On
23) Vitamin Dub - Out On The Tiles

Jack Black begs for 'Immigrant Song'

24) Karen O, Trent Raznor & Atticus Ross - Immigrant Song
25) Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song
26) Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song (Streetlab Remix)
27) The Sweet - Burning
28) Corrine Bailey Rae - Since I've Been Loving You
29) Led Zeppelin - Stairway To Heaven

Guitar Shop TV interviews Led Zeppelin producer Andy Johns

30) Dolly Parton - Stairway To Heaven
31) Frank Zappa - Stairway To Heaven (Live)

Extract from 'Waynes Word' 
Extract from 'It Might Get Loud" 

32) London Philharmonic Orchestra & Peter Scholes - When The Levee Breaks
33) Led Zeppelin - When The Levee Breaks
34) Massive Attack - Man Next Door
35) Aphex Twin - Taking Control
36) Coldcut - More Beats and Pieces (United States of Audio mix)
37) Bjork - Army of Me
38) Hayseed Dixie - Black Dog
39) Jurassic 5 - Lesson 6 (The Lecture)
40) Steinski - Lesson 3 (History of Hip Hop)
41) The Chemical Brothers - Delik
42) Led Zeppelin - The Ocean
43) Laura Veirs & Mount Analog - The Ocean

Extract from 'It Might Get Loud" 

44) Escala (Featuring Slash) - Kashmir 
45) Puff Daddy (Featuring Jimmy Page) - Come With Me
46) London Philharmonic Orchestra & Peter Scholes - Kashmir

LED ZEPPELIN (1969 - 1975) - Remastered, Remixed and Sampled

To tie-in with my 200th blog post, this was the last mix I ever tape edited, putting it together on my original Revox B77 reel-to-reel, which I’d bought 14 years earlier, back in 1982. See the post with accompanying images at the blog:
http://www.gregwilson.co.uk/2012/11/the-monastic-mix/ 

THE MONASTIC MIX:
‘The Monastic Mix’ was very much a labour of love, gradually assembled in stages, as I bounced between reel-to-reel and DAT in order to add further textures. I did it in collaboration with a young DJ from Liverpool, Matt Shannon, who was into the Trip Hop / D’n’B vibes of the time, which I really liked myself, but didn’t have any of the records (I was, as you might say, on the bones of my arse brassic back then, so I wasn’t in the position to be buying anything other than the bare essentials). We fused Matt’s tunes with mainly older stuff from my own collection for the mix, which appeared on one side of a free cassette that was given away to everyone who attended the launch of 'The Monastery', an experimental monthly club night on Merseyside (plus a couple of Wednesday specials at London's 'Mars Bar' in conjunction with Microdot, the design company ran by Brian Cannon). We made things particularly difficult for ourselves, holding the night on a Sunday, and choosing an off the beaten track venue, Stairways, a Birkenhead Rock club, to which we bussed people through the Mersey Tunnel from Liverpool, as well as attracting others from The Wirral. However, despite all the drawbacks, we somehow managed to keep things afloat for the best part of a year, enjoying some great memories and much musical mayhem along the way.

‘The Monastery’ brought together a collective of DJ’s and musicians who were largely disillusioned with the local dance scene - Derek Kaye, Bernie Connor, DJ Trix, Phil Jones, Desa, Girls On Top, Phil Melia, Kerry Harrison, Ciaron Bell, Matt and myself all played our parts, doing it for the love rather than money, with Martin O’Shea (who, as it would work out, went on to manage the successful girl group, Atomic Kitten) promoting the nights. The basic premise was that we didn't go down the four-on-the-floor path, as this was being played pretty much everywhere else at the time, concentrating instead on groove-based music from the 60's to the 90's.  

Featuring Soul, Funk, Electro-Funk, Hip Hop, Indie-Dance, Trip Hop, Drum & Bass and more, ‘The Monastic Mix’ became cult listening for many of the people who got hold of the cassette, although I’m sure that others found it a bit too eclectic for the time and never gave it a second hearing. I’ve been told that it’s quite a demanding mix to listen to, dark in places and somewhat ‘druggy’ (‘one for the heads’ being a comment made about it back then). 

It’s close to my heart because it reflects my state of mind at the time it was made, which was pretty turbulent. Since my production work had ground to a halt a few years earlier, I was very much in no man’s land, completely detached from the music scene and with no means of expressing myself. I was still totally illiterate as far as computers were concerned and I remember feeling old and out of touch. There were moments when I wanted nothing more to do with the music industry, being punch drunk from the knocks I’d taken during recent years, but, having never had a ‘proper job’ in my life, I was pretty much in a catch 22 situation. I had no money and no prospects, life was passing me by and I was more or less washed out creatively. Suffice to say it was a very bleak period for me.

It was during this time that my friends, seeing how much I was struggling, were urging me to get back into deejaying, telling me that I could make good money by trading on my reputation of old. However, there was a big catch, which was that I’d have to decide what area of dance music to specialise in, which was an alien concept for me, having made my name playing the best of a whole range of styles, rather than just one narrow area. Thankfully (and I can only say this with hindsight) I resisted the temptation to take this option, which would have amounted to selling my DJ soul for a quick cash-in.

The idea behind The Monastery was planted in my mind by my friend, Kermit, who, following on from the Rap Assassins, had hooked-up with former Happy Mondays mainman Shaun Ryder to form the band Black Grape.  Just before they were about to do the final mixes on their debut album, ‘It’s Great When You’re Straight…Yeah’ (which would subsequently top the British charts), Kermit came to see me in Liverpool with a cassette of all their tracks. I was blown away with what they’d come up with, but it also served to highlight my own shortfallings. I commented that he’d done so much while I’d been wasting away at home doing nothing, but he told me that the time I was spending, in relative seclusion, with my music, books and videos, would prove to be time well spent. He likened my existence to being in a monastery – a comment that very much resonated within me and somehow gave me renewed hope for the future.

The following year, when the idea of a putting together a club night was put to me, I suggested it should be called The Monastery, with the music policy and presentation completely unlike anything else that was happening, combining DJ’s with live musicians. When it came to putting the mix together, I wanted to reference as many of my musical influences as I could, even if it only be a tiny snippet. I managed to cram a lot of them in and I can guarantee that, even after numerous plays, you’ll still recognise new elements hidden away in there. There’s a lot of stuff going on in the detail and, listening back to it later down the line, I became aware of a definite autobiographical slant that didn’t seem so obvious then, reflecting the struggle and soul searching that summed up my life at the point it was made. A mix will, obviously, always have something of yourself within it, but this is undoubtedly more personally revealing than anything else I’ve done – there’s some kind of twisted narrative in there, and I can hear me talking to myself via some of the samples I chose (for example, when you hear the words ‘does anyone remember who I am?’, I really meant it, trapped in obscurity as I was). Even the discordant parts, the bits that jar with me now, show me exactly where my head was at.

It was an important personal step for me, and I thank Matt Shannon for what he brought to the table – I didn’t have all the ingredients myself, and he was also pretty handy on the decks, so Matt was, of course, key to this. He no doubt reads it in a different way to me, but I know it has its own special symbolism for him, especially given he never followed the DJ route, and instead carved out a rewarding career working in the computer, rather than in club realm. 

‘The Monastic Mix’ very much informed what I did later, especially the Teenage DJ project, which built on that autobiographical slant I’d stumbled across. It’s echoes can also be heard via my use of samples in a live context - people who know my mixes from more recent times will, no doubt, recognise many of the samples I’ve subsequently used, which are spun from the same tape, but in a different context – from another time and place.

I think it’s a mix that’s most conducive to a chilled-out environment (and state of mind). I might have given the impression that it’s pretty heavy-going, but you’ll find lots of familiar stuff throughout (it makes for a great game of spot the sample) and I’m sure it’ll raise a smile, and perhaps even the spirit, here and there. 

Greg Wilson - November 2012

THE MONASTIC MIX (by greg wilson and matt shannon for the monastery 1996)

Edition #12 of Early 80’s Floorfillers takes a look back to December 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-dec-82-2 

Greg Wilson – December 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 - DECEMBER 1982

More fun for the dancefloor. 

Out now on wax, late jan digitally.

Jus' a teaser for now.. x

Tigerskin - Windfall (Preview)

Full 3 hour mix from a superb New Year’s Eve gathering at Manchester’s 2022NQ . 

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

2022NQ MANCHESTER NYE 31.12.12 (greg wilson live mix)

Release info: http://ghostly.com/releases/fighting-is-futile-remixes

Matthew Dear - Fighting is Futile (Benoit & Sergio Remix)

Recorded on the anniversary of JFK's assassination and 21 years after their historic '92 New Year mix on Kiss 100 FM, Coldcut meets The Orb inna Uptown Youth House for the Return Trip. Matt Black and Jonathan More alongside studio accomplice Dor Wand got suitably enhanced with Dr LX Paterson and Youth for a multi-player late night jam session lasting over 3 hours. They then entrusted the multitracks of the set to DJ Food who heroically edited, condensed and massaged the sprawling swamp of sound into a tight - but also loose - 2 hour Solid Steel session.

Swimming through the mix are Lee Perry, Killing Joke, Sun Ra, William Burroughs, Teebs, Ry Cooder, Actress, Prince Jammy, Iggy Pop, Monty Python, Hank Williams and Hal 9000. Alongside unreleased dubs from the players themselves, remixes and versions of tunes old and new, the complete track listing for this marathon set may never be fullly disclosed. It's 2 hours, 10 minutes of sonic secrets to melt your mind, probably best listened to in headphones late at night with all suitable facilities for the full effect. Enjoy this trip. 

https://twitter.com/Coldcut	https://twitter.com/Orbinfo

PART 3 +  4     -	Coldcut meets The Orb - The Return Trip	

Coldcut & The Orb - Countdown intro feat. JFK
Popol Vuh - Through Pain To Heaven II (Egg)
Nicodemus - Mad Over Me (Black Joy Records)
Prince Jammy - Shielded Approach (Jammy’s Records)
Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised [Early Version] (Flying Dutchman)
The Upsetter - Lover's Skank (Spangler’s Clapp)
Coldcut - Space Brother No.1 (unreleased)
Augustus Pablo - Don D Special – Dub (Rockers International)
Youth vs Brother Culture - People Love The Music (Dub) (unreleased)
Coldcut & The Orb - Shadow jam 
Actress - Shadow From Tartarus  (Honest Jon's Records)
Coldcut & The Orb - Guru / Witches jam
Delta Uniform Bravo - Bullnose Step (unreleased)
Celtic Cross - Hicksville (Liquid Sound Design)
Osho - I Celebrate Myself
Charanjit Singh - Raga Kalavati (Bombay Connection)
Coldcut & The Orb - Beats Working jam
Youth & Penny Rimbaud - And If I Lust (unreleased)
Ry Cooder - She's Leaving The Bank (Warner Bros)
Teebs - While You Dooo (Brainfeeder)
Killing Joke - Eighties (Youth dub) (unreleased)
Delta Uniform Bravo -- Mad Don The Kebab Killing 3 (unreleased)
The Orb - Pluto Calling (Twinkle) (Malicious Damage)
Youth & Jake - 106 Degrees Far Out (unreleased)
Celtic Cross - Jade Garden (Liquid Sound Design)
White Noise - Love Without Sound (Virgin)
Hal 9000 / Jacob Miller - Knocking Version (Dub) (Greensleeves)
Iggy Pop - Mass Production (RCA)
Coldcut & The Orb - HAL 9000 jam
MONTY PYTHON - Finland (Charisma)
Elliot Goldenthal - Estrella Oscura feat Lila Downs (Frida soundtrack)
John Bonham - Drum outtakes
Skatilites -  Guns of Navarone (Trojan)
Celephais - Zodiac Free Arts Club (Permanent Vacation)
Robag Wruhme - Thora Vukk (Pampa Records)
Rootmasters - Fade 2 Blue (unreleased)
Hank Williams - Jambalaya (On The Bayou) (DJ Yoda mash) (Unthugged Classics)  


Solid Steel Radio Show 11/1/2013 Part 3 + 4 - Coldcut meets The Orb

Recorded on the anniversary of JFK's assassination and 21 years after their historic '92 New Year mix on Kiss 100 FM, Coldcut meets The Orb inna Uptown Youth House for the Return Trip. Matt Black and Jonathan More alongside studio accomplice Dor Wand got suitably enhanced with Dr LX Paterson and Youth for a multi-player late night jam session lasting over 3 hours. They then entrusted the multitracks of the set to DJ Food who heroically edited, condensed and massaged the sprawling swamp of sound into a tight - but also loose - 2 hour Solid Steel session.

Swimming through the mix are Lee Perry, Killing Joke, Sun Ra, William Burroughs, Teebs, Ry Cooder, Actress, Prince Jammy, Iggy Pop, Monty Python, Hank Williams and Hal 9000. Alongside unreleased dubs from the players themselves, remixes and versions of tunes old and new, the complete track listing for this marathon set may never be fullly disclosed. It's 2 hours, 10 minutes of sonic secrets to melt your mind, probably best listened to in headphones late at night with all suitable facilities for the full effect. Enjoy this trip. 

https://twitter.com/Coldcut            https://twitter.com/Orbinfo

Part 1 + 2 - Coldcut meets The Orb - The Return Trip

The Orb – Hold Me (Interlude) (feat. Lee Scratch Perry) (Dub Temple Records)
OICHO - Buried (Workhousedigital) 
Gaudi & The Orb feat. Lee Scratch Perry - I Start To Pray (unreleased)
Youth vs Brother Culture - Bubble Up (unreleased)
Mulatu Astatke - Yegelle Tezeta (My Own Memory) (Mochilla)
Coldcut - Isotoke (unreleased)
Sun Ra - Astro Black (Impulse) 
John Coltrane - So What solo (Columbia)
Arthur Russell - Lets Go Swimming (Logarhythm)
Gene Kelly - Singing in the Rain (Decca)  
Derek Scott - Sounds Unusual (Music De Wolfe)
Nitty Gritty - Use To Be My Dubber (Uptempo Records)
Yabby You - Heads A Roll Dub (Profit Records)
The Orb - Man In The Moon (Instrumental) (Cooking Vinyl)
Manuel Gottsching / Ash Ra Temple - Pluralis (Kosmiche Musik)
Moondog - Dance Rehearsal (Prestige)
Delta Uniform Bravo - A Stooges Lament (unreleased)
Steve Hillage - Rainbow Dome Music (Virgin)
Killing Joke - Exorcism (Youth dub) (unreleased) + Delta Airlines Ebonics skit
William Burroughs - Ah Pook Is Here (Giorno Poetry Systems)
Delta Uniform Bravo - On & On (Skewed Version) (unreleased) 
The Animated Egg - Sock It My Way (Alshire Records)  
Bonnie Dobson - Bird of Space (Prestige)
Monty Python - The Rhubarb Tart Song (Charisma)
Ry Cooder - Paris Texas (Warner Bros)
The Amorphous Androgynous - Guru Song (Artful Records)
Overture - Orchestra (Varese Sarabande)
Killing Joke - European Super State (Youth dub remix) (unreleased)
Pole - Berlin (Kiff)
Master Musicians of Bukkake - Tainted Phenomena (Southern Records) 


Solid Steel Radio Show 11/1/2013 Part 1 + 2 - Coldcut meets The Orb

"Fort What It's Worth (DC's Finest Remix)"
Fort Knox Five vs. Buffalo Springfield




For What It's Worth (DC's Finest Remix)

We move into Hour 2 and for our 25th Anniversary we encouraged guests to deliver something different. This week Luke Vibert (who has appeared many times on the show) does exactly that with a high octane opening section showcasing the edit kings from the late eighties. Often found on the b-side of club records, editors such as Omar Santana, Carlos Berrios,  Chep Nunez and the Latin Rascals transformed tracks with quick fire cuts for artists like Rochelle, Corina, Bad Boy Orchestra, Stone and Sweet Sensation who are all featured and we get a Luke Vibert treatment on top. Brand New Funk and Ethel Beatty offer a respite from all this, as well as a sublime gospel track from Pastor TL Barrett, before closing with Omar Souleyman, Tipper and Tomita.


PART 3 + 4   -		Luke Vibert		https://twitter.com/LukeVibert
				
Luke Vibert	_	Solid Steel Intro	_	unknown
Black Britain	_	Funky Nassau	_	10 Records
Rochelle	_	Magic Man	_	Warner Bros
Jammy	_	Walk Away	_	Cutting Records
Sweet Sensation	_	Never Let You Go	_	ATCO
Marshall Burns	_	I Burn	_	unknown
Corina	_	Out Of Control	_	Cutting Records
Rios Sisters	_	I Don't Want You Back	_	Onna Roll
Bad Boy Orchestra	_	Hip Hop Salsa	_	Smokin
Edmond	_	Come Back To Me	_	Sand Castle
Steve X Get II	_	Hey Buddy Buddy	_	Select
Stone	_	More	_	Select
Lisette Melendez	_	Together Forever	_	Columbia
Trace	_	You Don't Call Me	_	Biss
Yvonne	_	There's A Party Going On	_	Cutting Records
Nova	_	You Can Do It	_	Emergency
Carlos Berrios	_	Berrios Beats	_	After Dark
Latin Rascals	_	Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood - All-Star Edits	_	Tin Pan Apple
Sweet Sensation	_	Goodbye Baby	_	Next Plateau
& More	_	Materialistic Girl	_	Micmac
Soave	_	If You Want Me	_	Micmac
Tonasia	_	Tears Of Tears	_	Micmac
Ian Iyce	_	Sex Lies And Videotape	_	Micmac
Noel	_	Like A Child	_	4th & Broadway
The Beat Club	_	Security	_	Pizazz Records
Raiana Paige	_	Open Up Your Heart	_	Sleeping Bag
2 Intense	_	I've Fallen & I Can't Get Up	_	Dynamix II
Casanovas Revenge	_	Let's Work	_	Invasion Recordings
2 Girls	_	Talkin' Bout Rockin'	_	unknown
Sound Authority	_	Get It Up	_	Vision
rca synthesiser	_	1955 speech synthesis son	_	unknown
IBM 7090 Computer [M.V. Mathews]	_	Bicycle Built For Two	_	unknown
Brand New Funk	_	Interlude	_	Vibration
Ethel Beatty	_	It's Your Love	_	Uno Melodic
Pastor T.L. Barrett And The Youth For Christ Choir	_	Nobody Knows	_	Light In The Attic 
Omar Souleyman	_	Lansob Sherek [I Will Make A Trap]	_	Sublime Frequencies
Tipper	_	Jook	_	Tippermusic
Tomita	_	Clair de Lune 	_	RCA
Tony Back & Ric Carr	_	And So It's Over	_	SRT Productions

Solid Steel Radio Show 18/1/2013 Part 3 + 4 - Luke Vibert

In 1995 I passed on a mix tape to Groove Academy (Giant Step) Marc Labelle at an outdoor stage that was rocking with DJ's Jazzy Nice, Chillfreeze + Groove Collective & Nappy G live. They soon took me on as a 3rd DJ in the weekly rotation of the legendary Giant Step parties. The club vibes were HOT! There was a mix of hip hop, jazz, funk, live instrumentation, paintings, tap dancers as well as a very funky & sexy dance floor! Needless to say, I was hooked & thanks to Marc, Maurice Bernstein & Jonathan Rudnick, I stayed in the Giant Step crew for many years after. We pushed the sounds from Acid Jazz/funk, Hip Hop/Trip Hop, House & Drum & Bass- all with live musicians taking it to another level. I've also had the opportunity to DJ at shows for Jazzmattazz, Tricky, K&D, St Germain, Pharcyde, Groove Collective, Massive Attack, Gil Scott Heron & all the greats who passed through NYC at that time. Here's the 1st mix-tape I did for Giant Step in 1995. It featured artwork by BLUSTER! #MixTapeDiaries with more mixes & stories continue on  www.mixcloud.com/Nickodemus   ENJOY & please share this moment in time! 


Nickodemus Giant Step 1995 Mixtape vol 1

Lounge Mix

Hip Hop Lives was recorded live for Adam 12s Afex night in 2008. Afex is one of LAs most prominent conceptual hip hop nights, covering the era from early eighties to mid nineties.


Cut Chemist - Hip Hop Lives (1985-1996)

Taken from the digital release of the new EP from Tristesse Contemporaine, "Woodwork EP"

"Waiting" : obsessive, haunted, elegiac – the art of making dead people dance.

Tristesse Contemporaine - Waiting (Acid Washed Remix)

Solid Steel (24th May) Following on from last year's treatment of 'Paul's Boutique' (by DJ Food, Cheeba and Moneyshot), United States of Audio does the same with De la Soul's groundbreaking album 3 Feet High and Rising. It's not just a mix, but more like an audio documentary about an album that is also about to celebrate it's 25th anniversary. In his own words;
'Several years in the making and including around 100 tracks, this is my personal tribute to De La Soul's '3 Feet High and Rising'. Using original sample sources, album tracks, interviews and rarities, 'How High's The Water Mama' tells the story of one of hip hop's most influential albums.
When De La Soul's debut album dropped in 1989 I was ten years old. Yet, by some stroke of amazing good fortune a cassette copy of '3 Feet High and Rising' found its way into my hands thanks to my best mate's older brother (though I'm pretty sure said brother had no idea of this fact!). The music was a revelation and had a significant influence in shaping my musical tastes - in fact I can't think of any other album that has had such a profound effect on me as this one. Thus '3 Feet High and Rising' holds a special place in my musical affections. Now, some twenty-five years after its original release, it's time to pay my respect to Pos, Dove, Mase, and Prince Paul...'

Follow Solid Steel on Facebook and Twitter 
www.facebook.com/pages/Solid-Steel/175027509192663 
twitter.com/DK_SolidSteel

PART 1 + 2 - United States of Audio  https://twitter.com/usofaudio

United States of Audio - De La Intro
Average White Band - School Boy Crush - Atlantic
De La Soul - Intro - Tommy Boy
Bob Dorough - Three is a Magic Number - Capitol
Double Dee & Steinski - Lesson 3 (History Of Hip Hop Mix) - Tommy Boy
Run DMC - Here We Go (Live at the Funhouse) - Profile
Johnny Cash - Five Feet High and Rising - Columbia
Syl Johnson - Different Strokes - BGP Records
James Brown - Funky Drummer - Harmless
De La Soul - The Magic Number (Too Mad Mix) - Tommy Boy
Fatback - Is This the Future? - Spring Records
De La Soul - The Magic Number (1-2-3 Mix) - Tommy Boy
De La Soul - The Magic Number - Tommy Boy
The Monkees - Mary, Mary - RCA Victor
The Mad Lads - No Strings Attached - Volt
Cymande - Bra - Janus
The New Birth - Got to Get a Knut - RCA Victor
De La Soul - Can U Keep A Secret - Tommy Boy
Maggie Thrett - Soupy - Dynovoice
De La Soul - Jenifa Taught Me (Derwin's Revenge) - Tommy Boy 
De La Soul - Derwin - Tommy Boy
Steve Miller Band - Take The Money And Run - Mercury
Liberace - Chopsticks - Columbia
De La Soul - Ghetto Thang - Tommy Boy
Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express - Capitol
James Brown - Funky President - Polydor
The Blackbyrds - Rock Creek Park - BGP Records
De La Soul - Eye Know (Know It All mix) - Tommy Boy
De La Soul - Eye Know - Tommy Boy
Steely Dan - Peg - ABC Records
Otis Redding - (Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay - Atlantic
The Mad Lads - Make This Young Lady Mine - Volt
De La Soul - Tread Water (Squire Mix) - Flying International
De La Soul - Tread Water (Mr Fish Mix) - Flying International
De La Soul - Tread Water - Tommy Boy
The People's Choice - I Likes To Do It - Mojo
The People's Choice - I Likes To Do It (Extended Mix) - Jamie Record Co.
De La Soul - What's More - Tommy Boy
De La Soul - A Little Bit of Soap - Tommy Boy
The Jarmels - A Little Bit of Soap - Laurie Records
Sly & The Family Stone - Poet - Epic
De La Soul - Description - Tommy Boy
Melvin Bliss - Synthetic Substitution - Sunburst Records
War - Magic Mountain - ABC Records
De La Soul - They Don't Know That The Soul Don't Go For That - Tommy Boy
Parliament - Little Ole Country Boy - Invictus
Barry White - I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby - 20th Century Records

United States of Audio - A Cooler Breeze on the Rocks
[Featuring:
Richard Pryor - Crap Game - Laff Records
Vaughan Mason And Crew - Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll - Brunswick
MC Lyte - Lyte as a Rock - Atlantic
Ashford & Simpson - Solid - Capitol
Fearless Four - Rockin' It - Enjoy Records
Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force - Planet Rock (Acapella) - Tommy Boy
Cutmaster D.C. - Brooklyn Rocks - Zakia Records
Run DMC - Hit It Run - Profile 
Beastie Boys - The New Style - Def Jam
Treacherous Three - Body Rock - Sugar Hill
The Real Roxanne - Bang Zoom - Cooltempo
Public Enemy - Night of the Living Bassheads - Def Jam
L.L. Cool J - Rock The Bells - Def Jam
Michael Jackson - Rock With You - Epic
The B-Boys - Rock The House - Streetwave
Disco Dave - High Power Rap - Mike & Dave Records
Imperial Brothers - We Come To Rock - Streetwave]

Wilson Pickett - Hey Jude - Atlantic
The Turtles - You Showed Me - White Whale
De La Soul - Plug Tunin' (Original 12" Version) - Tommy Boy
The Invitations - Written on the Wall - DynoVoice 
Billy Joel - Stiletto - Columbia
De La Soul - Buddy - Tommy Boy
Taana Gardner - Heartbeat - West End Records
De La Soul - Buddy (Native Souls Instrumental) - Tommy Boy
The Commodores - Girl, I think the World About You - Motown
Eddie Harris - Get On Up and Dance - Atlantic
De La Soul - Take It Off - Tommy Boy
Funky 4 + 1 - That's The Joint - Sugar Hill
The Turtles - I'm Chief Kamanawanalea (We're The Royal Macadamia Nuts) - White Whale
Detroit Emeralds - Baby Let Me Take You (In My Arms) - Westbound
Hall and Oates - I Can't Go For That (No Can Do) - RCA Victor
De La Soul - Say No Go (Bonus Beats) - Tommy Boy
Sly Stone - Cross Word Puzzle - Epic
The Emotions - Best of My Love - CBS
De La Soul - Say No Go - Tommy Boy
De La Soul - Say No Go (Unity Mix) - Tommy Boy
De La Soul - Me Myself and I (Richie Rich remix) - Tommy Boy
De La Soul - Me Myseld and I (Instrumental) - Tommy Boy
Edwin Birdsong - Rapper Dapper - Salsoul
Funkadelic - Not Just Knee Deep - Warner Bros
Doug E. Fresh - The Original Human Beatbox - Vintertainment
Sequence - Funk You Up - Sugar Hill
De La Soul - This Is A Recording 4 Living In A Full Time ERA (L.I.F.E.) - Tommy Boy
Magic Disco Machine - Scratchin' - Motown
Ohio Players - Funky Worm - Westbound
De La Soul - Ain't Hip to be Labeled a Hippie - Tommy Boy
T-Ski Valley - Catch The Beat - Grand Groove
The Rascals - My World - Atlantic
De La Soul - D.A.I.S.Y. Age - Tommy Boy
Johnny Cash - Five Feet High and Rising - Columbia

Credits: 
Respect and thanks to DJ Moneyshot for providing the original inspiration for the mix, Strictly Kev for sample sourcing, design work and general encouragement, DJ Cheeba for keeping me on my toes, Chris Binstead (wherever you may be) for his great taste in music and for unwittingly exposing my young ears to '3 Feet High and Rising' in the first place, and of course, to Dave Jolicoeur, Kelvin Mercer, Vincent Mason and Paul Huston without whom none of this would be possible.

Solid Steel Radio Show 24/5/2013 Part 1 + 2 - United States of Audio

I was recently asked to play a night called Classic Material in London. The idea for the club is to give each month over to a year from Hip Hop's past and only play tracks released during it. I was given 1989 and this set was all done from original vinyl, clicks, jumps and all.

Tracklist:

Tone Loc - On Fire (Remix) (Delicous Vinyl)
Gang Starr - Words I Manifest (Wild Pitch)
Chill Rob G - Court's In Session (Wild Pitch)
Beastie Boys - Hey Ladies (Capitol Records)
Jungle Brothers - Jbeez Comin' Through (Warner Bros)
Beastie Boys - Shadrach (Capitol Records)
Beastie Boys - Shake Your Rump (Capitol Records)
EPMD - Big Payback (Sleeping Bag)
Ultramagnetic MCs - A Chorus Line (Next Plateau)
Public Enemy - Fight The Power (Motown)
De La Soul - Say No Go (Say No Dope mix) (Big Life/Tommy Boy)
Most Wanted - Calm Down (Fever Records)
Hijack - Badman Is Robbin' (Rhyme Syndicate)
Ice T - Lethal Weapon (Sire)
Twin Hype - Do It To The Crowd (Profile)
Jungle Brothers - Tribe Vibes   (Warner Bros)
Jungle Brothers  Beyond This World  (Warner Bros)
Cookie Crew - Born This Way (FFRR)
Jungle Brothers - Good News Coming  (Warner Bros)
The D.O.C - Portrait of a Masterpiece (Ruthless)
Hijack - Doomsday of Rap (Ice T Remix) (Rhyme Syndicate)
De La Soul - Magic Number (123 mix) (Big Life/Tommy Boy)
Doug Lazy - Let It Roll (Grove St)
Double Trouble & Rebel MC - Just Keep Rockin' (Desire)

'88 was great but '89 is mine

Part 2 of Scuba's After Hours mix series....

01. John Beltran - For Vangelis
02. Redshape - It's In Rain
03. Midland - Real Time
04. Fideles - Revenge
05. Coat Of Arms - What You Need (Coat Of Arms remix)
06. George FitzGerald - Nighttide Lover
07. Ceasre vs Disorder - Chacha Malaga
08. Moodtrap - House Trippin
09. youANDTHEMACHINES - Uncover
10. Figueroa & Obando - Riesling (Dubfire remix)
11. Martyn - Memoryhole
12. Dusky - Vanishing Point
13. Dan Ghenacia - Acid walk
14. Ceasre vs Disorder - Vercelli By Night
15. FCL - It's You (MK remix)
16. Will Azada - Panty Creamer
17. Detroit Swindle - The Wrap Around
18. Appleblim - Darkest Red

Scuba After Hours Mix Part 2

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.