gregwilson: Recent Episodes
gregwilson
Bookings: matt@thepool-london.com Promos: promo@gregwilson.co.uk
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.
2019 has seen the return of the A&R Edits series with Vol.10 as well as some forthcoming digital releases on Super Weird Substance.
Full three-hour recording for my 50th anniversary special at Manchester Cathedral 24.04.26.
Freshly uploaded to SoundCloud, the recording from my recent appearance at Pikes, Ibiza on May 19th, when I was one of the secret DJs, along with Graeme Park, for their Monday night session at Freddie’s.
Live recording from a special daytime event at The Social in London. I never normally record the audience in my mixes, but, for some strange reason, there seems to have been a mic active on my device picking up the crowd. My aversion to this is that, apart from the general ambience of the room, it also picks up people chatting in or around the booth, especially in a small compact space like we were in. I hope this isn’t distracting, but, weighing things up, it was such a good day, and its so long since I’ve uploaded a mix to SoundCloud, that I think it’s only right to share regardless.
Recording from Beat-Herder festival in Lancashire 21.07.24, where I closed out Smokey Tentacles on the final night
Mighty Clouds Of Joy 'Mighty Cloud Of Joy' (greg wilson & ché wilson rework)124 bpmDJ only vinyl 2024.The Mighty Clouds Of Joy were an LA-based gospel group who’d been releasing records since the early-‘60s, initially as The Mighty, Mighty Clouds Of Joy’. In 1974 they made a departure from their more traditional style when the group went into Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, the epicentre when it came to the soulful dance music that would soon explode as disco, recording their album, ‘It’s Time’, with producer/songwriter, Dave Crawford. Members of the Philadelphia International group, MFSB, already renowned for backing artists like Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes, The O’Jays and The Three Degrees, were brought aboard for the sessions, including the legendary Baker-Harris-Young rhythm section, who, apart from MFSB, fuelled The Trammps, with Earl Young celebrated for innovating the disco style of rock drumming.I came across the group via their second single from ‘It’s Time’, ‘Mighty Cloud Of Joy’, released in late-‘74. I figure I must have picked my UK 7” out of a bargain bin when I was 14, maybe 15. There’s nowhere I would have previously heard this – it was before I started DJing, and it’s not something likely to be played on radio. I reckon I bought it on spec – I knew the label, ABC, via singles by Eddie Holman, Four Tops and Rufus, so it was a trusted source, and I would have been fascinated that the artist and title were (almost) the same.It picked up specialist plays from some soul and funk DJs here, including Colin Curtis at the Blackpool Mecca and Les Spaine at The Timepiece in Liverpool, but largely went under the radar. It remained a personal favourite from the period, which I’d have thought would have done well in the States, but it appears to have been largely slept on there too, the track receiving DJ support, but not igniting as you’d imagine it would have. The following year, again recorded at Sigma Sound, the next Mighty Clouds album, ‘Kickin’’, included ‘Mighty High’, which would blow up big time with US DJs and top the disco chart (it wasn’t a track I can ever recall hearing in a UK club). It surprised me to learn that ‘Mighty High’ had been so big, while ‘Mighty Cloud Of Joy’ is conspicuous by its absence from both the US R&B and Disco charts – the latter sounding far more like a disco classic to my ears.Having remixed Gabriels ‘Love And Hate In A Different Time’ with Ché, inspired by the mid-‘70s Earl Young disco groove, it brought to mind the gospel-infused ‘Mighty Cloud Of Joy’, and this rework resulted. Having played it out while we fine-tuned, despite its relative obscurity, people responded to it like they’ve known it all their lives, it’s ‘movin’ on up’ refrain infectious, which makes it all the more surprising that it wasn’t huge on release.Pressed on limited vinyl as part of the GW Edits series, and featuring ‘The Turnaround’, an update of Vicki Sue Robinson’s ’76 disco anthem, ‘Turn The Beat Around’.
The full two-hour recording of my closing slot on in the Mini Moo tent on August 26th 2023 at Moovin Festival in Stockport, culminating at midnight.
Definitely a highlight of my year so far, my 90 minute mix from the Supreme Standards stage, at Love Supreme Festival in East Sussex.
Taking place within a huge big top, which held a couple of thousand or so people, I started from a blank canvas, the crowd dispersing when the day’s programme of live acts came to a close at 10.30, with a half hour wait before I started.
There’s always a bit of trepidation in this moment, looking out at a great big empty space and trusting it will soon fill up again. I needn’t have worried, as it was bulging with party people in no time, and the whole thing ignited perfectly.
Recorded at a trio of events in April 2023, in support of my book, Discotheque Archives, this mix is an amalgamation of these three nights – Sidney&Matilda in Sheffield (1st), Golden Lion Todmorden (7th) and World Headquarters in Newcastle (8th). I had issues with my recording device throughout the weekend, but managed to capture enough to be able to patch between them, resulting in close on three hours of music highlighted within the pages of the book – all original versions, rather than edits/reworks.The mix features 33 tracks, which span the years 1963-1983 and is packed with classics and cult-classics, providing a snapshot of dance music, in its many facets, during the pre-rave decades..Book info/orders: https://superweirdsubstance.com/product/greg-wilson-discotheque-archive-extended/
Annual selection from Greg Wilson, returning after two year break due to covid restrictions, listing 20 of the edits and reworks that have featured in his DJ sets during the combined period 2020-2022.1. The Temptations – Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone (Ian Ossia Rework)2. Cerrone – Supernature (Dr Packer Rework)3. Crown Heights Affair – Dreaming A Dream (ID Edit/Crypic Re-Touch)4. The Sugarhill Gang - Rappers Delight (Mikeandtess Rework)5. Rose Royce - Is It Love You’re After (Redux MST Edit)6. Maze - Joy and Pain (Dr Packer Rework)7. The Emotions - I Don’t Wanna Lose Your Love (Derek Kaye Rework)8. Freeez – Southern Freeez (Dr Packer Rework)9. Winners - Get Ready For The Future (Chewy Rubs & North Laine Rework)10. Claudja Barry - Sweet Dynamite (Dr Packer Rework – Retouched) 11. Gene Chandler – Get Down (Dr Packer Rework)12. Yazoo - Situation (Greg Wilson Edit of François Kevorkian Dub)13. Garfield Fleming – Don’t Send Me Away (Mikeandtess Edit)14. B.B.C.S. & A Band - Rock Shock (Dr Packer Rework – Retouched)15. Rodney Franklin – The Groove (DJ S Rework)16. The Fatback Band - (Are You Ready) Do the Bus Stop (Sauco & Manuel Costela Rework)17. Prince Charles & The City Beat Band – Bush Beat (Alkalino Edit)18. Don Ray – Got To Have Loving (Mighty Mouse Edit)19. Tantra – Hills Of Katmandu (Greg Wilson Edit)20. Gary’s Gang - Makin’ Music (Machine Disco Rework)
From my final festival appearance of 2022, a summer highlight from the Roller Rink at We Out Here providing a fitting conclusion to a full-on summer schedule.
I’m going to get some more edits/reworks uploaded in the coming months, starting off with one I did in conjunction with Henry Greenwood, a rework that was getting a major response until the pandemic went and spoilt the party.
Recorded by Brooklyn’s Linda Clifford for Curtis Mayfield's Curtom label and mixed by Jim Burgess, ‘Runaway Love’ was somewhat overshadowed by her Disco take on ‘If My Friends Could See Me Now’, from the ‘60s Broadway musical/film, ‘Sweet Charity’. Although ‘Runaway Love’ and ‘Gypsy Lady’ were also listed when the album of the same name topped the US Disco chart, ‘If My Friends Could See Me Now’ was very much the lead track. ‘Runaway Love’ however was the choice cut in the R&B realm where, having been issued as a single, it reached #3.
As big as it was in the Stateside clubs I can’t ever remember ever hearing a DJ in this country playing ‘If My Friends Could See Me Now’ – it was all about ‘Runaway Love’ here, which, from the moment the LP came in on import in ’78 the specialist DJs seized upon. It could have been a UK hit, but was only issued on the flip side of ‘If My Friends Could See Me Now’. Besides, it was all about the full-length 12” version, the truncated 7” compromising its wonderful flow and build. The single stalled at #50 – the fact it got as high as that was all to do with the B Side.
To my ears it’s a track that should be as familiar as Rufus & Chaka Khan’s ‘Ain’t Nobody’, but ‘Runaway Love’ is a hidden classic far too rarely heard. This prompted me to team up with Henry Greenwood to put together a DJ friendly rework that retained the song in all its glory, whilst providing a mix in and out and adding contemporary weight to its already infectious groove. I couldn’t have wished for a better outcome, the audience response the proof in the pudding.
The third in a trio of late-‘70s reworks I’ve collaborated on with Henry, following on from Marshall Hain ‘Dancing In The City’ & El Coco ‘Mondo Disco’, which were pressed back to back on limited vinyl as part of the A&R Edits series.
This is the first live mix I’ve uploaded since restrictions lifted, two hours recorded last month by the side of the River Thames on London’s South Bank between Waterloo and Westminster bridges, next to the London Eye.
Things were somewhat on top for Liverpool radio station Melodic Distraction, having lost their studio space in the Baltic Triangle they were left homeless, and this mix was put together in support of their plight. They set up a Kickstarter and I’m happy to say that they reached their required amount of £35,000 and plan to move across the city into new premises in the Fabric District, novelly housing their studios in shipping containers.
The hour-long mix features original tracks I’ve played during more recent years, rather than re-edits or older stuff, so, especially given it’s a bit different to the norm, it’s good to be able to get up onto SoundCloud, where my uploads have been a bit threadbare (in comparison with previous times) since coronavirus shut down the industry.
The final of my four appearances at Glastonbury in 2019, recorded at Stonebridge on the evening of 30.06.19.
The first of my four appearances at Glastonbury in 2019, recorded at the Beat Hotel on the evening of 29.06.19.
Full recording from my appearance at Ministry Of Sound in London for Art's House 09.03.19.