It’s common to hear about pioneering US DJs from the 70s and 80s laying the foundations for modern dance music. Usually the UK joins in around 1988 when acid house exploded into the national consciousness but a few UK missionaries were spreading the message from the previous decade. Greg Wilson started DJing at clubs like Wigan Pier in 1975, going on to push the new post-disco electro-funk coming from the US, becoming the first dance DJ to play Manchester’s Hacienda and mix live on TV [The Tube in 1983] while involved with Street Sounds’ hugely-influential Electro series. Greg retired in 1983 until a triumphant comeback amidst 2003’s renewed interest in electro saw him revered as a UK dance music godfather. He felt enough spiritual affinity with Ralph Lawson’s 2020 Vision label to agree to do a mix album of back catalogue highlights which tickled his boogie g-spot. The results are remarkable. Often enhanced by Greg’s own edits, tracks by names including Weirdo Police, Random Factor, Nick Chacona, Fred Everything, 2020 Soundsystem, Paul Woolford and Spirit Catcher flow through delirious stretches of electro-boogie heaven; like early 80s New York radio mastermixes transported into the 21st century, beautifully illustrated by Dubble D’s euphoric heist of D-Train’s Keep On and the sound bites of the day injected via Greg’s new edits. Greg’s edit of Woolford’s Erotic Discourse is pure pleasure central, almost unbelievably rich and representative of New York’s incredible electro-boogie renaissance. There are countless DJ albums around but this really is special.
5 Out Of 5
Reviewed By: Kris Needs