Greg Wilson - Edit The Edit 02

Greg Wilson
Edit the Edit 002
EDIT THE EDIT

Ah, the edit. One could say it has fallen by the wayside in favor of the remix, which allows a producer more creativity to add his own production and in a sense reinvent the song. The edit on the other hand is traditionally limited to extending a song through a few loops to make it more dance-floor friendly. However, there is something to be said about the ability to bring new life to a ‘classic’ track or a hidden gem, to give it that extra little something that makes it your own. Producers undoubtedly also get a thrill out of releasing them, as they are usually bootlegs without approval of the original artists, like Theo Parrish’s Ugly Edits label, and the Wolf + Lamb Black Label, on which Soul Clap has released a number of cuts.

Greg Wilson is no stranger to the edit, and was likely to be one of its very first pioneers. DJing at the age of 15 in 1975, Wilson is a legend in DJ history, as he led the Manchester scene in the 80s, holding residencies at Wigan Pier and the The Haçienda, playing mostly disco, soul, and funk, throughout his career. On Wilson’s second release on Edit the Edit label, we find him editing edits of the songs he probably used to spin back in Manchester.

The first up is Boogie Monster, an edit of Wade Nichols’ edit of KC & the Sunshine Band’s I’m Your Boogie Man. Note this is not the Wade Nichols who became Dennis Parker as he shifted his career from porn star to soap-opera star/singer, but an alias of Todd Terje. Wilson doesn’t do much with Terje’s edit here, extending it a few minutes and adding a few vocal snippets including one from UK ska band Madness’ One Step Beyond. The original upbeat disco-funk of the instrumentals matches nicely with most of the samples, although the Madness clip seems out of place.

The flip side is an edit of 6th Borough Project’s How I Can Show You, released earlier this year on Delusions of Grandeur. Again, not much done to the music here as Wilson decides to add a hip-hop vocal claiming to “drop the bomb” and the recognizable opening wail from Tensnake’s Coma Cat. The track’s original deep funk groove rolls along masterfully, as Wilson’s inserts sound like the result of either someone discovering a sampler for the first time, or a highly skilled DJ creatively splicing in a few loops off of records he also enjoys. I’m going to go with the latter.

While Wilson did very little with each of these original songs, he definitely accomplished what the edit is intended to do, give the track a new life. The vocal samples used here are silly, very silly. Each song takes on a whole new tone; a goofy, happy hipness to remind us what dance music is about in the first place, having fun.

Justin Peczkowski

Tracklisting: Greg Wilson - Edit The Edit 02 (Click links to listen)
1. Boogie Monster
2. Drop The Bomb