Greg Wilson @ Revolver, Melbourne (21/10/06)

Firstly, let me come out and make a confession: I’m not an expert on old school funk and disco. So my appreciation of Greg Wilson’s ‘Credit to the Edit’ show at Revolver was based on a working knowledge of electro plus a dash of mainstream 70’s and 80’s sounds which have crossed most paths through FM Radioland (and not always in a good way), plus a genuine admiration for his reputation and skill as re-edit king extraordinaire. The reason I mention this is that tunespotting rare funk and disco isn’t going to be a part of this review. If that was your main hope and desire, WRONG WAY, GO BACK.

I arrived about half way through, at about 3.30am. The Front Room at Revolver was packed solid and hotter than a sauna in hell. A quick survey showed names names names, sweetie – every dj, promoter and party starter in Melbourne, plus some internationals (including RADIOSLAVE who was front-rowing and high-5-ing until the break of dawn. RESPEK!) was there. Ok, that’s exaggerating. But only a little. Actually, I’d expected something like this: if you’ve been djing/remixing/producing for 30 odd years you’d hope a little of your reputation had spread. He’d earned his hype and on Saturday Night he got Paid In Full.

On the stage we had the decks, a laptop, the mixer and the famous Revox. Anyone who had been lucky enough to hear Greg speak at the Espy earlier in the night where he gave a Re-Edit lesson for all who wanted to listen would already have known what he was doing: using the Revox to sample the track being played, layer and effect over the vinyl/laptop sounds. His mixing was simple – some beatmixing, some drops, some effect-driven blends – but effective, and the track selection was pure gold, and I would hazard a guess that over 90% of what he played received some live or pre-done re-edit treatment, as even familiar tracks seemed to be extended, or rearranged a little or a lot. Greg covered a lot of ground in the 6 hours he was up there, and he seemed vibed by the tunes himself the whole time, dancing and gesturing at appropriate points through the tunes, with a smile on his face which seemed to indicate pure musical pleasure. I know, because I had the same smile on my face.

Amongst the many edited pearls he threw before us were (from what I am able to recall): Chaka Khan’s ‘I feel for you’, Man Parrish’s ‘Hip Hop Be Bop’, US gay anthem Cheryl Lynn’s “To be real” (even I can’t resist that one), Human League’s “The things that dreams are made of”, Madness’s ‘One Step Beyond’ intro accapella, plus many many many more tracks that all blend into one deep disco funk swirl of goodness. What made this gig so good? It was the programming, the sense of history captured in a moment, the respect and enthusiasm tangible from the crowd, the energetic and emotional give and take which evidently kept Wilson going from peak to the next devastating peak. Yep, it really was one of those nights. And no, I wasn’t on a Studio 54 kinda high…

People kept raising their hands for a shake, a high 5, from the more enthusiastic a backslap, a hug, a signature, it was an endless wave of recognition and all that usually cheesy warm stuff but this time it seemed genuine. I rated my experience amonst those of the masses and came up trumps – peeps of my acquaintance waxed lyrical about the night, the skills, the tunes, the vibe. And the music just kept on playing, with only a slightly dwindling crowd, till the sun was shining through the Revolver curtains and the house lights were turned on. It wasn’t that we were over it, it was just over. More handshaking, enthusiastic whistles and then I got my own chance to congratulate Mr Wilson on another defining moment to savour, and to be honest a more down to earth and genuine person you couldn’t meet. Walking down Chapel St in the sunlight it struck me that I’d just had one of those genuinely satisfying, possibly even memorable nights that make one remember why it is we go out, and how indeed a good night still feels. There may be some who disagree, but he gets 10 lucky stars out of 5 from me.