Music · DJ craft · Digging deeper
Three Versions of ’70s Songs I Play All the Time That Aren’t on Spotify
The songs are classics. The versions are something else entirely.
Sometimes the difference is 32 bars at the beginning. Sometimes someone rebuilds the entire record. Sometimes the right version simply makes a dance floor feel better.
The version matters
The version you know from Spotify isn’t necessarily the version I’m playing.
One of the things I love about DJing is that the version of a song can matter almost as much as the song itself.
DJs have always collected alternate mixes, extended versions, edits, re-edits, bootlegs and strange little pieces of music that never make their way onto the major streaming platforms.
Sometimes they exist because the original is difficult to mix. Sometimes a producer has gone back to the source material and found an entirely new groove hiding inside it. And sometimes someone changes just one little thing and suddenly a song you’ve heard a thousand times works differently on a dance floor.
These are three versions of songs from the 1970s that I play all the time.
The originals are classics.
These are the versions I reach for.
01 · 1976
ABBA — Dancing Queen
CFLO Intro Edit
This one is a bit of a cheat, because CFLO hasn’t really reinvented Dancing Queen. He has simply made it much easier for a DJ to do something interesting with it.
That distinction is worth explaining.
The versions of songs you hear DJs play are often not the standard radio or album versions. You’ve probably seen tracks labelled “Club Mix,” “Extended Mix,” “Intro Edit” or something similar.
A DJ edit can add 16 or 32 bars at the beginning or end of a song, giving us room to mix it with whatever is playing before it. Some pop songs otherwise start immediately with the part everyone recognizes, which is great on the radio but not necessarily ideal when you’re trying to make two records become one.
CFLO’s edit puts a clean, quantized drum intro in front of Dancing Queen.
It’s a small change.
But it gives me a runway.
Why I play CFLO’s version
Because I can use that intro to line everything up and then cut precisely into one of the greatest dance-floor invitations ever recorded:
That descending piano glissando.
There are certain sounds that cause an almost involuntary reaction in a room. People can be standing at the bar, talking at a table or halfway through some completely unrelated conversation, and those few notes announce:
Dancing Queen is coming.
And people move.
That opening was played by Benny Andersson on acoustic piano nearly fifty years ago, and somehow it still works like a tractor beam pointed directly at a dance floor.
Then again, ABBA’s entire discography is basically a call to the dance floor.
Where you can find it
CFLO makes his edits available through his website.
More about CFLO
CFLO is an open-format DJ and remixer from New York.
Sometimes a tiny change is everything
“It’s a small change. But it gives me a runway.”
02 · 1976
Wild Cherry — Play That Funky Music
The Reflex Stems Re-Vision
Calling what The Reflex does a “DJ edit” feels inadequate.
Where an intro edit might extend a song to make it easier to mix, The Reflex pulls records apart and reconstructs them.
His Re-Visions are built from original multitrack material—the individual elements of the recording—which gives him the ability to expose pieces of familiar songs that were buried inside the original mix, rearrange them, extend them and give them room to breathe.
The remarkable part is that his work predates the current explosion of software capable of separating finished recordings into stems. And you can hear the difference.
Modern stem separation can be astonishingly useful, but it can also leave artifacts behind. The Reflex’s productions sound like the records themselves because he is working with the ingredients rather than trying to reverse-engineer the finished meal.
The result isn’t quite an edit.
It isn’t quite a remix.
It feels more like discovering an alternate version of a record you’ve known your entire life.
Why I play The Reflex’s version
At weddings, I often begin the dance with older, broadly recognizable music.
There’s a practical reason for that. Older guests are often perfectly happy to get onto the dance floor early, while the younger crowd may still be socializing, visiting the bar or waiting for the night to get going.
But I’m doing something else at the same time.
I’m establishing trust.
I want the room to understand early that we’re going to move through a lot of different music together. Sometimes I’ll play an entire song. Sometimes you’ll get one verse and a chorus because that’s all the dance floor needs.
And sometimes I’m going to ask everyone to stay with me for seven and a half minutes.
The Reflex’s version of Play That Funky Music is one of those times.
The build is gloriously patient.
The first proper kick doesn’t arrive until about one minute and twenty-eight seconds into the track.
Think about that.
In an era when entire pop songs can barely crack two and a half minutes, this record spends nearly 90 seconds just getting ready.
And when that kick finally arrives?
It feels so good.
By then, the dance floor and I have established a relationship. They know I’m not going to leave them stranded. So instead of rushing toward the next song, we sit in the groove.
We get funky.
We breathe a little.
We gather our stamina.
And then we get loose.
The version runs about seven and a half minutes.
I play the whole damn thing.
Every time.
Where you can find it
This is where things get appropriately obscure: I went looking for a public copy while writing this and couldn’t find one.
Which is also part of what I love about DJing.
Not everything lives on Spotify.
Follow The Reflex and go digging.
More about The Reflex
The Reflex is a French producer based in the UK.
The dance floor doesn’t always need more
“Sometimes I’m going to ask everyone to stay with me for seven and a half minutes.”
03 · 1978
Bob Marley & The Wailers — Is This Love
Sam Redmore Acoustic Takedown
I have a deep love for reggae.
It is probably my most reliable musical reset button.
Regardless of what genre I’m playing, I tend to lean toward the reggae side of things whenever the opportunity presents itself. Part of the reason is that reggae has an unusual ability to work almost anywhere in the arc of an event.
Guests arriving?
Reggae feels like a warm welcome.
Prelude music before a ceremony?
Beautiful.
Cocktails on a summer afternoon?
Obviously.
Dinner?
Absolutely.
In the middle of a packed dance floor?
That’s where it gets interesting.
Because sometimes the best thing you can do with a dance floor that’s been going hard isn’t to make it go harder.
It’s to let it breathe.
And Sam Redmore’s version of Is This Love is one of my favourite ways to do that.
Why I play Sam Redmore’s version
The opening trumpet.
The skanking bass.
The background singers doo-wopping behind the groove.
This stripped-down reworking takes elements that were already wonderful in the original and gives them space.
And then Bob arrives.
By the time his vocal comes in, there isn’t a frown to be found anywhere in the room.
This track makes my whole body smile.
I’ve played it while guests were arriving. I’ve played it during cocktails. I’ve played it over dinner. I’ve used it to bring a frantic dance floor back down to earth. I’ve even played it as the final record of the night.
It doesn’t demand attention.
It changes the temperature of the room.
And that’s one of the most useful things a DJ can have in their collection.
Not another song that screams MORE!
Stay right here for a minute. This feels good.
Sam Redmore’s version runs six minutes and seventeen seconds.
And, like The Reflex’s Play That Funky Music, I almost always play it from beginning to end.
Because sometimes the job isn’t to squeeze as many songs as possible into an hour.
Sometimes the job is to recognize when you’ve found exactly the right place to be—and stay there.
Where you can find it
Sam Redmore has the track on SoundCloud.
Listen to Is This Love (Sam Redmore Acoustic Takedown)
More about Sam Redmore
Sam Redmore is a DJ and producer from Birmingham, United Kingdom.
The version matters
Building a DJ library isn’t simply accumulating songs.
It’s finding the version that does exactly what you need it to do in a room.
There are tens of thousands of songs in my music library, but there are even more versions of songs.
That’s part of the craft that people don’t necessarily see.
Building a DJ library means listening to different versions, finding the one that works best in a particular situation and remembering what that version can do to a room.
Sometimes that’s a DJ edit that gives me 32 bars to make a transition.
Sometimes it’s a seven-minute reconstruction that lets a dance floor settle into a groove.
Sometimes it’s a beautiful reworking of a familiar song that changes the energy without emptying the floor.
And sometimes the version I’ve spent years carrying around on a hard drive isn’t available on Spotify at all.
That’s okay.
Spotify doesn’t have to do my job.
I do.
If you’re planning a wedding and thinking about the music for your own day, I’ve put together a Wedding Music Planning Guide with some ideas for choosing music for the ceremony, cocktails, dinner and dance.
Reading the room
The music library is only the beginning.
The real work is knowing when to reach for which record, which version, and how long to let it play.
Your people. Your music. The right version.
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