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DJ PAULETTE - FLESH PLAYLIST

A pioneering force in UK dance culture, DJ Paulette helped shape the legendary Flesh night at The Haçienda – one of the first and most radical LGBTQ+ club nights in the country. Known for its unapologetically bold energy, inclusive ethos, and anything-goes dress code, Flesh was a cultural lightning bolt – and DJ Paulette’s fearless sets were right at the heart of it.

We caught up with Paulette as she reflects on her time behind the decks at The Haçienda, and shares some of her most unforgettable tracks from those wild, liberating Flesh nights.

1. CANDI STATON – YOUNG HEARTS RUN FREE

Candi Staton’s timeless classic is a song close to my heart that always makes the temperature rise no matter where it’s played. It was an anthem in the Pussy Parlour and remains a signature tune for me.

2. DEEE-LITE – GROOVE IS IN THE HEART

Angel swinging from the rafters in the bar, everybody dancing. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

3. JACKSONS – THIS PLACE HOTEL

Dance offs are made of this. Written by Michael Jackson, this was the second biggest single to be taken from the ‘Triumph’ album.

4. PRINCE – GETT OFF (HOUSTYLE MIX)

This funky, sexy Junior Vasquez remix was the start of it all for me. It never fails to set me off.

5. CHAKA KHAN – I FEEL FOR YOU

I played a lot of Prince and Prince penned goodies in the Pussy Parlour. I also played a looooot of Chaka Khan, consequently this is a marriage made in Heaven.

6. ADEVA – RESPECT

Adeva’s punchy attitude mixed with Monie Love’s wholesome rap made Paul Johnson’s jacked up revision of Aretha Franklin’s feminist and civil rights battle cry a solid vocal house treat.

7. LISA LISA AND CULT JAM – LET THE BEAT HIT EM

Clivilles and Cole productions took up a lot of space in my Flesh DJ sets and this was a spinback and start again, shiny diamond. Interplanetary Criminal and Eliza Rose brought this vibe back (not the other way around).

8. JOYCE SIMS – ALL AND ALL

Late 80s and alongside Joyce Sims (singer / songwriter / multi-instrumentalist), Kurtis Mantronik produced the incredible ‘Come Into My Life’ album. This was just one of a batch of brilliant singles from it that made the Top 10 Charts. Just brilliant.

9. GWEN MC CRAE – KEEP THE FIRE BURNING

This dance floor catnip keeps the eternal disco flame burning and that bassline break towards the end is bliss.

10. EVELYN ‘CHAMPAGNE’ KING – SHAME

One of the ‘First Ladies of Disco’ Evelyn ‘Champagne’ King’s Shame is the undisputed, ultimate disco classic. It entered the Disco Hall of Fame in 2004.

11. INNER LIFE – AIN’T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH

Songwriters Valerie Ashford and Nick Simpson’s 1966 Motown classic ‘Aint No Mountain High Enough’ was reimagined for the disco faithful in 1981 by the unbeatable combination of Patrick Adams, Greg Carmichael, Larry Levan and one of the greatest to ever do it, Queen Jocelyn Brown. Show stopper.

12. DEGREES OF MOTION – SHINE ON

1991 and this was at the front of my rookie DJ box. House anthems don’t come better than this. ‘This little light of mine, shine on, I’m gonna let it shine!’

13. CLUB 69 – LET ME BE YOUR UNDERWEAR

‘Come on, take off your jeans, I wanna see your underwear’ Peter Rauhofer delivers a bouncing beauty with Kim Cooper on lead and Jocelyn Brown and Connie Harvey on ‘work me, work me, hurt me, hurt me’ duties.

14. DSK – WHAT WOULD WE DO

A 1991 London Records banger that I danced to at the Number 1 club courtesy of Tim Lennox and it consequently worked its way into my set.

15. JACKIE 60 - THE JACKIE HUSTLE

Beamed in from Jackie 60, New York’s mythical and exclusive underground party night and in association with MC Paul Alexander and producer Arthur Baker. It’s a Jackie thing.

16.CLIVILLES & COLE – PRIDE (A DEEPER LOVE)

Originally voiced by Deborah Cooper, this reflection on life, self love and resilience is one of Clivilles and Cole’s pivotal productions. It had a spectacular reworking in 1994 by Aretha Franklin and it was this version that went on to be featured in Sister Act II.

17. INNER CITY – BIG FUN

Perennial crowd pleaser that entered the UK Charts in 1988 and feels like it has never left. We don’t really need a crowd to have a party, we’re having big fun! You bet we are.

18. INNER CITY – PENNIES FROM HEAVEN

This is another song from Tim Lennox’s collection that I fell in love with while dancing on a podium to his sets at the Number 1 Club. It kept the Pussy Parlour bouncing and has been in my box ever since.

19.URBAN SOUL – ALRIGHT

This record, written and produced by Roland Clarke, blends a captivating dissonance, melancholy, questioning lyrics and an addictive percussive click track to stunning effect. There’s everything to love about it.

20. MADONNA – DEEPER AND DEEPER (DAVID’S KLUB MIX)

Madonna’s ‘Vogue’ was obviously a Flesh dance floor staple but this David Morales mix always tore the roof off the Pussy Parlour. You’ll see, when it hits that dee, dee, dee, deep part it’s game over. Thank me later.

21. DONNA GILES – AND I’M TELLING YOU (I’M NOT GOING) STONEBRIDGE POPPERS FULL DELIGHT

Who’d have thought that this heart wrenching, downtempo show tune from ‘Dreamgirls’ would endure as a house reworking for 30 years and counting? It’s soaring vocal, precise and punchy house remix and energy that doesn’t let up from the opening notes to the last means that this is living proof. Flawless.

22. LA INDIA – YEMAYA Y OCHUN (LOVE AND HAPPINESS)

Heavy latin percussion and the blessings of santeria dedications to the orishas of sky and sea, to love and happiness underpin this sublime production. India’s voice soars and dips like a bird, precise in its perfection.

23. FPI PROJECT – EVERYBODY

FPI Project secured their place in our hearts with this shiny slab of Kool and The Gang (Love and Understanding) sampling Italo piano house. Everybody all over the world – come on jump!

24. SOUNDS OF BLACKNESS – THE PRESSURE

What better way to close a playlist than with Frankie Knuckles’ dramatic and epic
revision of The Sounds of Blackness’ The Pressure. Marrying both the downtempo
and uptempo versions was a big risk but Anne Nesby’s voice takes everyone to church and we’re here for the rises, the falls, the builds and drops and we live for the entire journey. Flawless.