Mainstream by Quiet Sun

Mainstream by Quiet Sun, album from 1975.
Quiet Sun were an English progressive rock group from the early '70s, known for their connection to the Canterbury scene and for their only album, Mainstream. The original lineup, composed of Phil Manzanera, Bill MacCormick, Charles Hayward and Dave Jarrett, formed in 1970, but broke up in 1972 when its members joined other groups such as Roxy Music and Matching Mole. The band briefly reunited in 1975 to record Mainstream during the sessions for Manzanera's solo album, with the contribution of Brian Eno. The name "Quiet Sun" was inspired by an article about sunspots. Their music combined progressive rock with jazz elements, often compared to that of contemporary groups like Soft Machine.
The group's initial career was brief and they broke up in 1972, when the members dedicated themselves to other projects.

Mainstream is a great album, a classic of the Canterbury scene, and as you listen to it you immediately get the sensation of a masterpiece, with a complex instrumental fusion of jazz-rock with Phil Manzanera's unique and often aggressive guitar style, his technically perfect improvisations, and tracks like Sol Caliente and Mummy Was an Asteroid that are simply exceptional, with Brian Eno's electronic compositions making every track sublime and, unlike other albums from the Canterbury scene, making the sound closer to Symphonic Rock.

Some notes on the tracks

- Sol Caliente, a powerful opener with aggressive guitar riffs and sparkling keyboard passages in perfect Canterbury style

- Mummy Was an Asteroid, Daddy Was a Small Non-stick Kitchen Utensil, an aggressive duel between Manzanera's aggressive riffs, South American-influenced solos, and the refined keyboard work of Dave Jaret.
- Trot, with a fantastic piano solo by Jarrett and an atmosphere dominated by fantastic keyboards.
- Trumpets With Motherhood, a short abstract but powerful track, a cacophony of sound effects.
- Bargain Classics, a beautiful track with dreamy keyboards.
- R.F.D., a track with extended keyboards and guitar effects, a transition piece.

- Rongwrong, the only track on the album with significant vocal parts, easier to appreciate, with an appealing Canterbury-style voice.
 

The album offers a wide range of emotions and sensations, many different atmospheres, those of distorted guitars that are nevertheless expressed in the typical Canterbury sound, suspended atmospheres where the sometimes edgy guitar predominates, prog sound and odd time signatures typical of symphonic rock accompanied by splendid electric piano and distorted guitar, moments that are not strictly Canterbury and not strictly Symphonic Rock, but both, a use of the guitar that produces long sounds typical of psychedelic atmospheres but with distortion, with dissonances, there are long exclusively atmospheric phases with distorted guitar and electric piano, but also moments that are a triumph of percussion and drums or hypnotic electric piano loops, tense and unsettling, but there are also melancholic, poignant, emotional atmospheres and some moments with that Latin sound that vaguely recalls Santana.

An unmissable classic of the Canterbury Scene, a must-have in any collection and for me an absolute masterpiece, an essential album.

This album is rightfully a METEOR of Progressive Rock, visit the PROG METEORS section for more information

Note: All links to the musicians' works are in the TAGS below the article title or on the "Artists" page