MAINSTREAM

QUIET SUN were a short-lived, British Jazz-Rock combo. Their line-up included Phil Manzanera (of Roxy Music fame) on guitar. Their one and only album "Mainstream" (1975) has been described as Canterbury Scene music, although none of the London- based band members are actually from the city of Canterbury. After all, Canterbury Scene is more of a musical description than a geographical location. Although Quiet Sun split up in 1972, Phil Manzanera got the band together again in 1975 for a one-off studio session and this album was the result. Renowned record producer and former member of Roxy Music, Brian Eno, participated in the making of the album, although he wasn't credited as the album's producer. The 2011 CD reissue of "Mainstream" included five bonus tracks added to the original seven mostly instrumental pieces on the album. So, what can we expect from Quiet Sun's "Mainstream" album? One suspects that the band were being a little bit ironic with the "Mainstream" choice of album title. Is it going to be mainstream music or something a little more offbeat? Well, let's find out.

It's sunny side up for the 7-minute-long opening number "Sol Caliente" (Spanish for "Hot Sun"), a warm and inviting sunburst of fuzzy guitar-driven, psychedelic Jazz-Rock. This long uptempo instrumental piece really gives the musicians a chance to shine in a psychedelic jazz guitar freak out, with a nifty keyboard player in his element and with the drummer pounding away on his kit with frenetic energy as if his life depends on it. It's not exactly a toe-tapper, because your feet could hardly keep up with the frantic pace of this upbeat and offbeat piece of music with its unusually complex time signature, so just lie back and enjoy it. There's more funky fusion on the way with "Trumpets with Motherhood". It's anybody's guess what this bizarrely- titled piece of music is all about, because it's another instrumental number. You might at least be expecting to hear some trumpets though in a piece of music titled "Trumpets with Motherhood", but no, there's not a toot of a brass trumpet horn to be heard anywhere, because this is another uptempo fuzzy guitar and electric piano combination. It's less than two minutes long though so there's barely time to nip out the room and make a cup of tea, so you may as well stick around for the next number, "Bargain Classics". You're unlikely to find this rare album in the bargain classics section of your local store though, as it's a pretty hard album to get hold of these days. So, what does the music sound like you may well ask. Well, it's a very offbeat and "off-piste" piece of music in a highly irregular time signature, which is intricately complex and fascinating to put it kindly, but which is all over the place, to put it unkindly. It all depends on your point of view: if you're an aficianado of Jazz Fusion, then you may go into rhapsodies of delight upon hearing this musical mayhem, but on the other hand, if Jazz-Fusion is not your thing, then you may want to skip to the next piece of music, which is "R.F.D.". The meaning of the initials "R,F.D." are shrouded in mystery, but this is a pleasantly soothing, laid-back mellow number to close out Side One, so lie back, relax, and let the music play as the cares of the day drift away, because this gorgeous piece of music is like a bright ray of sunshine on a hot sandy beach.

Side Two opens with one of the most bizarrely-titled pieces of music of all time: "Mummy was an Asteroid, Daddy was a Small Non-Stick Kitchen Utensil". It's just as well it's an instrumental piece, because if this song had lyrics, they'd probably make no sense at all, although that's never been a problem in the wierd and wonderful world of prog, where just about anything goes when it comes to song lyrics. Anyway, back to the music we have here, and it's another intense and fast-paced Jazz-Fusion freak out, which is *almost* as freaky as the track title implies, but don't let that put you off, because the music is very impressive. It's also pretty wild and "finger-licking" good, so be prepared to hear some fast and furious acid guitar riffs. We're off at a "Trot" for Song No. 6 now, a 5-minute-long piece of uptempo Jazz-Fusion which gallops along nicely to bring us to the closing piece of music on the album, "Rongwrong". It's another bizarre track title in an album full of peculiar and offbeat track titles, and at times, peculiar and offbeat music to match. "Rongwrong" is the longest song on the album at nearly 10 minutes in duration. It's also the first real song on the album, as it actually includes lyrics for the first time. If you think the song title is bizarre though, take a look at these off-the-wall lyrics:- "I'm looking in my little black book, to see if I was right or rongwrong, within the confines of whoremonger logic, to even try to sing this song. I could have asked the I Ching, but that would have taken up too much time, And with the time before fall, I didn't see there was no time to lose, If things got bad it could always turn into a blues, Like they do back home on the Delta ? grunt and groan." ..... Confused? You will be! Never mind the lyrics though, what about the music? It's joyful, uplifting and exuberant, but also quite offbeat, which is just what we've come to expect by now from an album that is a little bit off the beaten track.

This Canterbury Scene album of Jazz-Rock/Fusion is certainly not "Mainstream" and it may not be to everyone's taste, but it is pretty good and definitely worth a listen. One can't help feeling though, that the album could have been better if most of the tracks had included vocals instead of just the final song on the album. It certainly would have made the music more memorable if most of the tracks had included lyrics. That said, if you're heavily into Jazz-Fusion, then this rare long-lost album might be right up your street.