A supergroup in the making, QUIET SUN hadn’t left a sizeable dent on the Canterbury scene before they broke up in 1972, with guitarist Phil Manzanera ending up in ROXY MUSIC and bassist Bill MacCormick in MATCHING MOLE, but the ensemble, who also included drummer Charles Hayward and Dave Jarrett and keyboard player Dave Jarrett, reunited in 1975, when Manzanera allocated a part of studio time booked for the recording of his “Diamond Head” album to the creation of a longplay which was based on the quartet’s early material – upgraded then and using the services of Brian Eno. The resulting platter, titled “Mainstream” and spanning nine cuts, brought them a lot of accolades – only the band weren’t really happy with the heavily ED-ed mix that removed all the immediacy from what got laid down at first or second takes, and this is why there’s a new version of the classic prepared for release on September 11th.
The reissue – housed in a mediabook like the album’s 2011 edition but, unfortunately, omitting a lot of bonus material which was there – consists of two discs, Blu-ray, where surround variants as well as the remaster of the original mix and a 2026 stereo mix are housed, and a CD dedicated to this fresh mix (also available on vinyl) that’s notable for adding no less than seven minutes to the familiar run. There could be no better preparation for the collective’s forthcoming offering of yet-unheard tunes.
Mainstream:
Deluxe Edition
“With the fiftieth anniversary of the release of ‘Mainstream’ imminent,” says Bill MacCormick, “the four original band members got together via Zoom in May 2024 to discuss the options for a new edition of the old album and the possible recording of a new one, and work started on both at Phil Manzanera’s London studios in January 2025. With the 24-tracks of the original album available, the ‘Mainstream’ sessions were remixed and two tracks added, one from the 1975 Basing Street Studio sessions, and another derived from one of the original tracks. The new album, as yet untitled, will be released later in 2026, and will be made up of previously unrecorded pieces dating back to 1971, when the original QUIET SUN broke up, and new material written and recorded over the past eighteen months.”
Blu-ray –
Dolby Atmos, 5.1 mix, remastered original mix, 2026 mix:
1. Sol Caliente
2. Trumpets With Motherhood
3. Bargain Classics
4. RFD
5. RFD 2
6. Mummy Was An Asteroid,
Daddy Was A Small Non-Stick Kitchen Utensil
7. Trot
8. Rongwrong
9. Teflon Kid
bonus tracks:
10. Years Of The Quiet Sun (original demo)
11. Trot (original demo)
12. RFD (Warner Brothers demo)
13. Talking History
CD – 2026 Stereo Remix:
1-9 – as on Blu-ray
