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Manzanera at his Peak

applewood | everywhere and nowhere | 03/20/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This recording from January 1975 is remarkable in that it was produced from the same sessions as Manzanera's first true solo album (DIAMOND HEAD). Somehow he managed to record two full (highly acclaimed) album's worth of music in that productive month with two largely different bands! The better known DIAMOND HEAD being all compositions he wrote or collaborated on (4 out of the 9 being instrumentals, including East Of Echo which included some of the QUIET SUN band). The more instrumental (only one song, Hayward's Rongwrong, out of 7 tracks) MAINSTREAM recording is different, more energetic, more experimental, more collaborative (writing credit is spread fairly evenly amongst all four main band members - Hayward, Jarrett, Manzanera and MacCormick), yet somehow ending up more consistent and unified sounding.



When I had this album in the late 70's I always thought it was from earlier in Manzanera's career (the confusion perhaps coming from the fact that QUIET SUN existed for awhile in 1970-71, before ROXY MUSIC, as well as from it's more powerful and fresh overall sound). DIAMOND HEAD was always my favorite solo recording of his, a nice mix of playful and polished, yet MAINSTREAM embodies the progressive era even better- excellent musicianship, creative exploration and carelessness for commercial reward. Perhaps the best, most balanced expression of all this came with the amazing Sept 3rd 1976 concert recording, 801 LIVE.



Nice to hear MAINSTREAM again, some really beautiful and often challenging music here, and to be able to get it at such a good price is a plus."