Written by 1970’s prog rockers Quiet Sun are to have their acclaimed debut album, Mainstream, reissued in remixed and remastered form through Expression Records and BFD/The Orchard on September 11.
The band were put together at Dulwich College in the late 1960s and featured future Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera alongside Bill MacCormick (bass), Dave Jarrett (keyboards) and Charles Hayward (drums).
The new edition has been remixed and remastered and will be released as a two-disc media book with a 60-page book with a Blu-Ray disc containing a Dolby Atmos 5.1 mix, a new Abbey Road remastered version of the original mix from the original analogue ¼ inch tapes and a new 2026 mix, while a second disc features a stereo CD with the new 2026 mix.
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The album will also be available as a gatefold single-disc vinyl release with the new 2026 mix using the original 24-track analogue tapes. and it will also be found on all major streaming services.
“Listening back to this album, 51 years later — and especially hearing the analogue tapes — I was quite amazed by how good it sounds,” says Manzenra. “It’s a testament to Charles, Dave and Bill’s musical prowess, and to the detailed work we had put in between 1970 and 1971, before I joined Roxy. It had been six years since we had played together, and in the space of two weeks we recorded these eight tracks — surreptitiously, mostly as first takes, certainly with very few overdubs. At Basing Street Studios, the Island Records base, we recaptured the volatility and excitement of what we had set out to be as a band, and this new set of mixes shines a light on Quiet Sun once again.”
Although the band split in 1971, with Manzaera going on to join Roxy Music, the band reconvened in 1975 during a break in Roxy Music’s touring schedule to record Mainstream, which also featured contributions from Brian Eno. The album was recorded at the same time as Manzanera’s own solo album, Diamond Head, which also featured songs that featured on Mainstream.
A year later, 801, a one-off project band featuring Manzanera, Eno, MacCormick, Simon Phillips, Francis Monkman (Curved Air) and Lloyd Watson, performed Quiet Sun material at their own live shows and featured on their 1976 live release, 801 Live.
