Quiet Sun originally formed around Dulwich College in 1970 as a four-piece progressive rock band featuring
Phil Manzanera (guitar),
Bill MacCormick (bass),
Charles Hayward (drums), and Dave Jarrett (keyboards). The band name came from an article on sunspots and solar flares that
MacCormick's brother
Ian had been reading, called "The Year of the Quiet Sun." The group managed to score a rehearsal space from Warner Bros. and toured around the south of England gaining a small following, but were never signed. In 1971,
Manzanera left to join
Roxy Music,
MacCormick joined
Matching Mole,
Jarrett went into teaching, and
Hayward joined
Gong. Three years later,
Manzanera was riding high on
Roxy Music and decided to re-form
Quiet Sun while spending the latter part of 1974 working on a solo album to be known as
Diamond Head.
Manzanera booked 12-hour studio days, recording his solo album for eight and
Quiet Sun for four, resulting in
Mainstream. The group mostly re-recorded the songs they had rehearsed back in 1970, though several songs from that time instead found their way onto
Diamond Head, including "Frontera" (later re-recorded by
Robert Wyatt as "Team Spirit" on
Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard) and "Alma." Both albums formed the basis of much of
801's live shows, which featured
Manzanera and
MacCormick.
Hayward left to form
This Heat. For a while, after initial pressings of
Mainstream went out of print, the CD of the album was only obtainable through an expensive Japanese import. In 1999
Mainstream was re-released on
Manzanera's own label, while a number of the early, pre-
Roxy Quiet Sun demos were released in 2000 on
Manzanera's Rare One. ~ Ted Mills