When I first posted this, I started at the end. So I’ve gone back, revised it, and I’m now – kind of? – starting at the beginning.
Well, the real beginning of all things Mainstream, for me, was my dad’s acquisition of this:
… on vinyl.
I fell in love with that album as a child. And I still love it to this day. Indeed, it’s only now, sooo many years later, that I’m really starting to explore both the Mainstream legacy, and other related stuff.
So, for example, I’ve been collecting Kynard’s recordings on other labels, and albums he’s on as sideman.
The next stop was the ‘blogosphere’, perhaps around a decade or longer ago? A blogger was attempting to catalogue the entire Mainstream 300 series. I followed his progress, and subsequently learned a lot more about some of the fabulous music the label produced and/or released.
And then some time soon after that, the BGP label started putting out stuff by Mainstream:
I got the Complete Alice Clark and Loud Minority CDs (have I got The Message? Guess I need to check!). And that drew me further in to the web of Bob Shad and his musical emporium.
Running alongside a lot of this, my work writing Recycled, a monthly classic album column, for Drummer magazine, lead to a very specific and intriguing personal epiphany.
I was writing a piece on Funkadelic’s 1972 album America Eats It’s Young. Reproduced in the liner notes was an R&B chart for a month or week in 1972. It blew my mind! It was more or less wall to wall fabulousness. What a year ‘72 was, I thought.
And so an obsession was born.
The above gallery – not a complete list or catalogue – is just for Mainstream albums either recorded or released (or both) in 1972. Below are some other non-‘72 albums on the label that I either have, want, or would like to explore further.
In addition to now having all three Kynard Mainstream albums, all of which are terrific, I’ve been finding out that some other artists on the label produced recordings that totally blow my gaskets.
Two in particular that I’m really diggin’ are Blue Mitchell’s Soul Village, and Curtis Fuller’s Smokin’.
And here are a few links:
Mainstream - WIKI
Reggie Moore - Furioso