| Mainstream | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 26 October 1987 | |||
| Length | 40:02 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Producer | Ian Stanley | |||
| Lloyd Cole and the Commotions chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Mainstream | ||||
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Mainstream is the third and final studio album byLloyd Cole and the Commotions. It was produced byIan Stanley and released byPolydor Records in the UK and byCapitol Records in the US on 26 October 1987.[1] It included the singles "My Bag", "Jennifer She Said" and "From the Hip". Although the album reached number nine in the UK, it failed to chart in the US and was not embraced by all critics:Mainstream is the only Lloyd Cole and the Commotions album not to sell at least 100,000 copies in the US.[2]
Finding a producer proved difficult for the band. They first went withChris Thomas, when that did not work out they brought inStewart Copeland. With Copeland they only recorded one track, "Hey Rusty", then finally foundIan Stanley, famous for his work withTears For Fears.[3]
Bass playerLawrence Donegan reflected in 2004 that "with the previous LP,Easy Pieces, we had tried to broaden out and make more of a pop record and it hadn't really worked. It sounded rushed and the songs were not all up to standard. So, a year afterEasy Pieces, we went into the studio to try and make something more powerful. But the LP that we actually made took so long that we lost our initial vision by the time we finished it. The songs that Lloyd was writing were more introspective, so the stadium rock idea gradually went out the window."[4]
Mainstream cost £300,000, ten times as much as their 1984 debut albumRattlesnakes, and took five months to record. Keyboardist Blair Cowan had already left the group by the time the album came out (hence his picture is missing from the photographs of the band that feature on the artwork, and only included on a 'dedication' to him on the inner sleeve) and Donegan was also close to calling it a day, having been accepted on a journalism course. As a result the group decided that they had come to a natural end and to split up after the release of the album, but were obliged to promote it and undertake a tour first, which took a year.[5] After the Commotions broke up, Cole moved toNew York to resume his songwriting partnership with Cowan and joined up withFred Maher andRobert Quine, both former associates ofLou Reed, to begin work on a solo career.[6]
The album's opening track and lead single, "My Bag", contains several allusions to cocaine.[7] Cole said, "I wrote [the song] when I was drunk one night. It's basically about a coked up stockbroker. I took most of the scenarios from that song fromBig Lights, Bright City [sic] or things that I'd heard like some executive that we've dealt with getting a phone call from another part of the office saying, 'Come upstairs, it's snowing' which of course meant a whole load of new coke was in. I thought 'a multi-story snowstorm' was quite a nice way to start a song."[8] On the track "From the Hip", Cole laments over his helplessness in combating violence and abuse.[9] "Jennifer She Said" has aMark Knopfler-like guitar break[9] and is about a newlywed who has lost interest[10] and "last forever love that leads to a tattoo".[9]
"Mr. Malcontent" is based on the character played byDaniel Day-Lewis inMy Beautiful Laundrette[11] and is about someone who would rather waste time than face the world.[9] "Sean Penn Blues" is a "cheeky [and] upbeat" tune[12] and "recover[s] the sly wit" of the band's earlier material.[13] The track was inspired by an incident that Cole had read about in which the actorSean Penn was invited to apoetry reading which turned out to be set up purely to mock him.[14][15] The song opens with dialogue featuring the voices of Scottish actorsRobbie Coltrane andKaty Murphy, taken from theBBC televisioncomedy-drama seriesTutti Frutti which had been broadcast seven months before the release ofMainstream.
"Hey Rusty", the one track produced by Stewart Copeland ofthe Police,[3] has a "Springsteen-like theme and aU2-like musical track".[10] "These Days" has a bassline copied from a track onMister Heartbreak byLaurie Anderson[16] and has been called "gorgeous [and] melancholic".[12]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [10] |
| The Great Rock Discography | 5/10[13] |
| Melody Maker | favourable[17] |
| NME | 8/10[18] |
| New Straits Times | [16] |
| Q | [19] |
| Record-Journal | B[9] |
| Record Mirror |  [20] |
| (The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide | [12] |
| Sounds | [21] |
AlthoughMainstream was not universally embraced by the press it was favoured by some critics.Q said, "Two years and six producers in the making,Mainstream could have easily appeared suffering from exhaustion and over-production...Mainstream put Lloyd Cole in the enviable position of being on a hat-trick of excellent contemporary pop albums. It is to his credit that he has remained communicative without being verbose and intelligent without being clever-clever."[19] John Williamson of theEvening Times calledMainstream "the band's most accomplished work to-date" and "a major development for the band".[3] In(The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide the album is called Cole's "most well-rounded" and "cleanly produced".[12] Jim Zebora of theRecord-Journal gave the album a B and said it "hit with a lot of artistry" but admits Cole's "potential hasn't been reached".[9] RS Murthi ofNew Straits Times writes that Cole's "rough-hewn vocals...provide a fine contrast to the smooth and buoyant music" and it "bristles with chiming guitars and dulcet synthesizer textures".[16]NME observed that "instead of going mad, these people have overcome mega self-consciousness to make a record they should have made years ago.Mainstream beats most contemporary rock for its wit, intelligence and use of stringed instruments, and it thrashes crateloads of pop on the tunes, production and fun level."[18]Record Mirror considered that calling the albumMainstream was "asking for trouble. It's a statement of intent as well as a nifty way to draw critics' fire before the cries of 'sell out' come your way." The reviewer felt that "the only disappointment is thatMainstream sounds a little too polite at times. You yearn for just one track that will hit you between the shoulder blades with the bare boned intensity of some of their earlier work..." but concluded that overall it was "a flawed (slightly) masterpiece".[20]
On the other hand, Richard Luck ofThe Rough Guide to Rock writes thatMainstream "was by and large a disappointing affair".[6] William Ruhlmann, inAllMusic, laments that there is "little to alleviate the vitriol in the music". He did favour the track "Hey Rusty" but other than that he believed the songs are not "coherent, specific, [or] moving".[10] The album is described inThe Great Rock Discography as "sound[ing] lacklustre in comparison" to their earlier work.[13]Sounds was disappointed, saying, "Unfortunately, by developing his laid-back style, Lloyd has sacrificed some of the urgency and excitement so often present in his tales of seedy weekends and perfect lovers... He's given up pampering theintellectuals and is facing up to the things that are important in his own life. For these changes he can only be applauded, and yet the net result, at moments, seems somewhat lacklustre."[21]
All tracks written and composed by Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, except where noted.
Lloyd Cole and the Commotions
Additional personnel
Production
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| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom (BPI)[27] | Gold | 100,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
| Region | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 26 October 1987 | Polydor | LP | LCLP 3 |
| cassette | LCMC 3 | |||
| Europe | LP | 883 691-1 | ||
| cassette | 883 691-4 | |||
| United Kingdom and Europe | CD | 833 691-2 | ||
| United States | 1987 | Capitol | LP | C1-90893 |
| 25 October 1990 | CD | CDP 7 90893 2 |
