In a perfect world a band forms, releases records, then calls it a day, no messy lineup changes, no confusing comings, goings, and re-formings, just a stable unit that plays until done. But it's not a perfect world, and
the Mainline Bump and Grind Revue was far from a perfect band. Thankfully, though, the sleeve notes help make sense of the muddle that began when Mike McKenna began piecing together the
Mendelsohn Mainline Blues Band, which morphed into
the Mainline Bump and Grind Revue. Plying their ginned-up R&B at home and abroad (with tours of Britain, Holland, and Australia), they returned to Canada, folded up shop, re-formed, and began sliding into a far raunchier sound than yore, especially on-stage. Opening with a patriotic instrumental rendition of "O Canada," as they did in February, 1972 at Toronto's Victory Theatre, did little to prepare the audience for the ensuing moaning with passion "Ezmerelda." But don't blame the band, blame the "Wild Wild Women" on the loose, or all those nasty blues and R&B composers whom they cover. Virtually their entire set is drawn from others' pens,
Johnny Young's "Wild Women,"
Leadbelly's "C.C. Rider,"
Big Joe Williams' "Feel Alright," and
Jimmy Smith's "Chicken Shack" amongst them. A versatile unit,
Mainline could shift from harmonica-laced R&B to horn-braced swing on a downbeat, move from fingerpickin' porch-sitting' blues to stompin' electric licks at the flick of a switch. Their own "Game of Love" storms into funk and soul, "Misty" is smooth jazz with a fingersnapping beat, while the harmonica, horns, and female backing singers all vie on "C.C. Rider." The inner cover art provides copious photographic evidence of just how far the band were pushing the envelope on-stage, and the CD just what devastating musicians they were, as they wound their way through thickets of subgenres exuberantly weaving together blues, R&B, swing, and rock.
Mainline's buzz never blew up into stardom, but as bar bands, they were one of the best around. ~ Jo-Ann Greene