''Quatermass'' is the only studio album by English progressive rock band

Quatermass Professor Bernard Quatermass is a fictional scientist, originally created by the writer Nigel Kneale for BBC Television. An intelligent and highly moral British scientist, Quatermass is a pioneer of the British space programme, heading the Brit ...

, released in May 1970 by

Harvest Records Harvest Records is a British-American record label belonging to Capitol Music Group, originally created by EMI in 1969. History Harvest Records was created by EMI in 1969 to market progressive rock music, and to compete with Philips' Vertigo ...

. It was produced by the Swedish producer .

Critical reception

Despite the album not performing well on the charts at the time of the release, it started to attract considerable attention in 1975, when guitarist

Ritchie Blackmore Richard Hugh Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English guitarist and songwriter. He was a founding member of Deep Purple in 1968, playing jam-style hard rock music that mixed guitar riffs and organ sounds. He is prolific in creating guita ...

covered the second track, "Black Sheep of the Family", for the debut album from

Rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...

. As a consequence of the revived interest, ''Quatermass'' was re-released and sold further 20,000 copies. Since then, it has gained a cult status and has received favorable retrospective reviews. Mike DeGagne has given the album a rating of four stars out of five on

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

. He has called ''Quatermass'' "a must-have for prog rock enthusiasts, especially lovers of the keyboard-dominated style which flourished in the early '70s".

Track listing

Personnel

Quatermass

J. Peter Robinson John Peter Robinson (born 16 September 1945) is an English composer, musician, and arranger known for his film and television scores. Early years and pop music career He studied piano and composition at the Royal Academy of Music and enjoy ...

– keyboards * John Gustafson – vocals, bass guitar *

Mick Underwood Michael John Underwood (born 5 September 1945) is an English drummer. He first played drums at the age of 14 and was a professional musician by the time he left school. Underwood has collaborated with a number of notable musicians and groups, ...

– drums

Technical personnel

* Anders Henriksson – producer * Jeff Jarratt – engineer * Andy Stevens – engineer *

Hipgnosis Hipgnosis were an English art design group based in London, that specialised in creating album cover artwork for rock musicians and bands. Their commissions included work for Pink Floyd, T. Rex, the Pretty Things, Black Sabbath, UFO, 10c ...

– cover design, photography * Steve Newport – design, illustration (1975 re-issue)

References

{{Authority control Quatermass (band) albums Albums with cover art by Hipgnosis 1970 debut albums Harvest Records albums