QUATERMASS

The very promising trio Quatermass was founded in '69 and included Mick Underwood on drums, Peter Robinson on keyboards and Johnny Gustafson on bass and vocals. At that moment they were all experienced musicians. Gustafson played in the Liverpool-era in local bands named Cass & The Casanovas, The Big Three and The Merseybeats before forming his own band Johnny Gus Set. Mick Underwood played with the very young Ritchie Blackmore in The Dominators and The Outlaws and in The Herd before Peter Frampton's arrival. Mick joined Peter Robinson in The James Royal Set. But finally all three met each other in a band called Episode Six. When their singer Ian Gillan and bass player Roger Clover joined Deep Purple their struggle to survive with Episode Six was in vain. They decided to form their own band to make progressive rock with the same heavy foundation as Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. Quatermass toured through the whole UK and released their legendary album in May 1970 (backed by the single Black Sheep Of The Family). The band gained good reviews and set off on a tour through the USA, hoping to crack the lucrative American market. But lack of business support undermined their efforts and Quatermass broke up in April 1971. Mick Underwood joined Paul Rodgers in Peace and Pete Robinson became a member of Brand X, the jazzrock adventure of Phil Collins. But Johnny Gustafson turned out to be the most succesfull musician: he backed Chi Coltrane, Kevin Ayers, Ian Hunter, Bryan Ferry and Steve Hackett on their albums. He also joined Roxy Music on the 1976 world tour. The music on their eponymous debut album (originally nine tracks) is dynamic and inspired a blend of blues, rock, classic and symphonic (with hints from ELP and Deep Purple) delivering splendid, often very sumptuous Hammond organplay and lots of other nice keyboards. Don't expect very elaborate or complex progrock, just enjoy the enthousiastic music! In 1996 Repertoire Records re-released Quatermass and added two nice bonustracks (One Blind Mice and Punting).