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Formed in 1967 by two brothers and singer-songwriters from Boston area, Jon and Dan Cole, Quill were a band from the U.S. "progressive" underground scene. They were playing in the clubs in New England and New York as well as they performed as an opening act for the bands like the Grateful Dead, Sly and The Family Stone, The Jeff Back Group, The Kinks, The Who, et cetera. As a band of the multinstrumentalists whose instrumental pliability was one of their most unusual features - the band members would often switch instruments to create "progressive" sounds as they used many different instruments that were unusual for rock music of the late 1960s, including a cello and trombone - Quill became a popular regional concert attraction that gained a loyal local following and therefore they were invited to play at the Woodstock festival in August 1969. Sadly, due to technical problems, the Woodstock film does not feature Quill although their perfomance had been filmed.
In the summer of 1969, just before the Woodstock Festival, Quill signed on Atlantic’s Cotillion subsidiary. Although the band released their self-titled debut album next year on Cotillion, the record company lost interest for Quill because they were omitted from extremely successful the Woodstock film and hence the band's only album wasn't actively promoted.
Although the album has attained a cult status among the prog-heads circles with the advent of modern technology such as downloading, alike many other early progressive rock gems, it was out of print for years 'till it was rejuvenated for beautiful CD reissue by the Wounded Bird in 2010.
The album is noticeable due to featuring of "progressive" sounds what means the heavy use of atypical chord changes and odd time signatures, as well as mostly dark lyrics burdened with social commentary that were far from the usual hippie and (or) psychedelic recklessness of that time. Alike many other records of late 60s / early 70s underground acts, the album was produced solely by the members themselves. The music itself is indeed awe-inspiring, astonishing and deliberately weird; it's a self-aware progressive rock album without a weak moment. However, probably due to lack of promotion and the fact that the band was omitted from the Woodstock movie, their magnificent album wasn't a commercial nor a critical success.
Fifty years after its release, Quill the album deserves its rediscovery.