Quill - Quill (1970)
Quill - Quill (1970)
Synton Archive Productions
ST6817
Attending Massachusetts' Mount Herman Academy, brothers Dan and John Cole started their musical careers as members of The Knights (see separate entry). By the late-'60s they'd hooked up with Roger North, Bill Rogers and Phil Thayer, performing as Quill. Following a brief appearance at the Woodstock festival (as one of the lesser known acts they played on one of the secondary stages), Atlantic's Cotillion subsidiary signed the band.
Self-produced, the quintet's 1970 debut featured a set of original material (six out of seven tracks written by the Coles). While "Quill" wasn't exactly the year's most innovative release, bouncing between standard rock moves ("Too Late") and light psychedelia ("Shrieking Finally"), the set wasn't without it's oddball charms. The Coles proved decent singers and extended song structures such as the harmony and percussion-rich "They Live the Life", the bizarro "The Tube Exuding" and the sweet ballad "Yellow Butterfly" (vaguely recalling something out of the Syd Barrett catalog) were quirky enough to deserve multiple listenings. Released with minimal fanfare and no marketing support, the set quickly vanished into cutout bins, followed in quick order by the band. (The album was originally released with a gatefold sleeve.)
Tracklist:
1. Thumbnail Screwdriver 5:34
2. The Tube Exuding 3:56
3. They Live the Life 9:29
4. BBY 5:07
5. Yellow Butterfly 4:19
6. Too Late 4:02
7. Shrieking Finally 7:38