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 covered the second track, "Black Sheep of the Family" - itself a cover, originally by Fat Mattress - for the debut album from Rainbow. As a consequence of the revived interest, Quatermass was re-released and sold a further 20,000 copies. Since then, it has gained a cult status [3] and has received favorable retrospective reviews. Mike DeGagne has given the album a rating of four stars out of five on AllMusic. He called Quatermass "a must-have for prog rock enthusiasts, especially lovers of the keyboard-dominated style which flourished in the early '70s".[1]