One door closes, another  closes , closes.... Sad to say that Cathedral is on a hiatus. 

One door closes another door opens, closes and opens. Mr. Perrone arrives, Les Paul jr. in hand, fresh from the completion of his beautiful "Language of Spirits" album and ready to try out new concepts for the electric guitar. As our original guitarist, Rudy pushed us to our musical limits on "Stained Glass Stories" and subsequent work never released. While Cathedral was putting finishing touches on "The Bridge" and Rudy was finishing up his CD under the production of Windham Hill's Will Ackerman, Fred was laying the foundations for a new work "Lords, Bishops, Prophets and Kings". It was obvious this was going to be an epic and would take a great effort to bring round. We settled in to our rehearsal space, a winter,spring and summer passed and David needed to be let out to take care of family and business matters. We wish him the best and look forward to his future musical productions. Thanks,David, for sharing your great talents with us, for your hard work both on "The Bridge" and in the live performances that followed. Lords ,Bishops, Prophets and Kings" consequently was a great place for us to reestablish a collaboration with Rudy. Freds writing continues to be as sinuous and driving as it was in the days of "Gong"- a perfect backbone for innovative guitar and a huge challenge for me to orchestrate . The subject matter lets Paul reach back into history while drawing metaphors for the future. Mercury uses his electronic kit as a virtual orchestra pit of percussive sound and driving beat. We are almost to the point of wrestling this monster down to recorded form. Welcome back Rudy Perrone, we are so lucky to have you on board-the original lineup of Cathedral

Musea, the French progressive label (Anglagaard, Glass, Ange) has taken Cathedral aboard. After an informal meeting in Metz in October and some negotiations Musea will be distributing Cathedral's latest album, "The Bridge". The band is focusing all their energies on new material and upcoming performances. It's basically a partnering of two entities that love the past, present and future of progressive music and plan to do something about it. Something good is going to happen!

The Review:
Back in 1978, Cathedral (USA band) released their debut album 'Stained Glass Stories', which has been considered over the years as a 'must-have' by many progressive rock collectors. Now after almost 30 years the band returns with a follow-up called 'The Bridge', which has some shoes to fill and in my humblest opinion it succeeds from start to finish. 'The Bridge', like the debut album can be compared to the likes of King Crimson, Genesis, Yes, and Gentle Giant.
In 2003, four out of the five original members, Paul Seal (vocals), Fred Callan (bass), Mercury Catonia IV (drums), and Thomas Doncourt (keyboards) were joined with new guitarist David Dolg (replacing Rudy Perrone), resurrected the band from it's long slumber to make a new album and the result is the 2007 album, 'The Bridge'. A modern sound emerged combined with what they started with back in 1978. Unlike some bands that reunited from the 1970's, the music wasn't done in a way to compete with the newer bands.

Two of the main highlights for me are the opening track "Monsterhead Suite: parts 1, 2, & 3" (13 minutes) and the ending track "The Secret" (11minutes) show case the band in an extended mode. "Monsterhead Suite" reminds me of stuff King Crimson made between 1972-74, whereas "The Secret" has a more dreamy gothic feel. One of the other highlights I enjoy is "Angular World" which lives up to it's name. It reminds me of modern King Crimson but without the chaotic metallic guitar sound.

In closing, 'The Bridge' is a fine prime example of what a reunion album should sound like. Let's hope the next album will arrive in short time. If you enjoyed "Stained Glass Stories', you should embrace "The Bridge' with the same enthusiasm. I would highly recommend this album to even fans of newer bands. This is easily one of my favorite releases of 2007.

Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on December 21st, 2007
www.prognaut.com

"The Bridge" has been built. The big symphonic sound, the Mellotron, bass pedals, classical guitar, and dramatic themes have been carried over. Three years of experimentation and rehearsal have gone by, more than a year of recording, editing and mixing. Finally "The Bridge" is ready for the public. The classical precepts of progressive music were never far from our mind. The new work pays tribute to it's roots but is also a "bridge " to the Cathedral of the future.We literally had to rediscover our chemistry after thirty years of life experience and new technology. It has been a very challenging journey.
In 1978 "Stained Glass Stories" was recorded above the Palace Theater in the then wild and notorious Times Square of Manhattan. We had a week to do it. The modern Cathedral chose a more serene setting and pace. We spent much of 2006/7 at Ian London studios close to home on the South Shore of Long Island. Deer grazed on the back lawn but inside we were co-producing in the same passionate, intense way that we write our music. Our long time colleague and proprietor of Paris Recording, Brian Unger was brought in to engineer.
The future is now before us. We've already returned to writing, eager to put to use new ideas that have catalyzed from the process of last year.The chemistry is there, new compounds are forming, formulas evolving. Cathedral moves forward.

I bought my M400 Mellotron in 1974. It had been sitting in a Sam Ash warehouse in White Plains for some time. I made the life defining decision to drop out of college to get a job in order to raise the $4000 (This isn't something I recommend- thankfully I returned later to get my degree)! About a month after I started playing it I was invited into the original band Odyssey as their mellotronist.
Some sounds on the new Cathedral stuff originate from a Yamaha CS70M- one of the first digital/ analog hybrids-I haven't seen too many of these around. It has an interesting arrangement of LFO's that allow for unique modulation- I especially like the ring mod.
The Z4 akai sampler is set up with two midi-controllers. Long samples and mixed sounds are often played from there- I got the idea from the accompaniment arrangements on the left hand keyboard of the Mellotron MKII.
I still use my Kurzweil K1000. I like some of the modeled sounds like the Choir and Hall strings. It has served as a sort of pivot point for my rig, a few good sounds that are always there.
A mac with a focusrite interface runs my modeling programs. There is an interesting one that does strange solo violin and electric guitar sounds. The hammond organ all comes from the computer- I will never haul another one of those around if I can help it!!
A little while ago I picked up a Moog LP ( do I really have to say little phatty??) and I added a CV patch bay with LFO's to it. It's a funny keyboard, not exactly a minimoog -it has it's own characteristics that I'm trying to hone in on. Really fun stuff.
I started using a farfisa with a chorus ensemble in 1980. When we put Cathedral back together I began to miss that sound so I bought a Compact Deluxe. A Vox Continental turned up from somewhere in Minnesota and I'm working it into the setup at the moment.
The theremin...apologies to Pamalea Kirsten and other great players. I am trying my best. I built an ethernet and put it in my own cabinet. I love it but it makes me suffer.
The soundtrack to "Day the Earth Stood Still" has always haunted me.
I have built and collected a percussion setup that appears in the music from time to time. Usually I write something on it at home, do a long sample and work it into the group. I might like to play some of it live and it will be showing up more and more in the work to come, I expect.