Review Summary: Another good US prog band. One of the best acts of the 70’s American prog.
“Stained Glass Stories” is the debut and only studio album of Cathedral that was released in the 70’s. The line up on the album is Paul Seal, Rudy Perrone, Tom Doncourt, Fred Callan and Mercury Caronia.
Cathedral was an American progressive rock band that was formed in Long Island in 1975 and that disbanded in 1978. The roots of Cathedral are in a psychedelic band called Odyssey. When Odyssey split in 1975, two members of that band, the bassist Fred Callan and the keyboardist Tom Doncourt ventured to form Cathedral. The band was filled by the drummer Mercury Caronia, the guitarist Rudy Perrone and the vocalist Paul Seal. They toured the scene of Long Island clubs and boldly decided to play original music. Instead of the psychedelic music, they were more in the wave of the prog leaders at the time, like King Crimson, Yes, Genesis and Gentle Giant, what the band refers to the majestic sound.
In 1978 they released “Stained Glass Stories”. 10,000 copies were printed and sold. The album has become a highly valued collector item and a reason for great critical acclaim. Some called it the best American prog album of all time. With the album “Stained Glass Stories”, Cathedral was considered to be in the same league as the bigger prog names.
“Stained Glass Stories” shows a straight-up classic prog rock that rivals with many of the big names of the British prog rock scene, like Genesis, but mainly Yes. And if you’re a fan of Anglagard, you’ll be completely flattered over “Stained Glass Stories”. Cathedral sounds a bit similar, except without the Scandinavian/Nordic influences. This is in reality a timeless prog rock album mostly due to the skills of all instrumentalists. It’s a thoroughly romantic album and hard not to sense the presence of myth and legend in its mix, and so much of it has a deep sadness and profound exhaustion. “Stained Glass Stories” is next to Mirthrandir’s “For You The Old Women” presenting one of the pre-eminent releases of the complex American progressive rock. In direct comparison to their compatriots Kansas and Starcastle, Cathedral indulged in the highly complex prog rock of the early 70’s. So, Cathedral could already be described as a retro band in 1978, which had turned back the clock by at least 5 years, when compared with the best works of those British bands.
“Stained Glass Stories” has five tracks. The album opens up with “Introspect” and once you hear the electric piano and the Mellotron, you know right away that you’re in for a real treat. There are time changes, percussive parts, swelling Hammond sounds, crisp Rickenbacker in the style of Yes and a lead vocal that reminds me strongly of Gentle Giant. One of the absolute highlights of this album, for me, is the instrumental piece “Gong”. The beginning of “Gong” briefly reminds me of “Sound Chaser” of Yes’s “Relayer”. It has a cumbersome instrumental part followed by a lot of plucked and squeaked guitar over a warm bass and a soulful percussion. In “The Crossing” they cross symphonic prog with passages that could have come directly from Jethro Tull in their folk rock days. “The Crossing” is introduced by a short choral singing, then the lead voice begins and I’m waiting for the Jethro Tull’s flute at any moment. Unconventional vocal lines follow and then an equally unusual guitar solo can be heard. The next two titles are arranged in a varied way and have an exciting structure, privileging the melody over the complexity of the first three tracks. Still the sound is unique and adventurous. “Days & Changes” displays the band’s ability to pull outstanding ideas. The evolution of the piece is enjoyable contributing to another majestic prog number. “The Search” fulls the circle. It’s the epic piece that offers long instrumental passages and that sounds majestic. It creates a perfect closer to a beautiful prog experience.
Cathedral reformed and regrouped in 2003 and released a sophomore work “The Bridge” in 2007, this time with a new guitarist. A third album was released in 2020 under the name of Tom Doncourt & Mattias Olsson’s Cathedral. However, this work only had the participation of Doncourt of the original line up of the band and of Mattias Olson of Anglagard, a long time collaborator of Doncourt. Cathedral is sometimes cited as an influence of Anglagard’s classic work “Hybris”.
Conclusion: I personally think that Cathedral’s “Stained Glass Stories” is a great album and a superior example of the American underground take of the progressive rock scene in the 70’s. It doesn’t matter to me that it wasn’t perfect from a compositional, playing and production standpoint. This is a highly ambitious work with great melodies interspersed throughout and therein lays the charm of it all. It’s one of the best examples of the American prog rock scene in the 70’s with their compatriots, Kansas, Mirthrandir, Happy The Man, Babylon, Starcastle, Pavlov’s Dog, Fireballet and Yezda Urfa. This is a US prog band mining the English progressive rock territory with strong influences of some of those prog bands like Yes, Gentle Giant, Jethro Tull and King Crimson. I recommend this work as a solid 70’s American prog effort. Unfortunately it became a little too late to become to be well known. But it’s definitely worth to be discovered today.
Music was my first love.
John Miles (Rebel)
