Introspect (Cathedral, 1978)

The entire "Stained Glass Stories" album by Cathedral is a prog gem and this "Introspect" will prove my point. Deep and diversified, full of charming atmospheres and sharp changes, this song could be adopted as a progressive rock manifesto. The vocals are delicate and inspired, while all the instruments play original, unpredictable partitions. Take the bass guitar and its winding lines, the Crimson-esque keyboard or the wide spectrum drums à la Phil Collins. And what about the acoustic coda?

The boys behind this beautiful music in the CD edition of the album.

No commercial compromise here, still not a single note of "Introspect" is too difficult or too experimental to be fully enjoyable. An universe of emotions and secret landscapes flows gently before the listener's ears and gets into his soul. Too bad they disbanded so soon: Cathedral could have strongly shaped the prog rock canons. But then, this album surely did so.

Gong (Cathedral, 1978)

First, a disambiguation note: this is a song from the "Stained Glass Stories" debut album by Cathedral, the US '70s prog band, not to be confused with the more recent UK band bearing the same name. "Gong" it's a instrumental synphonic rock jewel, IMHO. The rythm is enthralling, the plots are rich and intricate, the tempo changes are surprising and the band's performance is perfect. What else? I think this 7 minute track melts very well all the band's influences, from Genesis to Yes and from King Crimson to Gentle Giant, but the result isn't a simply derivative song: "Gong" has its own character.

Unfortunately, the band waited some 30 years to release

the follow up of "Stained Glass Stories".

Do you know why? Because you'll find no weak moments here: each passage is exacly where it had to be, each instruments comes in when it had to, each musical idea is developed to the very end and gives place to the next one without any useless pause. This song was a pleasant surprise to me when I first listened to it, I hope the same will happen to you.