Late ’80s could hardly be considered a good time for art-rock, yet there were artists who, for all their instrumental virtuosity, had always had taste for a memorable pop tune. Take, for instance, Jon Camp, an ex-bassist for RENAISSANCE, and keyboard player John Young, a future member of GREENSLADE and LIFESIGNS: three decades ago, the two found a joint venture in CATHÉDRALE, a band with a great potential… and zero output. Actually, the ensemble recorded an album – titled “J2=B2” as an allusion to the founders’ names and those of drummer Tony Bodene and guitarist Brett Wilde, with singer Mark Goddard-Parker entering the picture later on – which will be released by Angel Air on September 29th in a valiant attempt to remedy the injustice that befallen the group, discography-wise.
Jon Camp says, after all these years:
“CATHÉDRALE was a time of great creativity, both with regards to songwriting and to playing together. These were some of my favourite times as it’s not very often that four individuals get together and gel musically from the first note.
There was an intuition flowing through this band that was quite magical, and I firmly believe that if we had remained with our original management team, great things could have been achieved.”
A few years ago, during our interview, John Young remembered the endeavor with the same pity:
“It was an enigma: we signed publishing to Warners for 50,000 pounds, a great deal, and our manager spent all the cash.We got a thousand each! The music was great – a cross between GENESIS and more rocky stuff. Warners wanted us to be the English BON JOVI. It never flew… and that will always haunt me.”
But, ready to be out, the album looks like this (read the review here):
1. One By One
2. The Price
3. Calling Out For You
4. Element Of Surprise
5. A Trick Of The Light
6. Paris Is Calling
7. Wise Men (Never Fall In Love)
8. Kasaar
9. It’s Really Up To You
10. Mind The Gap
11. Any Time At All
12. Crying