STEPHEN CAUDEL

Stephen Caudel biography
STEPHEN CAUDEL studied music at the City of Leeds College of Music where he was drawn towards the complexities of Symphonic Rock and the desire to fuse classical composition with Rock music. As a multi-instrumentalist CAUDEL draws comparison with Mike OLDFIELD and his first rock symphony "Wine Dark Sea" (based upon Homer's 'Odyssey') follows the tradition of one-man symphonic music that began with "Tubular Bells". Signed to the Coda Record label, "Wine Dark Sea" was released in 1986 under their New Age imprint and sponsored by London's Capitol Radio, the album was premiered London's Victoria Palace with the Wren Orchestra. CAUDEL toured with fellow label artists CLAIRE HAMILL and JOHN THEMIS to promote the album and has supported Phil MANZANERA at the Royal Festival Hall and Art GARFUNKLE at the Royal Albert Hall. While "Wine Dark Sea" is not in itself a New Age piece, its complexity and instrumentation mark it as a decidedly Rock composition, an extract of it was used extensively on Coda's Landscape TV channel through out the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Stephen CAUDEL's second album, "Bow Of Burning Gold" (1988) was a less complex and more New Age that featured simpler acoustic and classical guitar arrangements and is based upon the works of William Blake (the title coming from a line in Blake's hymn, "Jerusalem").

Since then he has worked as guest soloist on the "Hooked On Classics II" album and has produced themes for TV and advertising. He has also released an album with fellow guitarist Tim PANTING called "Scaramouche"

More recently CAUDEL has returned to Symphonic Rock as a solo artist with "The Earth in Turquoise", based on the life of King Arthur, released on his own Dark Sea Records label.

While Stephen CAUDEL may appear more suited to Symphonic Prog, his addition to Crossover Prog was felt more appropriate given the diversity of his music and obvious simularities to Mike OLDFIELD