BLUEPRINT

Sebastian Hardie was easily Australia´s prime prog band at the 70´s with two classic albums: Four Season (1975) and Windchase (1976). Although the original band did reunite for some shows during the early 90´s I don´t think anyone really took seriously a new studio album of original songs. Most reunion albums are a waste of time and I was quite surprised when I found that the classic line up was back again and had indeed recorded a full set of new songs. And even more surprised by the fact that the new CD, Blueprint was a very good one!

Blueprint was released early in 2016 in Brazil. Although I had heard it by the time it was released, I was eager to get the beautiful jewel case edition. That´s when I found out that I did not write a review for this album. Sebastian Hardie is an interesting band that has its particular way of delivering a symphonic progressive rock that is not as flashy or as pompous as Yes or ELP, but closer to the more discreet dutch legends Focus (minus the flute and with "real" vocals, if you know what I mean). This is specially true for the final track, the unfortunately short instrumental, Shame. So we have some fine vintage sounding keyboards (Hammond, mellotron, ARP strings) and, with a tight rhythm section, making a exquisite musical background landscape for Mario Millo excellent guitar work (yes, sometimes he seems to be uncanny emulating Jan Akkerman, but never a copycat). Millo was never a terrific singer, and yet his vocals are just perfect for this kind of music.

As for the songs themselves they are all excellent, very much as the classic Sebastian Hardie sound, with a more sophisticated and modern recording, of course. The album was very well produced and mixed. I also enjoyed the jazzy elements that can be found on several parts, like in Another String..., quite different from the rest fo the tunes. The only fault (if you can call it that) I found with Blueprint is its relatively short running time, leaving just a little more than 40 minutes of music. But this is the kind of CD you hear from beginning to end with the same pleasure. And probably, like me, you´ll listen to it again after the last chords fade away, feeling it ended just too soon.

Certainly this is one fo the best comebacks ever.

Rating: something between 4 and 4,5 stars. Highly recommended!