Four Moments (Sebastian Hardie, 1975)

I think this suite is not only one of the highlights from the same titled album by Australian band Sebastian Hardie, but it's one of the best moments of mid-70s progressive rock. The track is divided into four parts ("Glories Shall Be Released", "Dawn of Our Sun", "Journey Through Our Dreams" and "Everything is Real") and has about 20 minutes of total running time. As usual, the four movements are mainly melodic and present a flushing arrangement, both rich in keyboard effects and guitar solos. The vocal harmonies are also excellent and the tempo changes are cleverly lined up to create a pleasant and variated listening experience.

The back cover of the original LP.

 

Most of the music and lyrics were written by guitarist Mario Millo, the actual leader of Sebastian Hardie, but keyboardist Toivo Pilt's contribution is essential, IMHO, to the special mood of this suite. It's surprising how mature, effective and coherent this track is when it comes from the band's debut album. Last but not least, please enjoy Mario Millo's vocal performance: it seems to me he sings his inner feelings.

Openings (Sebastian Hardie, 1975)

This "Openings" was actually the 13 minutes closing track of Sebastian Hardie's debut album "Four Moments", released in 1975. Fluid like water, the Australian band's music keeps today all the charms it had back in the '70s and in its classical and blues moments we found the spirit of that era, made of liberty and innovation. The main role in this song is played by Mario Millo's electric guitar, somewhere in the middle between David Gilmour and Eric Clapton, wel supported by the rythm section and Toivo Pilt's keyboards, kind of a gentle and spacey carpet. The latter also has its moment of glory in the second part of the song, where the guitar takes a rest and we fly on his magic carpet for a while. Then, Mr. Millo comes back and graces the song with his best solo.

I like very much the circular logo of the band.

Sebastian Hardie's music is obviously influenced by some UK masters like Pink Floyd, Camel and Mike Oldfield (they even played live "Tubular Bells"), but their music is surely original, featuring its own sinuous and dreamy brand mark. "Four Moments", the album including this instrumental track, and its follower "Windchase" made of them the most influent synphonic rock band of Australia. They're worth a wider recognition, IMHO.