OUT OF MIND

UK band HATS OFF GENTLEMEN IT'S ADEQUATE can celebrate their first decade as a band this year, at least if my information about their history is up to speed. And in that initial decade of existence, the band have released four studio albums. "Out of Mind" is the most recent of these, and appeared towards the end of 2018.

Those who prefer their progressive rock to be accessible, inviting and made with a focus to create and explore moods and atmospheres should find this latest album by Hats Off Gentlemen It's Adequate to be right up their alley. With solid nods in the direction of late 70's Camel and Pink Floyd as well as some token winks towards early 90's neo-progressive rock, this is a band and an album that deserves to be given a spin by progressive rock fans with a particular fancy for those parts of the progressive rock universe.

This is my first experience with HOGIA (I am not going to keep the full band name throughout this review!), which is primarily Malcolm Galloway (vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and producer) and Mark Gatland (bass, backing vocals, keyboards and co-producer), although they are often joined by Kathryn Thomas (flute), and when playing live they have other guest performers including Rudy Burrell (drums) and Ibon Bilboa (guitar). According to the band they 'combine prog/alt-rock, funk, metal, ambient, contemporary classical, minimalist, and electronica elements, and often explore scientific themes.' The latter I am sure is down to Malcolm's other life, as he told me he is a part-time musician, part-time neuropathologist and medical schoolteacher about the brain. Who says musicians are dumb?

I must confess it took me a little while to get into the album, just because there are so many different styles on offer. If we take 'Stand Up' as an example, and just listened to that one song, then I would say we were back in the very early days of Credo and the line-up which appeared on the debut album, with keyboards used as an accent, guitars crunching hard and Mark Colton at his most venomous. I honestly can't play this without thinking of the toilets such as Egham Compasses where we used to gig back then, 25 plus years ago. But then compare that with the following track, 'I Miss The Stars' which is far more Floydian with a swirling sound, almost spoken vocals, and a guitar which cuts through the mist with a strident but gentle sound, the gently picked notes combining well with keyboards. But 'When I Was A Ship' (which is about spaceships taking over mind-wiped slave bodies), has far more of a piano basis, with some wonderfully delicate basslines, which totally changes tack halfway through and moves from a proggy ballad to something which is far more of a frenetic shuffle.

This 2018 release was their fourth full-length album, so I am very much late to the party, but at some point I will be reviewing their other releases as well as Malcolm's solo minimalist classical outings. This does take a little getting used to due to the way the guys switch it up, and they sound quite different again when the flute comes in, but certainly repays repeated playings.

For the life of me, I can't remember why this album ever made it to my "check-out list". Probably it was just a part that my ear caught because now that I got around to actually check it out, I scratch my head in disbelief and I wonder where my head was when I ticked it. In essence, I have three issues with this album. The first one is the vocals of Malcolm Galloway (it's actually a one-man band since he plays all instruments except the bass and the flute) are very average (he's doing a bit better when he sings in a hushed fashion). The second one is that the guitar work ranks among the worst I have ever heard since the tone is awful and the playing is truly unimaginative. The 90% of the guitars is hitting a chord, allowing it to ring for a whole bar or two, hit it again and so on (the exception to the rule is Defiance and it is the album's less bad song). The third is that the music as a whole is unimaginative. There are some nice parts here and there, but does that say much? Every time (not too many, that is) I was listening to one of them, I kept pushing myself "hey, it can't be so bad" but it is. I listened to the entire album two times, but I gave up on the third. Just one remark: every time I see a one-man band, chances are it won't be a good one. It's kind of hard to be an accomplished songwriter/guitarist/drummer/vocalist/keyboardist all rolled into one. The diversity and versatility which can be achieved by different personalities is excluded with this setup unless we are talking about highly gifted people.

I don't like to use one star as a rating, but even on two-stars albums there are a couple songs that I like. Unfortunately, here this is not the case.