by Lee Miller-Bristol, TN USA
As I sit here listening to the Hats Off Gentlemen It’s Adequate album “Broken but Still Standing”, I feel as if I am being taken upon a journey of massive proportion.
When I was asked to review this album, I jumped at the chance. This album is very Pink Floyd-esque, but after listening to the album in its entirety several times, I just have to applaud the London based band on the opus that they have created. Malcom Galloway and cohorts have created something special here. A work of Progressive Rock that is, in my opinion, second to none.
“Vent” starts the whole journey of this masterpiece off and goes straight into the absolute perfection of the song, “Almost Familiar”, and to be quite honest, this is progressive music at its finest! Every subtle keyboard tone is felt deeply as the music swirls and sways throughout. The vocals here truly fit the lyrical compositions and I can’t say enough about the fluid bass guitar jazz influenced runs, the vocals, and drumming.
On top of all of this is the beautiful flute work and the stellar guitar that just soars throughout the 17 tracks contained within. A lot can be said of structure within a piece of music, and every track on “Broken but Still Standing” is just structured perfectly.
It’s truly hard to pick a favorite song among the lot, but some of my favorites are the two afforementioned tracks, along with “Last Man on the Moon”, the lead guitar solo is amazing, “Anywhere”, the vocals remind me so much of Bowie at his finest, “Let Me Out”, the flute solo on this is freaking spectacular, “Lucid Assassin”, such an awesome piece of music, and “Under The Skin”, because it is just brilliant.
There is no filler here on this album. Between the song and instrumentals that make up this truly unique and thought provoking concept album, I must say that I am completely blown away.
Being an artist and songwriter myself I truly appreciate all that went into putting this magnificent work of art together. I eluded to a comparison of Pink Floyd near the beginning of this review, but I will say that, without a shadow of doubt, Hats Off Gentlemen It’s Adequate is in a league of their own! My hat is off to all of you in the band for creating this masterpiece!