LP Review: "Speak Volumes" by Old James

Speak Volumes

It's surprising, that being a big Star Trek: The Next Generation fan that I am, not many of their episodes have really stuck with me. The books have always been more interesting, as there's no terrible acting to screw it up.

(There's also not plasticware that's in my kitchen being used by Ferengi and Klingons to distract me....)

One of the memory stickers though, is A Matter of Time. This particular episode deals with time travel, but not in the typical way.

A man steals a time machine from a future time traveler and uses it to go forward in time to find out what would be especially valuable. In the end, Berlinghoff Rasmussen admits to being a poor inventory.

He then posits that having a time machine will making him a brilliant one who'll be able to make ten fortunes with the future artifacts he's pilfered from the Enterprise.

Old James

Science Fiction is all about the writing if you want it to last.

Old James strikes me a lot like the previously mentioned Mr. Rasmussen.

Except that they're really from 1977, but have used the time machine they've stolen in order to go into 1983.

Upon arrival in 1983, they used their Sherlock Holmes like powers of deduction to find out what the most valuable musical trends and techniques were.

At which point, they chose to return to 1977 to continue as the most forward thinking band of their era. Unfortunately, it appears their Time Machine only has a forward setting and as they're from the late 70's, they  haven't seen that Futurama episode where they go forward so far they end up backwards...

To put it more plainly, Speak Volumes contains a wide array of musical tricks and techniques. Upon first listen, they sound like any number of a hundred throwback bands, but they're really so much more than that.

This record is a pastiche of everything that came before it. It's arena rock while maintaining boogie blues and it's dancey like funk.

Looking at the group, did you notice there's only three people? It's kind of unfair that they're able to create this huge sound with only three guys, unless Jimi Hendrix is involved, I'm pretty sure it's illegal to be able to make music as full as this if your band is a Power Trio.

Go ahead and swim in the oceans of time...Old James did and they seem pretty on the ball.

Release: 8/25/17
Genre: Rock
Label: DIY
Formats: CD/Digital
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