The Treat Phonography
The Treat’s ‘Phonography’ album is an extremely well-produced tribute album to just about every classic rock band you care to name. An accomplished three-piece dominated by singer/songwriter/guitarist/producer Mike Hyder, they have the chops to play everything from three chord AC/DC romps, via smooth jazz and through onto enormous Metallica-style epics. The band’s flexible approach is its greatest strength, but also its biggest weakness. Despite twelve impeccably-recorded tracks to choose from, I can’t say I liked any of them, and the source of my difficulties comes mostly from Hyder’s tin ear for language and inability to follow a good musical idea through to the end without ruining it.
Take the sole instrumental on the record, ‘Effervesence’. The first couple of minutes are heaven: laid-back jangly guitar meshing effortlessly with some wonderfully minimalist flute, but the idyll is shattered by Hyder bringing in a load of squalling guitars that reduce the remainder of the track to a load of empty bombast.
‘Make You Crawl’ and ‘Too Late’ are more rounded tunes, but AC/DC were doing this stuff perfectly serviceably in the eighties. Hyder’s voice, as nasal as Dave Evans’ but without that aura of gleeful malevolence, is solid but unappealing.
Still, these conservative tunes are preferable to the Treat’s attempt to be experimental, as on the dire ‘Black Cat Whites’ which welds Pink Floyd’s ‘Bike’ onto the Small Faces’ ‘Lazy Sunday Afternoon’ for no artistically defensible reason. Hyder’s journeys into fairytale as on the opening ‘Fanfare for the King’ or the eco-warrior anthem ‘Meadowland’ are unrewarding pieces of po-faced whimsy. ‘Bolivian Diary’, Hyder’s attempt to imagine himself into Ché Guevara’s army is just excruciating: try this for size:
‘I will take the first watch, even though I’ve had no sleep
Chino’s out of action, cause he’s slipped and broke his feet’
Priceless. Someone shoot me.
‘Clutching at Jagged Glass’ is perhaps the best song on the album, with a couple of top-class Zeppelin-style riffs driving the song along like some stentorian PT sergeant , but in the main this album is overblown, suffers from naïve and outdated songwriting and contains barely a trace of warmth or humour, although plenty of unintentional comedy. Like Chino, it’s lame.
By Colin MacKinnon
Tags: The Treat
January 31st, 2008 at 12:05 pm
ahahah!!!What a laugh i am having!!!
I was the treat’s drummer for several months. I have to say that I am so happy that somebody got to the same point as i did when i decided to leave the band. Mike, get a life!!!You’re not God, not even close… well, i will wait to book my Wmbley Arena ticket to see you live then!!!!
take care…and if u need a drummer please don’t call ME!!!
dario
February 16th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Colin,
Regarding your review of The Treat’s new album. A number of your
comments, aimed personally at me, seem to be based on an erroneous
impression you have of who you think I am. As you and I have never
personally met and we have only rarely and briefly corresponded with each
other, I can only assume a number of your views regarding The Treat and
my role in the group, have been nurtured by the drummer you have in your
band, whom I fired from The Treat, three years ago. (Yes, I did fire him,
irrespective of what he says). Clearly, he hasn’t got over it.
I was aware he had been in your group for some time when I sent you the
new Treat CD. I was curious to see if your review would be a genuinely
independent view - as I believe your review of tracks from our first album
some four years ago was - or whether it would be tainted by drip-fed
negative comments made by the third party mentioned above. Sadly, it’s
clearly the latter.
Furthermore, you have failed to acknowledge the harmonious ensemble
playing on ‘Phonography’ : John Halliday’s excellent drum parts ; Dom
Lash’s thoughtful bass lines and multi-instrumentalist Dave Hart’s tasteful
embellishments.
On this occasion , your ‘review’ has been as predictable as you claim my
song writing to be.
Mike Hyder
February 19th, 2008 at 8:44 am
Jesus guys, get over yourselves…
February 19th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Perhaps you’re just not as good as you think you are? Get Nightshift to do a review and see if there are any similarities of opinion from someone who isn’t connected with former bandmates.
February 19th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
But it’s never the musician who is wrong is it? It’s always the reviewer ‘not getting it’. Maybe Colin didn’t like your music? Nah, it can’t be that of course! Cos I did the sound for The Treat once and they were jaw-droppingly good. Sorry. I seem to have my “lying out of my arse” hat on today.
February 22nd, 2008 at 11:04 pm
They have, or had, a song about nightclubbing. I think it was called Nightclubbing.
February 27th, 2008 at 11:12 am
just a praise for colin, as i think fair is fair. mr mackinnon did a review of a band called HOUSE OF BLUE DOLLS. the band was run by me, while i was playing with colin. and it wasn’t all roses… what’s my point? colin is professional, he writes freely what he thinks and he doesn’t deserve to be called partial or predictable, cause he is one of the most important figures in the oxford music scene. he did and do so much for oxford that if something he should be praised for all the time he spend for us musicians, without pay, without glory. so colin keep up ur wonderful work and nevermind the odd ball. and thanks, from all of us.
February 29th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
I’m also in the MHYT with Colin and Dario…
I’ve never heard the Treat.
However, I can assure you Colin would have reviewed the CD on it’s merits, regardless of Dario’s personal situation with you. Of course you don’t know Colin….but if you did, you wouldn’t question it. Hell, he’s criticised my music enough in the past - but usually constructively!
I’m not even aware if he knew if there was a falling out, nor if Dario knew Colin was writing the review (as to poison his mind against you).
Just do what everyone should do in this situation. Listen to the criticism, decide (honestly) if any of it is relevant. If you agree - learn from it. If not - carry on.
If you noticed, Colin did put in a couple of positives too…wouldn’t have done that if he’d totally had it in for you would he?
But I do kind of want to hear it now.
Adrian