THE TREATMENT – Then & Again EP

Shane | 12 September 2012 | Reply

Spinefarm UK, 2012
By Shane Pinnegar
8/10

There’s only three types of cover versions: classics, sound-alikes and shockers.

Personally I don’t see the point in releasing a cover that sounds almost exactly like the original (Yes, I’m looking at YOU Poison!), and no-one wants to listen to a shocker more than once… so what constitutes a classic?

Perhaps it’s the ability to stamp your band’s sound over the template of the original, breathing new life into an already much-loved tune, or resurrecting a lost cult classic and giving it the attention it so richly deserves.

Cambridge youngsters The Treatment do all the above across this collection of five Seventies covers, curated by Spinefarm’s resident guru and ex-Kerrang! luminary Dante Bonuto, and under the watchful eye and guiding hand of manager and Airrace guitarist (and father of drummer Dhani) Laurie Mansworth.

That a bunch of English guys around the 20-22 year old mark even CARE about the Seventies is astonishing in this over-processed, auto-tuned, digital world we live in, but care they do – the cover art even reference’s one of the biggest movies of the Seventies, Star Wars!

First up, the lads do for Chris Spedding’s punk anthem Motor Bikin’ what Joan Jett did for I Love Rock n Roll, with one biker boot firmly stamped in 1977, and the other in the modern day. It’s raw, visceral stuff and infectious as hell.

Let’s Work Together sees The Treatment referencing the original Canned Heat version of this down home blues song, rather than the later, suave’d up Bryan Ferry howler, and it’s about as good as a chugging blues laced with youthful energy and fire can get.

ELO’s Evil Woman doesn’t fare so well – stripped of Jeff Lynne’s lavish orchestration, it wears out its welcome two thirds of the way through – perhaps more to do with the song’s repetition rather than The Treatment’s solid performance.

L.A.band Jo Jo Gunne and their top ten hit (on BOTH sides of the Atlantic) Run Run Run are both new to these ears, and it’s a bouncy, rollicking good time tune indeed – possibly the most “Seventies” sounding of the lot.

Finally there’s the incomparable Slade number Take Me Back ‘Ome – an underrated song from an underrated band, but far from the most obvious choice from their back catalogue, which is only a good thing in these eyes. The Treatment have their wicked way with it and walk away triumphant, knowing they have paid respect whilst simultaneously making it a little bit their own.

A stop-gap this may be before album number two, but there’s nothing ‘filler’ about “Then & Again” – this is the sound of a band on the verging of crossing over – which should be complete by 2013 if their upcoming US tour with Kiss and Motley Crue goes according to plan – doing what they love, and doing it damned well.

http://www.facebook.com/TheTreatmentOfficial?ref=ts