The treat you can have between meals!
Despite my feelings towards Oxford United, the city of Oxford is a nice place and The Zodiac is a great venue, however Oxford band The Treat are, well to be quite frank, an audio treat! With the airwaves still riding high on the popular trash of recent guitar-lead indie it's like a breath of the fresh stuff to have a band that play music straight from the heart, tapped directly into the real roots of rock. Sometimes rock'n'roll, sometimes rhythm and blues - The Treat deliver a rockin' good time!
First song 'Burning' starts off with a great classic rockin' riff a little like AC/DC, however if I may be a little critical, for me, Mike's vocals sound as though they need more 'umph' - by that I mean it's almost like the sound is a little low and so he's not quite bellowing out like a guy who's "Burning rock'n'roll" should!
There's something very Sixties about 'Don't Think Twice', which sounds just right. Past single 'Agent 555' is a little Black Crows-esque, which is always a bonus with me. Mike's voice sounds at its strongest when singing the original r'n'b - the one that doesn't feature scantily clad dark skinned females shakin' their booties, which isn't to say that I am not averse to listening to said music nor depriving myself of such viewing pleasures.
The album's anthem song 'Rock You' has chugging guitars and more than one opportunity to raise your fists and yell! 'Let's Get Beautiful' has Poison riffs and a party-rock feel even mentioning rock lines like, "Let's do the rattlesnake shake!" Pure genius.
'Silver Eye' nods its head towards Led Zepplin with its psychedelic rock and hallucinogenic lyrics guaranteed to have you swaying from side to side or tapping your feet. The 70's classic rock moment near the end is purely majestic. This may not be an original sound but hats off to Mike Hyder, Bassist Andy Sutton and the drumming skills of John Halliday, this is what music is all about.
'The Hunger' sounds almost a little like Blind Melon, and 'Nightclubbing' could well be Soundgarden doing a Zepplin tribute.
Having already spent 8 consecutive weeks as the best album in London Skywave Radio's chart, it's easy to see the appeal for some of that classic rock sound to be brought back to life again.
The Treat will not be groundbreaking, and they may not be cool, however what
they have bundles of is integrity for classic rock, and Lord, do they play it well! So raise your fist and get ready to strum your air guitar, those great days are back again, and this time it's a real treat...