Steve Treatment (ne Steven John Finney) is one of the better – or is it worse? – examples of an act getting discarded because of its inability to do a just a single thing. His music could then be construed as erratic and unfocused. It is, but in a good way. Treatment’s work can’t escape the incessant Marc Bolan checks that seem to dog every piece of writing concerning the guy, but it’s an apt comparison. And while it’s inarguable that Bolan had a better (weirder?) singing voice, Steve Treatment’s songs were as well put together and executed.
Ok. Being well executed is relative. So the shambolic instrumentation that accompanies each track on 25 'A' Sides doesn’t move towards extolling the musical talents of Treatment’s backing band who would go onto to record as the Swell Maps. They do their jobs, though. The music in tandem with Treatment’s crooning, though, comes off well enough even if he wasn’t granted a recording deal with a proper label. Probably, though, that fact’s only added to they mystique surrounding the guy.
The title of that compilation, while pretty self explanatory, shouldn’t lead anyone to believe that Treatment released upwards of ten singles. 25 'A' Sides does include the few singles that were actually released in addition to what sound like some really rough demos. The better known tracks are heralded for a reason, though.
“Negative Nights” is all Bolan cops overtop of a single guitar chord. It gets a bit difficult to hear the vocals at points, but the moaning that goes along with all of this is ample in conveying the emotions and stories meant for audience ear lobes.
The problematic physical appearance of Treatment – hippie? – prior to recording in this vein gets tossed aside on the track “The Hippie Posed Engrossment,” which sees two renditions here. Treatment, even though all of this was recorded within a few years of his sporting hippie hair, figures that he basically hates the subculture as he himself poses as a punker – or at least mimics the tropes and ideologies of that youth culture.
At times this winds up inadvertently sounding a bit like a New Zealand record from the same era – that’s not a bad thing. But considering the spotlight that the Clean and bands of that ilk have received lately, it’s surprising that Steve Treatment has become more of a buzz word. Maybe he should be.