As part of the ‘Norske Albumklassikere 80-tallet’ series from the excellent Norwegian reissue label Norske Albumklassikere – which seems to have access to almost every Norwegian release from the 70s and 80s – comes this really welcomed remastered reissue of RETURN 1988’s album ”Attitudes”, including a bonus track.
If you’re in the need for an ’80s dose of fluffy 80s AOR, ”Attitudes” does the tryck. This album takes you back to an era when rock music was fun, catchy, infectious, with songs plenty of catchiness, sweet multi-part vocal harmonies, and that Europe-like keys/synths. Very poppy at places – and perhaps a bit cheesy – but who cares, this is feel-good melodic music!
Hailing from Stange Hedmark, the band started out under the name ‘Polish’ in 1980. The rehearsals didn’t always were ‘very polished’, as initially the band played classic heavy metal.
Near the mid-Eighties the guys fall in love with the melodic sound which started to dominate the Rock scene, and musically their approach was much more radio oriented. In 1985, vocalist Knut Erik Østgård, guitarists Steinar Hagen & Jan Åge Slåtsveen, bassist Tore Larsen and drummer Øyvind Håkonsen changed their name to Return.
The breakthrough came with the single “Sheila” which sold 1,000 copies. That song also helped Return to participate in the ‘Norgesmestre i Rock’, a competition of bands organized by NRK in 1985.
That led to a record contract with Arco Records, which was run by journalists and bands promoters Nick Borgen and Arve Strømsæther. When the debut album ”To The Top” came out in 1987, guitarist Slåtsveen was no more in the band.
”To The Top” spent four weeks on Norway’s chart album list, reaching the 14th place.
Now signed by major label CBS, the band taped at Stockholm Recording, Sweden, the second RETURN album ”Attitudes”, which entered the charts in the second week of October 1988, reached all the way to fourth place, and stayed there for 25 weeks. “Change The Attitude” was released as a single, and was a radio hit in Scandinavia.
The catchy “Bye Bye Johnny” was the second single and topped the Norsktoppen for five weeks. The group toured all the year and established a strong fan base.
A string of successful albums followed in the next few years: Straight Down The Line (1989), Fourplay (1991) and V (1992). Return split in 2000, when the band came out with the compilation album The Best Of Return. That Greatest Hits CD became their first number one album.
Since then, and still with original members Østgård, Larsen and Håkonsen, Return has played quite a lot, around 25 gigs a year. In 2015, they celebrated their 30th anniversary as recording artists, with the CD and DVD 30 Years Anniversary (Live At Stange).
”Attitudes” is fluffy AOR, poppy and catchy as hell, a product of its time but for fans of the genre… the time best ever. This remastered reissue, as happens with all Norske Albumklassikere 80-tallet series, avoid brickwall and comes balanced and clear.
01 – Change The Attitude
02 – Steal Your Heart
03 – Bye Bye Johnny
04 – My Wildest Dreams
05 – The Loner
06 – The Day After
07 – I’m Gonna Find You
08 – Sandy
09 – Easy Come Easy Go
10 – We All Have A Future
11 – Sing Me A Song [bonus track]
Vocals – Knut Erik Østgård
Guitar – Steinar Hagen
Keyboards – Per Blom
Bass – Tore Larsen
Drums – Øyvind Håkonsen
Backing Vocals – Johan Åkerfeldt, Mikael Andersson