Customer Reviews

Attitude

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought "First Glance" back in 1979, loved the hard guitars, and followed this band to "Harder, Faster" and "Nature of the Beast", as they continued to offer a Canadian twist to my appetite for pure rock. Then about 1982, 83 or 84 they seemed to fade away. Then about a year ago I was looking to replicate my album collection onto CDs, and I was trying to get a hold of "First Glance" when I came across "Attitude". WOW! I didn't expect this! It was like they had risen from the dead....with a veangance! From the first cut, "Givin' it, Takin' it", you can tell their guitars have not lost their edge. Everything on this CD rocks! "Good From Far, Far From Good", "IF You Believe In Me", the underappreciated "That's Love"....they all got it, that April Wine signature guitar riff, and pounding drums. Ballads like "Can't Take Another Night" prove they haven't lost their melodic touch. And "Better Slow Down" and "Strange Love" add their hard driving sound to this awesome collection. If you like April Wine, you gotta get this. It'll rekindle your rock spirit!

Given the rise of grunge and alternative rock, 1993 just seems like a weird time for an arena rocking band to mount a comeback, but that's exactly what Canadian rockers April Wine did when they released Attitude, their 13th album overall and first since 1985's Walking through Fire.

Attitude is a very melodic, pop-oriented AOR album that shows absolutely no awareness of the changing musical climate. You won't find any depressing, high-angst, low energy sludge here. Instead Attitude is crammed full of Myles Goodwyn's trademark upbeat rock songs. I love the rocking "Good from Far (Far from Good)", "Better Slow Down" and leadoff track "Givin' It, Takin' It", and "Can't Take Another Nite" is an absolutely terrific ballad (it sounds like a less sappy upgrade of their hit "Just Between You and Me"). Honestly though, I don't think any of the 14 songs on Attitude really qualify as filler, though the album does lose some momentum towards the end (which closer "Girl in my Dreams" recovers nicely).

If you enjoyed April Wine in the late 70's and throughout the 80's, you should love what you hear on Attitude. I also highly recommend it to anyone who's a fan of the 80's and early 90's melodic rock sound. It might not be quite as good as the band's better 80's releases, but I think Attitude comes pretty darned close.

NOTE: I've seen two different versions of Attitude. The Unidisc version (a reissue, I believe) has artwork on the tray side of the back insert, while the original was blank. The songs are the same on both, and the Unidisc version doesn't appear to have been remastered, so the difference in the two editions is pretty much skin deep.

I found this album my accident, but after playing it a lot I think it may be #1 or 2 of their best albums. If you like April Wine you should really love this album. It simply rocks. From Texas just keep on rockin!!!!

This probably was really a surprise for the fans most of whom by that time buried April Wine in the same tomb where the remains of Blue Oyster Cult and Golden Earring were gathering dust for a decade. This is an album with a very convincing drive and real heavy metal feel to it - songs like "Here's Lookin' At You Kid" and "Better Slow Down" are excellent fast hard-rock numbers crushing your eardrums relentlessly and both with great tunes! "That's Love", "Givin' It Takin' It", "Strange Kind of Love", "Luv Your Stuff" are other highlights with very good guitar work and rhythm. Of course, filler is more than evident here but at least it doesn't overshadow the good half of the album.

This type of music is so well structured and melodic, It's hard rockin fun and the kind of music you want to play at a party. It's good time hard rock and it's so much better than much the grunge scene at the time. Some of that was good but this was just about laying down great songs that rocked and it succeeded. This is something that too many bands forgot to do which lead to metal in particular going down the drain commercially. However this one is pure pounding fun! At the time I couldn't play it enough and it is still a blast even now. I like it much better than 'frigate' which is a good follow up but this one just blows it down in a melodic way.

There are a few albums that I own that I absolutely love - you know: "Albums-you'd-take-with-you-if-you-were-going-to-be-stranded-on-a-desert-island" -type. Yes, it is THAT good! It rocks from beginning to end. Sure, there's ballads included, but they "fit" in with the rest of the album - no need to ever skip any tracks.
"Attitude" was an appropriate title for this album as they definitely had it going on here.
I was highly disappointed when I bought "Frigate" after this album - hoping for "Attitude 2" but it didn't match up for me no where near. I've read the raving reviews for "Frigate", I don't know, maybe I'll have to go back and give it another chance after all these years.
Anyway, buy "Attitude", you won't be disappointed!

There are some songs on this album that flat out stomp ass.

That's Love, Better Slow Down, Here's Looking At You Kid, Emotional Dreams, It Hurts, Strange Kind of Love, all kick major amounts of buttocks. The rest is good too, although I think the track listing could have been better. Regardless, it's worth owning.