allowed to branch out on this disc. In all, it's an album which will please Slade's still huge army of fans, both for its fidelity to the Slade sound and for its inventiveness and freshness." In May 1980, Jon Young of New York magazine Trouser Press reviewed the album and stated: "On Return to Base, seven of the eleven cuts connect in every possible way, for a batting average of .636. If it had been released in 1973, the classic "Nuts, Bolts and Screws" would've easily topped the UK charts. Okay, there's nothing here quite as wonderful as "Cum On Feel the Noize". But whose fault is that? This kind of music isn't meant for a vacuum! It's meant to be enjoyed! Give Slade some encouragement! You will be glad that you did!!" The album was voted No. 2 of the top three Slade albums in the Slade Fan Club Poll of 1979. Legacy and later reviews In mid-1980, by which point the band were on the verge of disbanding, the band were offered to appear at Reading Festival in August 1980 in a last minute call-up. The band only had a couple of their road crew to help them on the day. Jim Lea recalled "We had to pay to park in the public area. With no roadies, we had to carry our own gear and there was even trouble getting into the backstage area." Despite the failure of Return to Base and the band's lack of success, the performance at the festival was a success and the band became popular once again. As a result of this success, several tracks from the album which the band considered the strongest reappeared on the band's next album, We'll Bring the House Down (1981), which successfully rejuvenated the band's successes, both critically and commercially. A retrospective review from AllMusic noted that Return to Base "marks Slade's low ebb in terms of popularity and morale", and were mixed in their reception to the album, rating it two stars out of five and noting the album was "certainly not a high point for the band, but they kept on keepin' on, no matter how bad things got. Secure in the knowledge that practically no one had ever heard the thing, Slade eventually redid the record as We'll Bring the House Down, a fully realized project." In early 2010, Classic Rock considered the album