Raven

i know they have this cover in 3D on an album. I'm not sure if they have it on cds. IF YOU have the chance, check out the 3D cover. As in regards to the cd, outstanding!

Came exactly as it was described THAAANKS

love it

I bought this album at the behest of Martin Popoff, the Canadian Music Journalist, because he said it was one of the creepiest albums he had ever heard. The Stranglers 1979 album The Raven. Self-produced by the band. The original 1500 copies had a lenticular cover making it 3D. That has long since been out of print. Not sure why anyone cares. There's a picture of a raven on the front. Wow. The opening tack is the instrumental Longships (hence the band pic on the back of the album). The title trace is steeped in Norse mythology. Dead Los Angeles is a fun look at Hugh Cornwell's impressions from visiting the U.S. There's no guitar (ala Spinal Tap) only bass by Cornwell and Burnel. Apparently, he went to the La Brea tarpits. Ice is about Japanese ritual suicide. It's great. Very upbeat and chipper in an odd way. Stylistically, this album is all over the place. The production sounds amazing. So clean. Baroque Bordello starts off with moody organ. It's intricate and gorgeous. I guess it's sort of creepy. Not really. For a proto-punk/new wave band, these guys could play and create a simple groove that takes you over. The late Dave Greenfield sizzles on this album. Nuclear Device (The Wizard Of Aus) is about Jon Bjelke-Petersen, a corrupt politician from Australia who did all kinds of hinky things. Fun song. Shah Shah A Go Go is about the Iranian Revolution. Remember the Shah of Iran? He kinda looked like Ricardo Montauban I do. The whole Ayatollah thing who became the face of evil in America. It's not my fav song. Sort of silly and plodding and shrill in spots. Don't Bring Harry is about heroin. I guess that The Stranglers did their fair share of H. Dreary, for sure. That's the trouble when Harry's around... Duchess is a great song. Apparently the video got banned by the BBC because the band were dressed as choirboys. Touchy BBC? I guess that was blasphemous? Straight-ahead rocker. Meninblack is weird. The band were into UFOs and conspiracy theories and such so there you have it. I don't dig voice-changed vocals but this is tongue-in-cheek odd. Genetix ends the original album, then you get some bonus tracks. Overall, Martin Popoff doesn't know what creepy is. This album is awesome but I didn't get the creepy vibe from it. The Stranglers are one of those UK bands that had it going on back in the late 70s with music that really was a cut above what everyone else were doing. They're still around but they've never been hugely successful. It nearly criminal. This album is from 1979. It destroys. Dig it!

From the opening tracks, "Longships" and "The Raven" to the closing track of the one and only "Genetix", it is one great album. I really loved the original front cover art as it was a 3D picture of the Raven. But, time passes and so do great album covers. Back to the music content, there is a big difference from the previous album, "Black and White", to this album. Although from album there had been changes musically, there was one remaining underlying ingredient - PUNK. Their music was always great as they had the opera house classical flavour as another constant. Up to this point this was the most classical album, then so on. Anyway, I need to get this one again as I do not have some of those bonus tracks that appear here. Again, another fantastic album by The Stranglers and when Hugh Cornwell left the group, I only liked the first album they di "Stranglers In The Night".

‘The Raven' is an amazingly sophisticated work from a major, commercially established UK act, tho it does bring to an end The Stranglers as a rock music worth bothering with - i.e. pre-stale ('Feline' the nadir). It's as if the artistic strain of knocking it together pretty much bled them dry.But good way to go! Apart from his so-so 'Genetix' - end blot . . again - 'The Raven' is Dave Greenfield's show. A little drunken piano here, coils of teeming string-synth there . . wee bloke's inspired all over the thing. Straights Burnell and Cornwell do well to hang on to his coat-tails as he wafts us off into an inky, arty, psychedelic hangover.Highlights? 'Shah Shah A Go-Go' deserves a shout; long Greenfield outro sounding like some feral dog suffering in the desert. The title track, a colossal piece of ebbing white layering. And 'Don't Bring Harry', an almost unbearable threnody to the seductiveness of evil analgesics.A career footnote, maybe, but it's difficult not to fall for 'The Raven' - mysterious and intriguing throughout - over and over again.

Stranglers' fans usually view one of three albums as the group's best- Rattus, Black and White or the Raven. Each have their merits. Rattus was the group's aggressive debut, which sounds a bit dated today. Black and White was the most coherent Stranglers' offering- they had developed a very distinctive Doors-inspired punk sound by then. The Raven marked the beginning of a new musical direction. It is very diverse ranging from a soft ballad to powerful anthems. The Stranglers were always a cut above in terms of the subject matter of their songs- no time wasted on silly love songs. Cannibalism, extra-terrestrials, nuclear testing, Japanese forms of suicide, Vikings, Iranian politics and Genetic Engineering all feature here. Ironically so too does a song denouncing heroin (guitarist Hugh Cornwell was arrested for possession of the drug shortly afterwards). The group's musicianship never reached a higher level than here. With the bass, guitar and keyboards all vying to be lead instrument it is amazing how well they end up complementing each other. This is an absolute must for anyone interested in the group.

Many years after purchasing this on vinyl with its striking 3D sleeve,I bought a used CD( at a bargain price)..The first thing to say about this regular 'fan favourite' is its unusual duality- being(after their debut) their most consistent sounding & structured, I think it was their most experimental ,lyrically & musically varied ,textured & forward looking but still contemporary sounding. 1979 was an important year for the band, after being pushed by UA to rush release the patchy 'No More Heroes', their divisive 'us & them' stance along with the cold sound production of 'Black & White' & a 'biding time' average 'live' lp. While still having a large following they seemed to be increasingly dependent on high quality singles to keep them in the general publics awareness, tho the recent '5 Mins' was possibly the weakest 7" they had released..while JJ Burnel had been engaged in recording solo... Surprisingly with these pressures the bands general outlook seemed more positive & 'The Raven' reflected that & brought in a few changes- Out with the misogyny, & unfocused aggression & the liberal/Journalist baiting ploys, JJ & Greenfield chipping in on the vocals,an instrumental opener, Greenfields continued use of synth sound fx (& piano), a wider range of percussion & a few songs dealing with a range of subjects including a 'world view' that didn't shy from engaging in various forays into politics + an ode to/or warning regarding Heroin. Of course There was still a few glimpses of the classic 'old' Stranglers - killer 'pop friendly' singles Duchess & 'Nuclear device,+ a heavy duty 12" release of 'Shah Shah a go-go / Bear Cage(one of the 4 extra tracks) , JJs bass led groove on 'Dead loss Angeles' & an epic closing number with 'instrumental break' in 'Genetix'....With its Norse imagery & much more it was no surprise that respected music critic Dave McCulloch gave it 5stars & other music papers were mostly positive...The other extras are the b sides of Duchess & Nuclear Device-yellowcake', that showed they may have been aware of the 'post punk' bands & JJs sung in French version(soon to become a regular occurance) of 'Harry (rather lovely) & almost a 'trial run'for 'Golden Brown' in structure & its subject matter...Sound quality on this CD excellent ,as good as the original vinyl...a bonus on the CD is it comes with a good cover/bookletThere is a more recent CD edition of this lp with a couple more extra tracks - none essential in my view .So this older CD is available at good prices & it's certainly worth considering for old fans,new fans or those that just want to hear an interesting CD ,from a group that released some good records but I feel have been rather overlooked...

Excellent and diverse album that really stands out from their later stuff - a bit poppier (with Duchess and Nuclear Device) than Black and White yet also with some great weirdness - you can see why Keith Floyds 'theme' came from thercatalogue though 'waltzinblack' isn't on this album

Arrived on time ,had this Album back in the day on vinyl with lenticular Raven ,wish I'd kept , good Stranglers CD 😀👍

The Raven is the very Genesis of change for The Stranglers. It always reminds me of the beginnig of a crossover album, making way for more pop music inspired songs for the future.Change is sometimes a good thing, and one plus point on this album is that it still included the songwriting skills and very presence of Hugh Cornwell.Buy this album because it's actually good. Buy it also because this was the last album The Stranglers made before someone switched the engine off.

The Stranglers were probably the most musical of punk bands and this album typified that. Most of the instrumental sections (and there are quite a lot on here) are just wonderful but the vocal parts are as always something of a mixed bag. The highlight is the title track which is just fantastic from start to finish with the half whispered vocals blending perfectly with the dream like swirling keyboards.