The Raven (The Stranglers album)

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The Raven

Studio album by The Stranglers
Released	September 21, 1979
Genre	Rock, New Wave
Length	mm:ss
Label	United Artists
Producer(s)	Alan Winstanley, The Stranglers
All Music Guide link
The Stranglers chronology
Live (X Cert) (1979)	The Raven (1979)	The Gospel According to The Meninblack (1981)

The Raven is an album by The Stranglers, released in 1979. The album contained a few surprises: the opener is an instrumental, there is a song of just vocals and piano accompaniment, and the song "Duchess" was surprisingly poppy. The album was originally released with a limited edition 3-D cover. A further limited edition was inadvertently created when the band was forced to remove an image of Joh Bjelke-Petersen from the inner sleeve artwork. Petersen was the subject of the album's sixth track: "Nuclear Device".

[edit] Track listing

"Longships"
"The Raven"
"Dead Loss Angeles"
"Ice"
"Baroque Bordello"
"Nuclear Device"
"Shah Shah A Go Go"
"Don't Bring Harry"
"Duchess"
"Meninblack"
"Genetix"
"Bear Cage" - CD Bonus Track
"Fools Rush Out" - CD Bonus Track
"N'Emmenes Pas Harry" - CD Bonus Track
"Yellowcake UF6" - CD Bonus Track

It is often said that this album is steeped in Nordic imagery. Whilst this is true of much of the artwork (the band is shown standing on the prow of a viking longship) and the first two songs, the album deals with a variety of issues including: Japanese ritual suicide ("Ice"); heroin use ("Don't Bring Harry") and the Iranian Revolution ("Shah-Shah-a-go-go"). Track 9, "Duchess", was the first, and most successful, single from the album despite the video - which showed the band as choir boys - being banned by the BBC because they considered it blasphemous. Track 10, "Meninblack", notably ended up becoming the starting point for their next album, The Gospel According to The Men in Black.