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In late '70s England, swept by punk fever, this vinyl with a disturbing cover appeared on store shelves among the new releases. A black crow, bearer of ominous prophecies, surveys the horizon searching for who knows what. The time machine takes us to 1979. They are the Stranglers, and they have little to do with punk.
Their previous three albums had showcased a band that deviated from the typical "two chords and go" sound, gradually moving towards a much more electronic sound, with a recurring use of keyboards. The Raven is the fourth chapter in the career of these four Englishmen and also represents their masterpiece.
The group finally finds its balance, its maturity, understanding above all that it is better to focus on what they really want to do, rather than relentlessly seeking hit parade success. The result is an album that is very original, often with controversial sounds, imbued with an ambiguous charm.
The welcome is entrusted to the short and instrumental "Longships," a prelude to the oblique allure of the title-track. A martial, relentless, and obsessive rhythm is accompanied by an insolent guitar and electronic flourishes. Immediately thereafter, a synth makes its appearance, sketching out a memorable riff, the kind that gets into your head and won't leave, even at the risk of becoming annoying. A little masterpiece. "Dead Los Angeles" is even more obsessive with its hypnotic rhythm, a worthy forerunner to another masterpiece, the robotic "Ice." A keyboard motif creates an atmosphere that is icy and terrifying at the same time. The beauty is that this isn't a dark record, with all the typical stereotypes of that movement; there are no theatrical performances à la Bauhaus, no chants à la Siouxie, nor any pagan visions à la Virgin Prunes. The "Stranglers" use a much more subtle technique to terrorize, more cerebral and therefore more effective. How consciously is a matter for debate, but the fact remains that the album sounds like this. The seductive electronics of "Baroque Bordello" are emblematic, imbued with a hidden sense of fear, of impending tragedy. "Nuclear Device" slightly eases the tension, promptly reestablished by the sinister piano of "Don't Bring Harry," another masterpiece of suspense, this time less veiled, but still damnably fascinating. And if "Duchess" is the only concession to AOR, the only truly "sunny" track of the lot, the subsequent "Maninblack" is the exact opposite. The four Englishmen finally lay their cards on the table, unleashing an electronic funeral march, loaded with effects (including on the vocals), with terrifying synth bursts and macabre guitar riffs. Yet another, and this time final, masterpiece.
Overlooked by many, if not all, The Raven is a hidden gem of the entire new wave, and therefore even more delightful to rediscover. The group would never again reach such heights, but the black crow they delivered to history was one of pedigree.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 The Raven (05:12)
Fly Straight With Perfection
Find Me A New Direction
You Never Realised The Things They Say
We'll Never Realise Until We're Dead
The Fires They Burn Along The Coast Of Triumphs
The Ebony Embittered Souls Of Children
We'll Seek Another Way Before Too Long
But Will You Stop My Wind Before I'm Gone
And When You Find Me All Alone
Your World Has Never Been My Own
And When You Find Me
And When You Find Me All Alone
Your World Has Never Been My Own
My Friend Your Black And When You Fly You're Wild
I Am White Sometimes I Behave Just Like A Child
The Northern Seas Are Cold But They're Our Own
We'll Sail Your Southern Seas Before Too Long
When I Was A Viking
My Friend He Was The Raven
06 Nuclear Device (03:28)
I'm the wizard of aus
And I've got it all planned
For my first nuclear device
I don't really care about which way you vote
'Cos my gerrymander works out fine
I sell desert stretches like a big rubber glove
To Japan for a nuclear device
Nuclear device
Nuclear device
Nuclear device
If I could get lucky I'd secede from the states
I'd buy the country at an incredible rate
Brisbane men stay at home at night
'Cos I outlawed all of the vice (outlawed all of the vice)
I'm the wizard of aus
And I've rolled the streets
Dreaming of a nuclear device (nuclear device)
If I could get lucky I'd go out on my own
And sell Australia the rice (rest of aus' their rice)
Nuclear device
Nuclear device
Nuclear device
If I could get lucky I'd secede from the states
I'd buy the country at an incredible rate
If I could get lucky I'd secede from the states
I'd buy the country at an incredible rate
If I could get lucky I'd secede from the states
I'd buy the country at an incredible rate
at an incredible rate
at an incredible rate
at an incredible rate
at an incredible rate
at an incredible rate
at an incredible rate
at an incredible rate
at an incredible rate
Way down under Australia (Australia)
Very different from over here (Australia)
Getting rid of Abo's one by one (Australia)
Buy cheap land for uranium (Australia)
It reminds me of Sweden (Australia)
All the animals look so strange (Australia)
All victims of a testing range (Australia)
Of a testing range (Australia)
Of a testing range (Australia)
Of a testing range (Australia)
Of a testing range (Australia)
Of a testing range (Australia)
09 Duchess (02:29)
Duch of the terrace never grew up
I hope she never will
Broken down TV sits in the corner
Picture's standing still
Standing still
Duch of the terrace knows all her heritage
Says she's Henry's kid
Knows all the history in her family
Needs a man, God forbid!
God forbid!
And it sounds like an empty house
Standing still
And it's quieter than a mouse
Standing still
Duch of the terrace never grew up
I hope she never will
Says she's an heiress, sits in her terrace
Says she's got time to kill
Time to kill
And the Rodney's are queuing up
God forbid!
And they all want to win the cup
God forbid!
Duchess - Duchess
Duchess - Duchess
Duchess - Duchess
And the Rodney's are queuing up
God forbid!
And the Rodney's are queuing up
God forbid!
And the Rodney's are queuing up
God forbid!
10 Meninblack (04:48)
We're not here to destroy
We are here to employ
We have come to make you function
So we can eat you at our functions
We are the meninblack
We are the meninblack
We are the meninblack
Information can destroy
So we'll treat you just like toys
Healthy livestock so we can eat
Human flesh is porky meat hee hee heeeeeeeeeeeeeee ...
We are the meninblack
We are the meninblack
We are the meninblack
We don't approve of artificial food
We grow you for our own good
First we gave you the wheel
Then we made you live to kill
So the best stock will survive
We eat you all alive
We are the meninblack
We are the meninblack
We are the meninblack
We are the meninblack
We are the meninblack
We are the meninblack
We are the meninblack
We are the meninblack
We are the meninblack
We are the meninblack
11 Genetix (05:14)
See the little nuclei
Bursting full of information
There's a need to regulate
Bring it down to cells and plasma
Tell you what they're gonna do
Started doing it already
Got to find something new
Looking for it in genetix
Found a new game to play
Think it's impossible to lose
Messing round at playing God
Easy way to play genetix
Gene regulation
"The first law of Segregation
States that any gamete male
Or female can carry the
Determinant gene of only one
Pair of alternative characteristics.
The second law of free assortment
States that in a cross involving
One pair of alternative characteristics,
The characteristics will segregate
In the second filial generation,
In the relative proportions of
9, 3, 3, 1"
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