Finally a RAVEN post, you may say. Being one of the flagships of the first wave of the NWOBHM, UK’s RAVEN had started out as early as in 1974 already and developed a style that would lay down the first stepping stones for what a few years later morphed into Speed Metal (the lads called it Athletic Rock, haha). It’s not so much the speed of the drumming but rather the hectic singing and the wild guitar work. There’s really a whole lot going on in the background, if you follow the guitars. Quite a novelty for a 1980 Metal band! “Don’t need your Money” is the sing along track on the band’s first vinyl output, but “Wiped Out” is the hit. What a song!
RAVEN were a bit too hectic for me in the old days, I must admit. I bought all their records until “All for one” but rarely ever played them and in the end, I sold them along with most of my Metal records in the mid 80s. So when I saw this on Ebay last week, it seemed like a good chance to pick it up again. The description said something like “as new” and I could personally pick up all the records I won from the same guy. Silly me. Instead of taking a close look on what I bought, I had a little chit-chat with the guy who turned out to be a late-comer (I had expected him to be older & wiser & stronger). The first attempt of getting the records had miserably failed: I rode through heavy rain on the bike, when after 20 miles I ran out of motor oil. I had to leave the bike in some weird dump and jump on the train to get me back home. So I tried again the day after. It was a nice but long and cold ride until I was finally home with the records. It almost felt like 25 years ago, when I would ride through ice storms on my mom’s moped to the local record store, which was about a hour away. It never stopped me, however hard the rain was pouring down. One time, my finger tips froze so badly, I had to go to the emergency cause me fingers had turned blue by the time I had come home. If memory serves, it was the day VENOM’s “Die hard” 7″ was released. My mom had to put it on the turntable for me (okay, that’s a lie, but it sounds really good).
Back home I took a superficial look at the batch I won Ebay and enthusiastically left positive feedback. I was home safe, opened a good bottle of french wine and felt cosy and totally regressive, so why not just give the guy some good score for bringing me so much pleasure. What kind of a fool am I, really. You can imagine how pissed off I was when I played this RAVEN single and realized it was totally beat up. And the next surprise was: The guy sold me the bootleg of the AVATAR 7″ I had been re-hunting so long. Total bummer!
So here we go with RAVEN and a fine example of how dumb Metal really makes you. It’s a great record, but I somehow can’t enjoy it as much as I wish. Boring sissy story, I know. But to say it with Ian MacKaye: “And what the fuck have you done?!”
Don’t need your Money.mp3
Wiped out.mp3
27 Comments
It does sound beat up, I agree
Never could get into the secret of Raven. It’s hectic and weird in a way. I don’t understand this band. But the story was great as always. I’ll join you on a bike tour next summer if you want 
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PS: I played the new METALLICA again becuase of your playlist. First listen was disapointing but you may be right about it. Maybe it’s really good with time!
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I still have all my old Raven records (up until All For One), but lost interest after that. That said, after seeing them play recently (almost exactly a quarter century after last seeing them), I’m going to have to go get their more recent releases. On stage, they were just as fantastic as they were back in the eighties.
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Telecaster????? Liked this one! Wiped out, Yesss!
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I always passed these guys over for reasons I can no longer remember but this record is good stuff. All Metal should sound like this and the Metal Gods frown on those who don’t feel likewise.
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A boot of the Avatar single !!! Go back you know where that guy lives.
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all for one is one of my favs by them… never had any interest in them after that.
I love the early 7″s. They look so punk.
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Totally rocks! One of the few hard rock/metal bands I liked when my long haired friends tried to force me into the herds of headbangers.
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The last thing you said sounds so extremely lascivious, Peter, it makes me feel cold and hot at the same time.
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The summer between seventh and eight grade in school I only played Ravens debut and they still rule!
Long live Raven!
PS I also like the new Metallica, their best since MoP.
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Holy shit! I thought I was having a Ted Nugent flashback with this one. Sorry..I am trying. I couldn’t get past the beginning screech that the singer let out at the beginning of the song. That was funny!
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You really got your shit together, Jay, haha.
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I am trying…believe me. I am sure one day there will be a “metal” record that will just floor me.
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Jay: Try Aragorn and Blitzkrieg. On this blog too!
Fantastic record. The Ted Nugent comparison is totally off.
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Great blog dude! Request for Mob 47′s Kärnvapen Attack
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Hahahaha.
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Aragorn…not too bad. Blitzkrieg, not my cup of tea. I usually like my tea without the additives..hahaha
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Oh my gawd , Admin !!! You’re posting lots of H.M. stuff lately . Not my cup of tea , but surely the cup of tea of many others . I’ll sit pretty and wait for the REVENGE OF THE WHORES repost…
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For me, this is classic metal. I don’t find anything “amusing” about it at all! IT JUST R-O-C-K-S!!!
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Great blog dude! Request for Räserbajs-Knall i knalleland 7″!!
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i felt a distinct sense of relief the new metallica didnt totally suck which is weird because i thought i didnt care anymore.
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IMO this is right up there with the Blitzkrieg 7″. Thanks for posting this!
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Raven rule!!! Dont let these punk rockers tell you otherwise.I used to have a copy of Raven’s “Crash,Bang,Wallop!”12inch EP,I thought it actually sounded like punk rock,post more metal!!!
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Great Blog Dude!! Request for Snabb Tarmtömning-Berusad i BorÃ¥s 7″!!
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Wow, another memory flash. I remember the first Raven LP standing in the record stores back in the early 80′s, and I somehow never picked it up in the days before I joined the punk movement, after which buying metal records was not an option anymore anyway (except for Maiden who never left the one special spot in my heart that otherwise is only occupied by Zep and Slayer). Milk money was actually good for this 15-yr.-old, but still limited enough to not be able to buy anything that struck my fancy. So Raven had to stay on the shelf (along with Praying Mantis and Quartz and other stuff I have long forgotten – though I’m sure this blog will help my memory), I did get Vardis and Tygers of Pan Tang instead. Anyway, just got the first LP now… and it makes me a very happy fellow. Right, I can hear the roots of speed metal. No Nugent, though. But is it just me that sees Raven in a clear lineage with the great Sweet stuff (meaning “Teenage Rampage”, “Blockbuster” and of course the two gems Raven actually did cover, “Hellraiser” and “Action”) as opposed to the sucky Sweet stuff (meaning “Love Is Like Oxygen” where they actually treid to be a metal band). Sure, the riffs are heavier and busier (I really LOVE what the guitar does here), but the poppy textures and great melodies are so Sweet at times it hurts (in a good way). Anyway, a great find for me (and this coming from a guy, who, as I have been told by people with better memory than me, dissed the metal guys in a big way back in, err, 1985, I’d say). Thx, Erich.
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I remember in 1983 ( at 15 years old) I was listening to Metallica’s “Kill ‘Em All” (just bought it), I thought to myself, there has to be some other good Bands on this label (Megaforce), so I went to my local import METAL shop, I found a Band called Raven, the “All For One” LP, it was released on MEGAFORCE records here in the US. I took it home and was blown the F**K away, so I went back to the shop the very next day (Rabid) to see if Raven had any more LP’s available, there was “Rock Until You Drop” and “Wiped Out” both on NEAT records, I bought both, until this day I have never heard anything as raw and aggressive as the first 3 Raven LP’s and Raven has always lived up to that with their LIVE shows, the best LIVE Band I have ever seen til’ this day! Raven still shines to me like a Diamond amongst a bunch rocks, even though most people feel different until they end up seeing Raven live! Favorite Raven song: “Tyrant Of The Airways” John and Mark are Beasts!!
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Erich, I am having such a great time perusing your blog and re-discovering so many old gems from my youth. Raven especially brings back great memories. By the time I graduated from high school in 1982, my friends and I were into the more popular NWOBHM bands like Iron Maiden, Saxon and Motorhead and had discovered a few other obscure groups such as Tygers of Pan Tang and so forth. Our local record shop had a limited “Import” selection and money was tight (imports always costed a few dollars more) though, so much of the music eluded our grasp outside of the pictures and text in Kerrang magazine.
The following Fall I travelled to college and was fortunate to be in the same dorm as a couple of metal fanatics from the Seattle area who turned me on to a whole new world of British bands — Angelwitch, Holocaust, Tank, Blitzkrieg and so many others. The band that really stuck in my head though was Raven with their wild, unbridled athletic rock, crazy screams, tremelo madness, etc. I’ll never forget the joy of bringing that music back to my old high school chums on my first holiday break, dropping the needle down on side 1 of “Rock Until You Drop” and watching how floored they were by the opening combo of “Hard Ride”/”Hell Patrol”.
Nice ‘stache on Wacko in the picture on the back of this 7″ by the way. Reminds me of recently when one of my old friends and I were in the car listening to music, getting ready to go to a concert. The subject of old bands came up and he pondered whatever happened to Rob Hunter. He assumed that too many cymbal blows to the head sans hockey helmet had eventually taken its toll and that he was broken down and desolate on the streets somewhere. Imagine his surprise when I relayed that Wacko was actually a fairly well known producer and had won a Grammy award!
Anyway, thanks again for posting all this great music. I managed to see Raven one time in concert (down in Portland during the summer of ’84 with Anthrax opening). They passed through the Northwest again last year on their 35th anniversary tour, but unfortunately I was not able to make the trip to Seattle to see them again.
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Admin Reply:
July 28th, 2011 at 19:06
And I can’t get enough of these comments, Dave! Keep em coming.
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