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"We like symbols
and for us the raven is much more symbolic of what we are now than
what we were a year or two ago. At that time, we were really in the
sewer. The raven is more like an element of going ahead in one
direction. It's a guiding navigation for a ship - and its also very
European" Hugh Melody Maker 8.9.79
"Cruelly denied the Number One slot when an
administrative cock-up at the UK chart returns office credited
thousands of album sales to The Police, 1979's The Raven found tuneful toughnuts The Stranglers
striding purposefully away from the faltering punk scene with a
renewed artistic agenda and a head full of hard drugs. A new
direction and an overhauled musical vocabulary (gone was the growly
bass and the organ, in came futuristic keyboard sounds, odd time
signatures, intricate arrangements and extended instrumental
passages) The Raven--as perennially acknowledged by the
band's large and dutifully black-garbed cult following--is The
Stranglers magnum opus.
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