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On this day, 31 October 1979, punk icons The Stranglers played Cardiff’s Top Rank on their Raven tour. The band spent part of the afternoon signing copies of the recently released Raven album at Spillers Records, the world’s oldest surviving record store.
The Raven was the fourth studio album released by the band on the 15 September by their label United Artists reaching #4 in the UK charts.
The album was originally released with a limited-edition 3D cover. Another limited edition had to be created when the band was forced to remove an image of Joh Bjelke-Petersen from the inner sleeve artwork. Bjelke-Petersen was the subject of the album's sixth track, "Nuclear Device (The Wizard of Aus)".
"Duchess" was the first and most successful single from the album, released on 10 August 1979 and reaching No. 14 on the UK Singles Chart. "Nuclear Device (The Wizard of Aus)" was the second single released; this reached No. 36 on the same chart.
A four-track EP, "Don't Bring Harry", was released in November. In addition to the title track and a live version of "In the Shadows", it also included "Wired" (taken from Cornwell and Robert Williams' forthcoming album Nosferatu) and a live version of "Crabs" (a track from Burnel's solo album, Euroman Cometh). IIt reached No. 41.
The Stranglers
Hugh Cornwell – guitar, vocals, second bass ("Dead Loss Angeles")
Jean-Jacques Burnel – bass, vocals
Dave Greenfield – keyboards, vocals
Jet Black – drums
