In 81/82 Raven where together with Accept my favorite live bands. We used to follow them around though Holland. Belgium and a part of Germany. I still love their
"Rock until your drop"
"Wiped out" [this album smokes]
"All for One"
"Live at the Inferno"
I have all their singels and their EP from those days.
Anything from those days is really good!
But with the release of "Stay Hard" they fucked up.
They tried to get big easy and quick in the US and failed miserably!
Justice was done however. Around 1984 quite a few good bands lost it because they went commercial on their fans. Anvil was one of them. Well, it hurt the band more then it did their fans. Although I was very dissapointed when Raven took to this road.
With Wiped out they discovered new way to mix speed and technique. I had hoped they would have worked this out a bit more. On their singles and their EP "Crash! Bang! Wallop!" they were a bit more experimental. That all dissapeared when "Stay Hard" was released.
John and Mark used to be friends of me. I have only seen them once since they left for the US in 1984. I still feel bad for them. They could have been very great if they stayed the course.