Reissue label Raven Records-Australia

Went to visit their website today, and it was gone. Is this a temporary glitch or are they defunct?
www.ravenrecords.com.au
I hope not.

 

Closed. Was reported locally back in April but presumably the site kept going until stock was sold.

 

I tried to order a couple of George Jones Raven comps a few months back. Heard no reply with several attempts. Got them elsewhere.

They were a quality reissuer

 

Wow. I thought they were going to be here for a while. They made a run for several years. They released some great cds that'll likely never be released here in the States. The quality was hit and miss, but they will be missed. They seemed to keep releasing new reissues up to the end.

What happened?

 

They rescued an obscure Captain and Tennille album a few years ago. They seemed very genuine in keeping obscure music alive.

 

That's too bad. The did some nice reissues/compilations that I have in my collection (Fleshtones, Lime Spiders, Screaming Tribesmen).

 

The Joe South twofers are essential discs, BTW. Unfortunately if you missed out on these discs, you will now have to pay big bucks.

 

I have no idea what is going to happen with Raven now, but I do know that when it was established in 1979, Raven considered itself the Aussie equivalent of Rhino, Charly, Line and Edsel. They prided themselves on releasing material that was somewhat too "collector" orientated for the major record companies.

Back in the eighties they were great for getting obscure Aussie music, be it on compilations or straight album reissues. They also had an international catalogue, but the Aussie reissues were where it was at.

Starting from the CD era they branched exponentially into overseas artists, losing their Aussie roots somewhat (IMHO). I understand this was a necessity as they simply weren't making money off the Aussie stuff anymore, especially as other players like Aztec, Ascension, Canetoad, Brent James and the myriad "Aussie Hits of the 60s/70s" compilers started mining the same well. To be honest, I thought it quite bold as I could never see Raven seriously competing with overseas labels releasing the same stuff, although I did consider their "cross label" compilations second to none. But who outside of Australia really knew they existed until the last few years? And even then, who thought they were a "real" label?

I thought things were grim when I started seeing old Raven titles repackaged with new artwork and sound, like the Tremeloes comp at least three times. Yet, oddly, they never revisited "Magic Box", which I really thought was telling.

Keep in mind that Kevin and Peter have been there since 1979. Perhaps it was just time to move on?

@Mylene - would be keen on your memories?

 

That's too bad. I had some of their albums on CD. I really liked some of the obscure stuff they put out.

 

The Gene Clark compilation, American Dreamer, issued by Raven, is probably one of the most important albums I ever purchased.

 

I also have Raven's Bobbie Gentry An American Quilt compilation which is still one of the most thorough best of compilations of her legacy.

 

Darn! I just picked up their Louvin Brothers CD, very solid. Their Del Shannon retrospective features several great songs not otherwise available on CD, and I believe they offer the only cross-licensed Flamin' Groovies compilation.

 

Darn shame, I've got the Del collection, and quite a few others. That Del set is great, 61-91 collection, decent double cd boxset as well.
It's really the only career retrospective I have other than some odds and ends, but it covers the hits, and some great rarities.
'Kelly' live is about my favourite song.

 

for those who don't know, they did a bunch of vinyl E.P releases from about 1978 onwards in Australia.
It was mainly a label then bringing Aussie hit records together on E.P's that had been unavailable
for many years from the 60's. some of these acts only had say 3 or so hit songs, so it became a convenient way
to reissue them on vinyl which were at 33/3 speed and contained 6 songs on some, well the one's I have anyway....
they are pretty collectable now as each issue was issued as a 1000 unit only, each numbered individually.

 

Being from Melbourne, I had heard of them. I own their Johnny Darrell CD - had never heard of him before buying it, finding it by accident - very enjoyable. The others I have are the Nancy Sinatra comp LIGHTNING'S GIRL, a Willie De Ville title and one of the Joe South twofers. I knew about the Gene Clark comp and will keep an eye out for that.

 

I have a quite a few of their reissues on vinyl...

Sad news really

 

for our friends not in Australia, one of the E.P. releases on vinyl was from a Melbourne
girl named Betty McQuade. She did a couple of John D. Loudermilk tunes, including
by all accounts, his favourite version of his song 'Midnight Bus'.
( I think it is stated in one of the 'bear family' discs)
She also covered 'Blue Train'. She had a few great records down here.
Raven Records produced one of these E.P's that included those plus 'tongue tied'
and a couple others that I can't think of off the top of my head.
if you care to listen:

 

and it's wonderful b-side:

A quite rare and expensive record 'down under' to find in good condition.
Both the original Astor 45 and the Raven E.P.

 

Their first releases were 33rpm EPs of Aussie artist, some of which I'd never heard of, like The Missing Links, The Purple Hearts and The Throb. They also put out an ultra lo fidelity EP of The Easybeats first recording session. The next batch of EPs featured The Pink Finks and contained an unreleased song. When they got into LPs they reissued the EPs and put out a series on Aussie garage bands called Ugly Things that was like the Nuggets and Rubble series from the US and UK except that it blew both of them out of the water. They also managed to licence tracks from multiple labels on the same LP so their Animals, Yardbirds and Lesley Gore compilations were streets ahead of what was available overseas. The three guys who set up the label got other experts involved so Scarce Saints had sleeve notes by world Saints expert Clinton Walker and another album had a cover by cult artist Philip Brophy. When they started getting into CDs things looked good as they expanded some of their LPs and always attempted 70+ minutes playing time. Their main problem was the major labels had access to unreleased tracks and alternate takes that Raven couldn't possibly even know existed.

Stuff I like: All volumes of Ugly Things, Kicks, reissues of Magic Box, The Missing Links and In Sect a Sides, Songs of Salvation by The Saints (which includes the post Ed K stuff), Let's Start the Party Again (Lesley Gore), The Exciters LP, Richard Harris~ The Webb Session 68-69, Glen Campbell~ Jimmy Webb Songs 67-92 and lots more.



Ugly Things Vol 3. Cover : Philip Brophy

 

I forgot to mention the great LPs they put out by Merv Benton and Lynne Randall. Essential purchases for Aussie 60s fans.

 

Yes! Merv Benton!. I think I have 2 of those Raven Cd's.

 

I just gave my 'Ray Brown and the Whispers' E.P a spin. Great stuff right there!
Ray Brown & The Whispers - 20 Miles

 

They reissued some RCA era Nina Simone many years ago, when hardly anybody cared about it. More recently got their nice Jerry Reed compilation too, impossible to find much of him in England.

 

Raven Records
Geeeeeez! I saw a lot of these at the time of their releases,
darn I wished I had picked more of them up now....

 

Raven 1984 catalogue (mine)...