RAVEN:ONE FOR ALL (1999)

What a great album. I forgot how good this album is. I didnt play it for many years but yesterday i did and i can not stop playing it. It was produced by the great MICHAEL WAGENER and he makes the songs sound like in the 80s. Very very good album. What do you guys think about this cd????

It's RAVEN. So of course I dig it. I'm a fanboy

I was lucky enough to see Raven here in New Jersey in 2000 when they were supporting this album, great show and I got to re-connect with John Gallagher, who I'd been in contact with via e-mail a couple of years previously, he is still the coolest metal mo-fo I've ever hung out with!!

I'm a Raven fanboy so I love it!

Great you guys are fanboys of RAVEN, me too but what do you think about this particular album?. Do you also think its better than the albums released after this one??. I think the production of Wagener makes this one special. Sound more mid 80s heavy metal.

^^ It was definitely a step up from the couple of CDs that preceded it (GLOW and EVERYTHING LOUDER)... both of them had their moments but ONE FOR ALL was definitely a return to form all the way around. I credit Michael Wagener for that... the band had been self-producing their stuff for a while before ONE FOR ALL, sometimes you need a knowledgeable producer to bring out your strengths.

Yes, a really good album ! I have the japanese version with the bonus track Big Fat Mama.

Fat Freddy wrote:

^^ It was definitely a step up from the couple of CDs that preceded it (GLOW and EVERYTHING LOUDER)... both of them had their moments but ONE FOR ALL was definitely a return to form all the way around. I credit Michael Wagener for that... the band had been self-producing their stuff for a while before ONE FOR ALL, sometimes you need a knowledgeable producer to bring out your strengths.

Yes, ONE FOR ALL is special thanks to Wagener i agree and the songs are just better than the ones on GLOW (for me a bad album) and EVERYTHING LOUDER that was not bad.

Quote :

GLOW (for me a bad album)

GLOW has a couple of decent tracks (esp. the Thin Lizzy cover!) but it's far from their best. If memory serves, it's more or less a bunch of demos pressed to CD (which might explain why the production sucks so bad... haha).

The band had no manager at the time and John G.'s house had just burned down so they'd lost a ton of instruments, equipment, and tapes of new songs they'd been working on, but they still had to put something out to satisfy their new record label... GLOW was basically the best they could do under those circumstances.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Quote :

GLOW (for me a bad album)

GLOW has a couple of decent tracks (esp. the Thin Lizzy cover!) but it's far from their best. If memory serves, it's more or less a bunch of demos pressed to CD (which might explain why the production sucks so bad... haha).

The band had no manager at the time and John G.'s house had just burned down so they'd lost a ton of instruments, equipment, and tapes of new songs they'd been working on, but they still had to put something out to satisfy their new record label... GLOW was basically the best they could do under those circumstances.

I didnt know about all this FAt Freddy, thanks for the info. Now i understand why it sounded like that. All the rest of RAVEN albums i like much more.

I live to share useless trivia.

Fat Freddy wrote:

^^ It was definitely a step up from the couple of CDs that preceded it (GLOW and EVERYTHING LOUDER)... both of them had their moments but ONE FOR ALL was definitely a return to form all the way around. I credit Michael Wagener for that... the band had been self-producing their stuff for a while before ONE FOR ALL, sometimes you need a knowledgeable producer to bring out your strengths.

See now I loved Glow! Thought it retained the Raven sound for the most part but was more melodic. I loved it. Everything Louder is good too, but I do agree that One for All was a return to form all the way around to their former glory.

I actually think Glow is a pretty decent album. Certainly not their worst ,that dishonor goes to The Pack Is Back (and there's even a couple songs on there I like).

ultmetal wrote:

See now I loved Glow! Thought it retained the Raven sound for the most part but was more melodic. I loved it. Everything Louder is good too, but I do agree that One for All was a return to form all the way around to their former glory.

I loved Glow at first too, but part of that came from the excitement of buying the CD directly from John Gallagher himself at a Raven live show. That was a nice surprise cuz I had no idea at the time that they'd even made a new record!

Over the years it's slipped into the middle ground of their discography for me. It doesn't suck, but it's not great either. The watery-sounding production kills much of it for me.

Although now that we're talking about it I may have to dust it off and give it a spin this weekend, it's been a while.

Quote :

Certainly not their worst ,that dishonor goes to The Pack Is Back (and there's even a couple songs on there I like).

Fanboy that I am, I'll defend some songs on Pack Is Back too (esp. "Rock Dogs," "Youngblood" and "Nightmare Ride")

007 wrote:

I actually think Glow is a pretty decent album. Certainly not their worst ,that dishonor goes to The Pack Is Back (and there's even a couple songs on there I like).

This!

I like THE PACK IS BACK.

krokus wrote:

I like THE PACK IS BACK.

A horrible abomination of an album forced upon the band by greedy record company executives who thought that Raven should go the route that Twisted Sister went. It didn't work and backfired on the band. They were growing in popularity up to that point and Pack is Back alienated their core fan base and failed to bring on the trendy pop metal crowd.

Quote John Gallager, "Eddie was pushed (by Atlantic Records) to make it even more commercial..so it was done & Atlantic basically did zilch to promote it….thanks a lot!"

Another good quote about John G. and the Pack Is Back debacle: "Atlantic Records didn't look at us for what we were. They looked at us for what we could be. They wanted us to be KISS meets Bon Jovi. Not a good thing."

...unfortunately, stuff like this was rampant w/the majors back then (and probably still is today). I never understood the point of signing a band and then asking them to change their sound. If you didn't like their original sound, then why'd you sign them?

I'm sure it happened at all majors but Atlantic seems to be most notorious for mishandling their metal roster. When I saw Testament in 1994 (touring for LOW, while they were still on Atlantic) Chuck Billy told a story onstage about someone from the label coming down while they were making the LOW record and asking if they could do a couple of songs that "sounded like Pearl Jam" so they could get them on the radio. Chuck sez "...of course, we told that guy to GET THE @#$% OUT OF OUR STUDIO!" and everyone cheered.

ultmetal wrote:

krokus wrote:

I like THE PACK IS BACK.

A horrible abomination of an album forced upon the band by greedy record company executives who thought that Raven should go the route that Twisted Sister went. It didn't work and backfired on the band. They were growing in popularity up to that point and Pack is Back alienated their core fan base and failed to bring on the trendy pop metal crowd.

Quote John Gallager, "Eddie was pushed (by Atlantic Records) to make it even more commercial..so it was done & Atlantic basically did zilch to promote it….thanks a lot!"

Well I don't think it's that bad at all, it may not sound much like Raven, but it still does have some very catchy tunes like Youngblood, Screamin Down The House and the title track. I look at it the same way I look at Accept: Eat The Heat.

I haven't owned a Raven album since the 80s, but I still remember "Hyperactive" from The Pack Is Back. Catchy as hell and a great Tower Of Power horn chart.

I LOVED THE PACK IS BACK when it was released. I had been a fan for only about 3 years, and still a teenager, and the catchiness of it all had me hooked.
I tried to absorb EVERYTHING THAT WAS METAL.
Some of the tracks of course made me question what they were doing, with songs that weren't their style, just like some of the "Stay Hard" Lp.

When discussing it with older metalheads, my guess was RAVEN were under pressure for an album or two, before they could return to their earlier style, and they shook their heads at me; I didn't understand how record companies worked.

The more I listened to thrash metal and HC the next couple years, then later on I could see the huge sell-out. Still, anyone who likes commercial heavy metal like Twisted Sister and KISS (like I did) those 2 albums are very easy to appreciate.

When the "MAD" mini LP came out, I went back to one friend and said "Aha! See! I was right! They are getting back to being heavy!" but he laughed and said no, it's too late.

"ONE FOR ALL" - I didn't know about it when released, never heard about it for years. I don't remember hearing 'or seeing anything about it on radio or tv. (I had stopped buying metal mags at the corner store in the 1980s).
It is still missing from my collection, but if it is as great as "ALL FOR ONE", then I need it.

Atlantic Records in the 80s and 90s was not the well-managed operation it once was and as FF mentioned they seemed especially clueless regarding their hard rock/metal roster. Sad considering the first rock band ever signed to Atlantic was Led Zeppelin (they had been primarily a jazz label until they signed them).

Wrathchild (America) had a hell of a time over Climbin' The Walls. The album had been recorded in 1987, but due to the lawsuit over the name it was delayed two years until 1989. By that point the band's sound had matured and they were much tighter, they begged Atlantic to let them re-record Climbin' The Walls (which they weren't happy with) and also replace a couple of the songs with newer compositions. Atlantic reportedly didn't want to spend the money and released the 1987 recordings.

Climbin The Walls still manages to be a killer album despite it's history. Scary to think what they might've done on a second pass. I always felt Atlantic records and the powers that be must've hated Baltimore for some reason. They ultimately gave Kix the shaft too.

I've always felt The Pack Is Back was one of the better "let's cash in and sell millions" attempts. At the time couldn't really blame anyone for trying. Too bad it alienated more fans than it gained. I still think it is a good record.

Big fan of One For All. It's also one of my favorite latter day t-shirt purchases too. Still break out that shirt frequently.

Glow is the only Raven I don't have. Hearing Freddy's story with the fire makes me want to move it up the wish list. I'll also add Walk Through Fire has never gotten enough love.

jstate wrote:

I always felt Atlantic records and the powers that be must've hated Baltimore for some reason. They ultimately gave Kix the shaft too.

They shafted KIX often, including during the recording of Blow My Fuse when the guitarists showed up at the studio to start recordings solos and found the studio locked...and session guitarists cutting solos instead.

ultmetal wrote:

krokus wrote:

I like THE PACK IS BACK.

A horrible abomination of an album forced upon the band by greedy record company executives who thought that Raven should go the route that Twisted Sister went. It didn't work and backfired on the band. They were growing in popularity up to that point and Pack is Back alienated their core fan base and failed to bring on the trendy pop metal crowd.

Quote John Gallager, "Eddie was pushed (by Atlantic Records) to make it even more commercial..so it was done & Atlantic basically did zilch to promote it….thanks a lot!"

Still, i like THE PACK IS BACK

The Pack is Back was where I parted company with Raven. Didn't even listen to it, just saw the cover and thought NOT FOR ME. (a bit shallow in retrospect but I was never a big fan)