November 1995 - The CRADLE Demo (Cassette Only)

Way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, we managed to assemble ourselves at Lemmy's Studio's to hammer out some tunes that would eventually become "The Cradle Demo". Only 6 tracks, but certainly improved quality over the "AVE Demo". Of course being the stone age, this was only ever released on cassette since digital media was in it's infancy. The demo tape features 6 tracks, the title track "Cradle" and "A Serpents Tale" being fairly recent additions to the repetoire at that point. This demo was somewhat widely distributed and generally very well received by fans and critics alike. Due to limited quantities, if you have one of these, consider it a collectors item.
Original cover artwork supplied by the great Arthur Brigg, and dedicated to our friend Simon Knight who awaits our arrival in Valhalla. Hail brother!
Larger scan of cover and foldout sleeve with lyrics and credits can be found here.

A bit of Raven Wolf trivia for you:

A VERY long time ago, long before camera phones, digital photography, youtube, facebook etc. Most people had never heard of the internet, and one was VERY lucky to know someone with a CD-Burner. (No such thing as a DVD-Burner in those days) I had the idea to make an "official" super-ultra rare limited edition bootleg CD of Raven Wolf tracks. In similar vein to the Limited Edition T-Shirts (also individually signed and bearing the original RW logo). With the help of super-fan Wilhelm, I assembled a few songs of "significance" in some way or another and 5 CD's were produced. Each one 5 autographed by ALL 5 Raven Wolf members. Unfortunately (or fortunately) delays in cover design saw the project perpetually shelved, but over a decade later the mighty Wilhelm managed to produce all 5 of them still in MINT condition - a kind of "time capsule" if you like of an era long forgotten. Tracks range from a classic "live speed" version of "Laughing in my Grave", complete with missing lyrics and Diccons LEGENDARY bass lines! To ALL the tracks recorded for the "never released Stage Demo". It was recorded on the 40 hours of recording time we won at the "Battle of the Bands", but due to a dispute over the time spent recording, the masters were ultimately witheld and the demo (which a LOT of work went into at the time) was never released. However - an enterprising individual (who may not wish to be named) managed to procure a copy direct off the master very near the end of the mixing process, so although it's still a bit rough we were ultimately not robbed of the effort invested after all. Remember folks this was the days of reel-to-reel, there was no Pro-tools yet...
Tracks 11 - 13 (downloadable below) were recorded at SABC's studio in Sea Point for the "Willards" (?) Talent Festival or whatever it was called. The tracks were later mixed (by them) to sound as if they were performed live. And although we DID perform these tracks live at the event itself which was held at the Auditorium at the V&A Waterfront, the tracks on the "official" CD release were actually recorded at the SABC studio's in Sea Point, Cape Town. I recall some VERY impressive drumming and mixing equipment over there. Almost made it worthwhile hanging around there all day for our "turn".