COVEN Witchcraft Destroys Minds 1969 SATANIC PSYCH LP deluxe RE w/ NUDE CVR HEAR

$

72

COVEN "WITCHCRAFT DESTROYS MINDS & REAPS SOULS" LP

REISSUE OF 1970 LP ON THE AKARMA LABEL, STEREO

COVER IN NEAR MINT shape

VINYL plays NEAR MINT

The first song’s called “Black Sabbath.”  The bassist is Oz Osborne.  The group?  Coven.  Ha, see what I did there?  Thought you knew where this was going, and bam!  Threw you a curveball there.  It’s true, though, and it would be a little mysterious if it weren’t so Satanic.  Coven’s 1969 album Witchcraft Destroys Minds And Reaps Souls features a bassist named Oz Osborne and starts off with a song called “Black Sabbath.”  Weird, right?  Of course, so is the fact that it’s an entire album based on devil worship, the occult and witchcraft, and ends with a 13-minute spoken word Satanic Mass that would certainly light up a few holiday parties, or send folks fleeing for the doors while Ernest Borgnine’s face melts in the rain.  No, the star of this show is clearly 17-year-old blonde cheerleader and part-time goat-sacrificer Jinx Dawson, who leads Coven like Janis Joplin channeling a young Ann Wilson back when she wasn’t the size of a small European nation.  Jinx was the real deal, apparently, growing up in a family of occult worshippers (and opera singers) in Indianapolis, Indiana (don’t laugh, their football logo is the shoe of a cloven hoof), and she closed each live show with a rallying cry of “Hail Satan!” (but then, so did the Bee Gees).  She was hot, though, and that’s probably why she got away with it.  The album itself has drawn flak for two reasons.  One, the inside gatefold shows a naked girl about to be sacrificed on a Satanic altar (supposedly not Jinx, but yeah right, wink wink, it sure looks like her).  And two, when Charles Manson was photographed holding the Coven album under his arm, well, that didn’t sit well with the record company, so they pulled all remaining copies off the shelves.  Which is why originals are so rare now.  Well, that and the naked chick.

So, you’re probably asking yourself right now between readings of Anton LaVey, is it really all that scary?  Well, it ain’t Black Sabbath.  And it ain’t Morbid Angel either.  Coven does have all the acid rock theatrics of early Alice Cooper, though, with male/female vocal interplay that recalls Jefferson Airplane.  You can tell Jinxie came from an opera background – the way she enunciates her words in “Black Sabbath” is as dramatic as John Cameron Mitchell doing Hedwig and the Angry Inch.  “Mountain pinnacle” becomes “Mountain Pinnacooluh” and “fantastic spectacle” becomes “fantastic specktacooluh.”  Still, don’t call this metal.  Or even hard rock really.  Acid rock, yes.  Dramatic Wagnerian pomp rock with a dash of progressive and a definite flair for the stage, yes.  Think of it as Jobriath backed by Blue Oyster Cult.  If Jobriath were a hot 17-year-old girl (and some might say he was).  It’s far trippier than it is skull-crushing – the little background SFX in “Black Sabbath” recall early Pink Floyd.  The unfortunately titled “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge” (take that, Van Halen!) swings on a nice jazzy lounge pop rhythm, which makes the Ann Wilson-esque shrieks and growls of Jinxie all that more powerful.  The lilting main melody of “White Witch of Rose Hall” is played on a piano fergodsake, not guitar.  And the meat of “Choke, Thirst, Die” – a great potential heavy metal title – is just good, solid late Sixties acid rock, the kind of stuff you’d hear from Steppenwolf or Fever Tree or Iron Butterfly.  Well, maybe not with a chorus of “Cry, cry, cry…Die, die, die!” but you get the picture.  Look, if you’re expecting death metal or black metal or whatever the kids are calling it nowadays, this ain’t it.  It’s good, solid late 60’s acid rock with lots of theatrics and histrionics, passable but not terribly memorable melodies, and a hot young 17 year old blonde who worships Satan and likes to get nekkid (but that ain’t her on the altar, nudge nudge wink wink).  And if that ain’t enough reason to place a bid, well, I don’t know what else is.

HEAR IT!

PLEASE NOTE I NO LONGER SHIP TO ITALY DUE TO A CORRUPT POSTAL SYSTEM (THERE, NOT HERE).  BUYERS FROM ITALY AGREE TO PAY FOR GLOBAL PRIORITY MAIL INSURED ONLY!

The less exciting stuff

Media mail shipping with delivery confirmation starts at $4.00 in the US, with each additional record only $1 additional shipping.  Overseas shipping has, unfortunately, gone way up in the fast few months, which translates to $15 for the first LP to Canada ($3 each one thereafter) and $24 for the first LP everywhere else in the world, with each add'l LP an extra $5 (so it pays to buy more, nudge nudge wink wink).   I accept payments through Paypal. 

I try to grade as best as I can, and I list as many blemishes/imperfections I can find (writing, ringwear, scuff marks, etc.) – Also, please note that I DO listen to these albums – I may not listen to every track, but my grades are based on LISTENING, not just looking at it, since chances are you’ll be listening to the record you buy, not just looking at it.  Most of the albums I sell are the ones I’ve enjoyed for years – and I treat my records with kid gloves.  But sounds speak louder than words, so check out the sound clips below – they’re from the actual record you’re bidding on. 

SHIPPING AND PACKAGING

Listen, I buy a bunch of records too (when I’m not getting outbid at the last second, which is more often than not) – and I know what it’s like to get a rare, one-of-a-kind album packaged dangerously in a flimsy bubblewrap package.  I hate that too.  So rest assured, I ALWAYS package albums with stiff cardboard reinforcements, same for 45s.  And yes, the records are removed from the sleeves (for albums).  I ship out once a week, every Friday, because I have a regular day job.  But I’d be willing to give that up if you’d all be so kind as to bid my items up to stupidly high amounts. 

 For more security and international tracking, you may request GLOBAL PRIORITY MAIL - but bear in mind the cost of this service is upwards of $30.  For expensive items, however, it may be well worth it.  Unfortunately, there isn’t a cost-effective way of tracking parcels to foreign countries yet, and shipping times vary depending on your country’s postal system.   Italy in particular seems to be really bad at delivering packages quickly, or delivering packages at all, now that you mention it.  I will always email you when your package ships, but once it’s on its way, please don’t ask me when it will arrive because I don’t know.  If the world’s postal systems can ever agree on a universal tracking system that’s affordable, I’ll be the first to use it.

NOW IT’S YOUR TURN…

I will always leave positive feedback for successful transactions, and would appreciate the same in return.  All I ask of you is the following – please pay for your items within 14 days of the close of auction.  Compared to other sellers, that’s a generous amount of time, so if you don’t pay within 2 weeks, then I have to assume something’s wrong.  You’ll get an Ebay payment reminder at that point, and possibly a decapitated horse head in your bed.  If, after 30 days, you still haven’t forked up the cash, I’ll relist the item and yell at you if I ever see you in town.