COVEN Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls 1969 LP

$

38

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Artist : Coven
Title : Witchcaft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls
Label : Mercury
Catalog # : SR 61239
Format : 33 1/3 RPM vinyl record
Year Released : 1969
Vinyl Condition : EX
Cover Condition : EX-

Infamous Satanic LP that was withdrawn by record company.
Original 1st pressing with multi fold out gatefold cover.
Sacrifice at the altar photo & complete lyrics.
See more info below.

Cover has had a 3" clear tape repair on spine to prevent seam split.
There is a 1" tear at top right corner.
Vinyl will be removed from cover and shipped in new polylined inner sleeve.
(original generic paper sleeve is included, but it has tears)
Cover will be shipped in Bags Unlimited 3mil resealable protective bag.

Coven were the first band to introduce the "Sign of the Horns" to rock and pop culture as seen on their 1969 debut album release "Witchcraft".They are a rock band, composed of vocalist Jinx Dawson, bassist Oz Osborne (not to be confused with Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath), Chris Neilsen on guitar, Rick Durrett and later John Hobbs on keyboards, and drummer Steve Ross. They had a top 40 hit on Warner Bros. Records with "One Tin Soldier," written and composed by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter which was also used as the theme song to the 1971 movie Billy Jack. Jinx Dawson, blonde siren of the band Coven, sang the song at a 1971 session with the film's orchestra as part of the sound track for the Warner Brothers movie Billy Jack. Jinx asked that her band Coven be listed on the recording and film, not her name as a solo artist.

Jinx Dawson was a native of Indianapolis, Indiana born on a Friday the 13th. The difficult delivery of twins, one dead in the womb, was performed by a Dr.Jinks, so her model mother named her Jinx. She began studying opera and the occult , following in her family's secret society footsteps. She, Ross, and Osborne formed Coven in Chicago in the late 1960s. In 1967 to 1968 they toured on concert bills with Jimmy Page's Yardbirds, the Alice Cooper band, and Vanilla Fudge, among many others. Jinx began and ended each Coven concert with the sign of the horns, being the first to introduce this hand sign into rock pop culture. They were signed to Mercury Records, where they put out their first album, Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls in 1969. The music on the album was underground rock what made it distinctive was the heavy emphasis on diabolical subject matter, including songs such as "The White Witch of Rose Hall" (based on the story of Annie Palmer), "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge", and "Dignitaries of Hell". The album concluded with a 13 minute track of chanting and Satanic prayers called "Satanic Mass" (written by their producer, Bill Traut, of Dunwich Productions). Also included inside the album, was Coven's infamous Black Mass poster, showing members of the group displaying the sign of the horns as they prepared for a Satanic ritual over the naked altar. This is the first photographed use of the Horned Hand Salute and the Inverted Cross in rock music pop culture, Coven being the first occult rock band and the pioneers in that genre. (They also hold the distinction of making one of the first "rock videos" to the title track of their third album, "Blood on the Snow" in 1974, seven years before MTV started in 1981.)

According to Jinx, "The satanic thing actually was something we were interested in and were studying at the time. When you're younger, you're looking for answers, and a lot of members of the band were looking into the same books at the same time. We studied it, we practiced it."

This content was considered highly unusual for the time. Then called Heavy Underground Rock, Coven is now considered pioneers of Dark Heavy Metal and Gothic Rock. Unwanted publicity came to the band in the form of a sensationalistic Esquire magazine issue entitled "Evil Lurks in California" (Esquire, March 1970), which linked counterculture interest in the occult to Charles Manson and the Tate-La Bianca murders, while also mentioning the Witchcraft album and its Black Mass material. As a result of this unwanted publicity, Mercury withdrew the album from circulation.

Good luck returned to Jinx Dawson when Tom Laughlin asked her to record the "One Tin Soldier" song for his Billy Jack movie. It was written by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, and originally released in 1969 by the Canadian group "The Original Caste" (#34). Coven's recording charted three times, first in 1971 (#26), in 1973 (#79), and a re-entry of the original version in 1974 (#73) on the Billboard Magazine's Hot 100, and was a top 10 hit in Cashbox. The song was named #1 Most Requested Song in 1971 and 1973 by American Radio Broadcasters. Coven released a self-titled album in 1972 which featured "One Tin Soldier" along with "Nightengale" penned by Jinx Dawson which charted as a hot pick on Billboard & Cashbox; a third album, Blood on the Snow, was put out on Buddah Records in 1974. One of the 1st music videos ever made directly for an album title song was produced by Jinx and the Coven with Disney Studios. In 1990 Coven appeared in the film "Heaven Can Help" with Jinx in a starring role. She wrote all the music and along with original drummer Steve Ross, new members were added to the Coven which appeared in the film.

On November 5 2007, Jinx Dawson announced via her MySpace page that three of the original Coven members were planning to reform the group and record a new studio album to "finish what they started". She added that the band were "dying to tour". May 2008, Coven released a new CD "Metal Goth Queen~Out of the Vault" with music spanning decades. Some of the guest musicians on this CD include Michael Monarch, formerly of Steppenwolf, Glenn Cornick, formerly of Jethro Tull and Tommy Bolin, formerly of Deep Purple, in some of his last recordings.

INFAMOUS QUOTES ABOUT COVEN

1970 Rolling Stone Magazine Black Sabbath album review: "something like Englands answer to Coven."

1998 Lords of Chaos Book:"Coven deserve greater attention for their overtly diabolic album Witchcraft presented in a stunning gatefold sleeve." King Diamond tells of finding inspiration from Coven's lead vocalist Jinx: "An amazing singer, her voice her range---they had something about them that I liked."

2002 The Witch Book,Witches in Pop Culture:"Many rock bands identify with the image from early Black Sabbath and Coven to Blood Coven, Coven 13,---But the original band Coven, formed in the 1960's,was one of the first if not the first,to focus almost exclusively on occult-oriented music.Coven's LP Witchcraft was a big success at the time."

2002 KISStory Book: "When you consider the image that Kiss would later develop, they were not the first band Bogart approached with the idea of painting up, having approached Jinx Dawson and her band Coven in the early 70's only for that idea to be rejected by the band."

2007 Terrorizer Magazine:Prog Special "Black Prog"-"Months before Sabbath's self titled debut, Coven released an equally brilliant, groundbreaking album called Witchcraft.One rock innovation increasingly credited to Coven is popularizing the 'Sign of the Horns'now recognized as a universal rock salute."

2008 Classic Rock Magazine: "The band consisted of proto-goth goddess Jinx Dawson"

2009 Metalhammer Magazine:"The seeds can be traced to the late '60's sewn by arguably the first occult rock band.Are we talking Black Sabbath? No.We speak in fact of legendary Chicago based innovators Coven."

United States bidders have their choice of shipping methods.

$5.60 : KY, ME, MI, NC, OH, SC, VA

$6.80 : AL, FL, GA, IL, IN, MN, MS, TN, WI

$7.20 : AR, IA, KS, LA, MO, NE, ND, OK, SD, TX

$7.70 : CO, WY

$8.25 : AK, AZ, CA, HI, ID, MT, NV, NM, OR, UT, WA

The Media Mail rate applies to all areas of the USA
(same price - $4.00, anywhere in the United States)
You will be emailed a tracking number on the day your package is shipped.

$7.50 - Canada

$14.00 - Worldwide

Overseas Insurance varies.

FEEDBACK policy
Positive feedback will be returned within 48 hours.
If there are any problems, email me & they will be resolved.

MINT: The record itself is in brand new condition with no surface marks or deterioration in sound quality.
The cover and any extra items such as the lyric sheet, booklet or poster are in perfect condition.
Records advertised as Sealed or Unplayed should be Mint.

EXCELLENT: The record shows some signs of having been played,
but there is very little lessening in sound quality.
The cover and packaging might have slight wear and/or creasing.

VERY GOOD: The record has obviously been played many times,
but displays no major deterioration in sound quality,
despite noticeable surface marks and the occasional light scratch.
Normal wear and tear on the cover or extra items, without any major defects, is acceptable.

GOOD: The record has been played so much that the sound quality has noticeably deteriorated,
perhaps with some distortion and mild scratches.
The cover and contents suffer from folding, scuffing of edges, spine splits, discoloration, etc.

FAIR: The record is still just playable but has not been cared for properly and displays considerable surface noise;
it may even jump. The cover and contents will be torn, stained and/or defaced.

POOR: The record will not play properly due to scratches, bad surface noise, etc.
The cover and contents will be badly damaged or partly missing.

BAD: The record is unplayable or might even be broken, and is only of use as a collection filler.

Note added March 25, 2010

Thanks to all who have emailed me regarding this album.
I've had a dozen requests to end the auction with a fixed price
Since the album already has several bids,
I don't think it would be fair to end it early.
I appreciate the offers,
but I'm going to let the auction run the full course,
so if you are interested, get your bids in.
Thanks , EJ