Coven

Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls

G/VG+

US 1969

Mercury Records - SR 61239

Jinx Dawson was born on Friday the 13th as Ester Jinx Dawson in Indianapolis, Indiana. Her mother gave her the middle name from Dr. Jinks who bore her at birth. She was from a very wealthy family that was eccentric and had aristocratic ties. Her two aunts were living in a huge mansion on the property and were direct descendants of King Louis the 15th. 
They were part of The Left Hand Path which was a rejection of religious authority and social taboos. Family and relatives would attend ceremonies and meetings at the mansion. Young Ester was greeted with the sign of the horns with the two middle fingers depressed and learned the aspects of Satanic rituals at an early age. 
She won two scholarships through the Herron Art School and Butler Opera School and formed a band called Him, Her and Them with Jinx Dawson (vocals), her brother Bob Dawson (guitar), Dave Larman (guitar), Greg 'Ozzy' Osborne (guitar), Steve Farber (bass) and Greg Johnson (drums). They were a basic R'n'B covers band that played the clubs around Indianapolis and were known to have played at the Lincoln Center in Highland, Indiana about 20 miles south of Chicago.
The band lasted two years before falling apart. It was a this point that Jinx wanted to do a scholarly Witchcraft record and talked with Bill Trout, a part owner of Dunwich Records, about the project. He was into H.P. Lovecraft and had a dog named Yuggoth, so he was all for it. Jinx had written a few words relating to the occult and Bill got ahold of Jim Dolinger, who was with Aorta, and gave him a box of Witchcraft books to study up on. 
Jim wrote several of the verses and songs and a band was put together with Jinx (vocals), Jim Dolinger (guitars, vocals), Jim Nyeholt form Aorta (organ, piano, keyboards), Oz Osborne (bass) and Steve Ross (drums) as the base band for the album project. The sessions occurred at Universal Recording Corporation in Chicago. The band was tabbed as Coven and they were one of the first bands to embrace occult imagery and Satanism.
Donlinger and Nyeholt were only part of the album project and Jinx hired Chris Neilsen (guitars), Rick Durrett (keyboards) and retained Oz Osborne (bass) and Steve Ross (drums) to tour and promote the album. Distributed by Mercury records it got some heavy looks by the critics for being so unique. No band had attempted Satanism in rock with such force at this time. Bill Traut was credited for writing and speaking the lyrics for the ending cut "Satanic Mass" on the album. The fold out cover showed Jinx in the nude laying on a table with band members displaying the sign of the horns.
Their stage act had the band members being carried to the stage in coffins with inverted crosses and Jinx in a black robe adorning her as the High Priestess. They paired up with The Yardbird's with Jimmy Page, Alice Cooper and Vanilla Fudge. One single was released but an unfortunate coincidence happened just after the album came out. An article in Esquire Magazine talked about occult influences on Charles Manson and the LaBianca/Tate murders that got so much national attention. It also mentioned Coven and their first album which was then pulled from the shelves, only a month after its release, put a temporary end to Coven's career. 
MGM Records asked Linda Ronstadt to cover a song "One Tin Soldier", released earlier by The Original Caste, for the film Billy Jack. But she refused and they brought in Jinx Dawson to sing the song, with session players, which peaked in the top ten nationally. She signed with the MGM label and a full self-titled album was recorded at United Western Studios in Los Angeles that included the single and songs that were more rhythm and blues oriented. But the album floundered.
A third album was recorded, Blood on the Snow, that had some heavy blues and rock vibes, but their karma followed them and there were few sales. They fell apart for nearly 40 years. But a resurgence occurred in 2013 with Jinx reforming the band and they have been touring again. They are now adorned by all the heavy metal enthusiasts and the sign of the horns at metal festivals and venues all over the world.
Musically the first album has dark music with minor and seventh chords that bring on a demonic effect. But also, some melodic and hard rocking sounds with heavy guitars. The next two albums are more blues and rock and not so focused on the occult leanings that they were known for. Jinx Dawson is the star behind the band with her voice.
This was their first LP. An original Mercury label issue. Tri-fold cover has full lyrics inside.
Tri-fold cover is in pretty good shape with some light shelf, edge, corner and ring wear. The record was played often and it shows with lots of visible marks and scratches. Record plays with noise throughout and has one skip on the second song side one, otherwise plays through fine. Generic inner sleeve.
A rare one. Normally expensive but due to looks and the one skip very reasonable start price.

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All records are Graded to the best of my ability and are rated VINYL FIRST / THEN COVER. For Double LPs Vinyl / Vinyl / Cover. 

GRADING DETAILS – Everything I list will be at least VG+ or better, both visually and audibly, unless I state otherwise. 95% of what is offered and up for bid is very clean with maybe 1 or 2 minor flaws. If it’s very rare, it may be offered with obvious visual marks, scratches, warps and might make some low-level noise. But this would be a rare instance. I’ll describe any flaws as best I can. I ASK THAT YOU READ THE FULL DETAILS AS DESCRIBED BY ME ABOUT THE LOOKS AND SOUND OF THE RECORD. Don’t base everything on a simple grading rate M, EX, VG++, etc. I’m not that good at it.

AUDIBLE GRADING – All vinyl records are played before they are listed. Some records look bad and play good. Others look perfect but play badly. Any visual flaws that I see will be described and I will let you know if they make an audible noise. 95% of the records up for bid are very clean sounding. You may hear a minor tick or click as its spinning but typically light hairline scratches and sleeve marks Do Not Affect Play (DNAP) and should not detract from your overall listening pleasure.

VISUAL GRADING - PLEASE READ THIS!!!

COVERS - I'm a 73-year-old guy with Strabismus (an eye disorder). I try to visually describe every flaw that I can see, but sometimes I miss a small tear or a tiny seam split.

SHELF WEAR generally means that the cellophane was removed when the LP was new and it sat on a shelf or in a box without a plastic sleeve, before they were available, for several years, so there can be some rub blemishes, sticker residue if it was purchased used, tiny tears, slight seam splits and other defects.

EDGE WEAR usually means the picture wrap around the edge has been worn, sometimes into the cardboard itself. This usually happens on the top or bottom edge.

SPLITS are usually caused by heavy edge wear when the picture wrap is worn through severely and the seams split.

CORNER WEAR is the same as edge wear but sometimes there will be a dent or ding at the corner. All 4 sides are suspect for this occurrence.

RING WEAR occurs when a record was not stored in a protective sleeve for a very long time. Back in the day, plastic sleeves were not easily available. Most of us as teenagers, ripped off the cellophane and didn’t consider how the record cover was being stored. Most of the record covers laid on the floor or were stored in the closet or on a shelf for easy access. If they sat for a long time, earth movement, that nobody feels, caused vibration and the record sleeves would rub together and wear on the cover picture or illustration causing the ring wear and other flaws. How bad the sleeve wear became was determined on darkness of the cover illustration and quality of the cover picture. The big record companies usually had a very durable illustration that could take a lot of rubbing without too much damage. But the small record labels usually tried to save on costs with cheap packaging and ink and were more susceptible to ring wear and cover damage due to rubbing if the record was not stored properly in the plastic cover sleeve.

THE VINYL RECORD ITSELF - I will try to visually grade both sides of the vinyl record. There might be some sleeve rubs or marks on some of these. All of my records were played more than once, unless they are sealed. If I mention ticks and or clicks in the description, that means that you can visually see and sometimes hear the imperfection. Most of these Do Not Affect the Play (DNAP). I try my best to see any flaws but understand I don’t Inspect these LPs with a High Lumens Tactical Light and a Magnifying Glass. If the visual flaws are obvious or severe, I try and describe these as best as I can. If there are a lot of visual scratches, it won’t be listed. The exception is if the LP is very rare. I will list a rare record that looks bad but plays pretty good without skips.

SPINDLE MARKS can be obvious if a record was popular and played a lot. The record label material and finish will determine if marks are visible. Most of the big labels don't have this problem because the finish is unusually pretty solid and durable. It's the small and private labels or a matted finish where most spindle marks will be noticed. I don't mention these for any of my listings but if that is a concern to you, ask me before you make a bid.

INNER SLEEVES - Most of the inner sleeves are simple paper sleeves and have slight splits, bends and tears on older LPs. If they’re really bad or split in half, I replace them with a newer paper or plastic sleeve. Sometimes I'll tape a small tear. GENERIC means a blank paper sleeve.

WARPED RECORDS normally occur when they are stored near high heat. I will never send a warped record unless it is very slight and doesn't affect play. If you live somewhere in the world that has high temperatures that could affect package delivery. Insurance is a must to guarantee no loss on the item you bought. You are responsible for this request and there is an additional charge for insurance. Let me know. There is NO REFUND for a record that was sent not warped when packed but was delivered as warped and unplayable. I cannot put records on ice for delivery to high heat areas of the world. Buy package insurance so there won't be any $$$$$ loss in case this happens.

HIGH END RECORDS - There will be a few more pictures for any records that are high end items. I will give a more critical inspection and description of both cover and vinyl. Ask for more pictures if you need them and I can send them to you.

PACKAGING - LPs will be packaged in the proper corrugated cardboard box, we all know about, with extra cardboard pads. Each LP will have a clear plastic sleeve. The record itself will be removed and shipped within the inner sleeve, outside the cover or inside the fold of a gatefold cover all within a plastic outer sleeve to prevent any seam splits. All of the boxes I package records in are new and there are typically no problems. I can also ship in a Whiplash Box which protects the edges and corners. But I will only do this if you request it. 

SEALED RECORDS - The vinyl record will NOT be removed from a sealed LP purchase for shipping. I would advise you to add additional insurance for all sealed LPs that are being shipped to high heat areas due to possible heat warping. No obligation, but it safeguards against some potential problems.

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POSTAGE DISCOUNT - I combine the shipping for multiple record purchases but will only send a maximum of 10-12 records per package. Additional postage will be determined by the total weight of the package. An invoice will be sent to you by me.

ADDITIONAL COSTS - Priority Mail, Insurance, etc. is available at additional costs. Let me know and I will send an invoice.

REFUNDS - I will Refund for any item purchased and received that was not fully as described. Grading is difficult and is the usual cause of concern. We're talking used and 30-60 years old. THERE ARE NO PERFECT RECORDS. Even sealed records can have visual and audible flaws, ticks, clicks, skips and heat warps. IF YOU OPEN A SEALED RECORD AND IT IS WARPED SO BADLY THAT IT DOESN'T PLAY, that usually means it was stored near or shipped in high heat. I have no way of knowing. All sealed records should be insured, just in case that happens. But with regard to a warped record that was sealed and is unplayable, contact me anyway, I will make it right. Any other flaws found on a sealed record that was opened by you, deems the LP non-refundable. If there is a concern, please contact me. We can always work things out.

DAMAGES DURING DELIVERY CAUSED BY THE POSTAL SERVICE - Any damages that are caused due to unfortunate circumstances during the delivery process, broken records, scrapes, heavy package dents caused by something heavy set on the box, warpage caused by excessive heat during delivery, etc. should be handled through E-Bay. They guarantee that packages arrive in the condition as described when sent. If there are obvious damages to the package and the record is unplayable, email me with pictures of the record and the package as delivered and let me know. I mark all packages with "Fragile. Do Not Bend" notices marked in RED, so they should be careful. But $&#t happens. I will not be responsible for damages that were not incurred by me. But E-Bay can and does refund the transaction with proof. Pictures speak a thousand words.

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