WITCHCRAFT COVEN ORIG 1970 HEAVY ROCK PSYCH SATANIC OCCULT LP VERY NICE

$

120

WITCHRAFT

COVEN DESTROYS MINDS & REAPS SOULS

ORIGINAL RARE TRI-FOLD GATEFOLD LP ON MERCURY SR 61239

A BEAUTIFUL EXAMPLE OF THIS RARE LP... COVER IS CLEAN AND MARK FREE WITH SHARP CORNERS NO SEAM SPLITS, NO RING WEAR... SOME VERY MINY EDGE CHIPS ALONG BOTTOM AS CAN BE SEEN IN PHOTOS... VERY NICE!

VINYL IS VERY STRONG VG+ TO VG++ NICE GLOSS NO SCRATCHES... SOME MINOR PAPER RUBS PLAYS EXCELLENT!

A NICE 45 YEAR OLD VINYL!

COVEN: They are recognized as being the band that first introduced the "Sign of the Horns" to rock, metal and pop culture.

Composed of vocalist "blonde siren" Jinx Dawson, Bassist Oz Osborne, Chris Neilsen on guitar, Rick Durrett and later John Hobbs on keyboard and drummer Steve Ross.

Dawson was a native of Indianapolis, Indiana. 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.[1] In 1967 to 1968 they toured on concert bills with Jimmy Page's Yardbirds, the Alice Cooper band, and Vanilla Fudge, among many others. Dawson began and ended each Coven concert with the sign of the horns, being the first to introduce this hand sign into rock, metal and 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 considered 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).[2] This Satanic Mass was also the first time Latin phrases such as "Ave Satanas" (Hail, Satan) were used in occult rock music, and later Satanic and Black Metal bands continued this innovation (see List of songs with Latin lyricsfor some examples). 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,[citation needed] as well as the first use of the phrase "Hail Satan", in rock music pop culture

According to Dawson, "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. Starting with their first contract with Mercury in 1969, the Coven members signed all their record contracts each in their own blood.

Modern Satanism and Satanic practices are usually described today as originating with Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan (founded in 1966). However, Coven's first album, and some of the 1960s trends and styles associated with it (reflected in the Esquire article mentioned below), are an indication that there were also other unique, and sometimes more underground, trends within Satanism. Coven and Anton LaVey did actually almost cross paths, at the October 31, 1969, Detroit Black Arts Festival, which also included Arthur Brown, Peter Hurkos, Timothy Leary, and numerous others. While Coven did perform, Anton LaVey, although scheduled, did not appear.

Then called heavy underground rock, Coven is now considered a pioneer of dark heavy metal and gothic rock.[4] 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[5] As a result of this unwanted publicity, Mercury withdrew the album from circulation creating a rare and limited number of copies to the public.