Coven: Coven 1971

 

Coven originally materialized in Indianapolis, Indiana during the late 1960s. According to "Witchcraft" producer Bill Traut, band members began their early gigs by being carried onstage in coffins. Alongside

England’s Black Widow, Coven are credited as being one of the very first rock bands to embrace occult imagery and outright Satanic references. They are recognized as being the band that first introduced the 'Sign of the Horns' to rock and pop culture. The band released their first album, "Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls", in 1969 after signing a contract with Mercury Records in their own blood.
                              

Coven was composed of vocalist Jinx Dawson, bassist Greg "Oz" Osborne, guitarist Chris Neilsen, keyboardist Rick Durrett (later replaced by John Hobbs), and drummer Steve Ross. In addition to

pioneering occult rock with lyrics and aesthetics that explicitly deal in themes of Satanism and witchcraft, they are recognized by metal fans and metal historians as being the band that introduced the "Sign of the horns" to rock, metal and pop culture, as seen on their 1969 debut album release Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls.
                  

Jinx Dawson and Oz Osborne, after playing together in the group Him, Her and Them, formed Coven

with Ross in Chicago in the late 1960s. In 1967 and 1968 they toured, playing concerts with artists including Jimmy Page's Yardbirds, the Alice Cooper band, and Vanilla Fudge. Coven signed with Mercury Records and released their debut album, Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls in 1969.
               

From the very beginning, Coven's performances took the shape of elaborate satanic rites that largely

overshadowed their music, but this didn't stop local producer Bill Traut (the owner of local independent, Dunwich Records, and a major mover and shaker in the Windy City rock scene) from recognizing the core trio's potential, then pairing them with external songwriters, and securing a wider distribution deal with Chicago's own Mercury Records.
                 

The first spawn of their unholy union was 1969's legendary Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps

Souls album, which draped Coven's diffuse mix of psychedelic prog rock and pop under a veritable catalog of deeply occult lyrics, opening with a song named -- remarkably enough -- "Black Sabbath," and culminating in a 13-minute reading of the Satanic Black Mass itself.
                   

                  
Three years after their Mercury debut, the Coven come back on an MGM imprint, Sunshine Snake

Records, with a more musical album produced by Frank Laughlin and Larry Brown, though their hit record, "One Tin Soldier," included here, was produced, arranged, and conducted by Mundell Lowe. The cover photography by William R. Eastabrook is pretty clever, a black cat in front of the five bandmembers, whose faces have been removed. Only an eye of the cat stares out from the picture.
                     

Where the original album, Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls, generated interest for its notorious content, the pop music crafted on this self-titled sophomore disc had to stand on its own. And it does when Jinx Dawson is given a melody and allowed to sing, as on the opening track,

"Nightingale," something not afforded her on the Witchcraft experiment. She and guitarist Christopher Nielsen, who also gets a more expanded role here, are responsible for the material. Dawson can actually belt out a tune when given the opportunity. Third album "Blood on the Snow" was put out on Buddah Records in 1974 for which they also made a video for the LP title track, seven years before MTV started in 1981.
                        

Coven – Coven
Label: MGM Records – SE-4801, Sunshine Snake Records
Format: CD, Album, Reissue
Released: 2020
Genre: Rock
Style: Hard Rock

TRACKS

                  

01. Nightingale   2:57
Producer – Coven, Frank Laughlin
Written-By – Jinx Dawson
02. Shooting Star   2:54
Producer – Coven, Larry Brown
Written-By – C. Neilsen, J. Dawson
03. Natural Love   4:00
Producer – Coven, Frank Laughlin
Written-By – Chris Neilsen
04. What Can I Get Out Of You   3:45
Producer – Coven, Larry Brown
Written-By – Chris Neilsen
05. Dark Day In Chitown   3:51
Producer – Coven, Frank Laughlin
Written-By – Chris Neilsen
06. Jailhouse Rock   2:06
Producer – Coven, Frank Laughlin
Written-By – J. Leiber - M. Stoller
07. Lonely Lover   3:32
Producer – Coven, Frank Laughlin
Written-By – Chris Neilsen
08. I Guess It's A Beautiful Day Today   3:19
Producer – Coven, Frank Laughlin
Written-By – Chris Neilsen
09. Washroom Wonder   3:50
Producer – Coven (3), Larry Brown
Written-By – C. Neilsen, G. Glovacki, R. Durrett, S. Ross
10. Nobody's Leavin' Here Tonight   3:42
Producer – Coven, Larry Brown
Written-By – Chris Neilsen
11. One Tin Soldier (The Legend Of Billy Jack)   3:18
Arranged By, Conductor, Producer – Mundell Lowe
Written-By – Lambert - Potter

LINE - UP

                      

Bass – Oz Osborne
Drums – Steve Ross
Guitar, Vocals – Chris Neilsen
Lead Vocals – Jinx Dawson
Piano – John Hobbs

Flac (24/192 KHz) Size: 1.60 GB

Coven: Witchcraft Destroys Minds And Reaps Souls 1969 HERE