Lost Oldie Of The Day 3/30

[SAT-I need more room!!]

h2izcool said:

pete70s said:

Not true. It's been an urban legend for years that Ozzy was in the Magic Lanterns, because there was a guy in the band who bore a slight resemblance to him whose name was Michael "Oz" Osborune. Not the same guy (not sure if they're related though). At the time this was a hit, Ozzy was working on Black Sabbath's debut.

I had never heard the "Oz/Ozzy" story before, but just for grins I looked it up on allmusic,com. The "biography" page for the Magic Lanterns includes the following:

"The group's lineup began a series of shifts that left Bilsbury as the sole original member, and brought Alistair "Bev" Beveridge (referred to in some sources as "Les" Beveridge) (vocals, guitar), Peter Garner (guitar, vocals), Mike "Oz" Osborne (bass, vocals) (who was definitely not Ozzy Osbourne, despite rumors to the contrary), and Harry Paul Ward (drums, vocals) aboard."

Strangely enough. however, if you go to the album review for the album "Shame Shame" (the one whose cover Joe posted) also on allmusic.com, it says the following:

"The main claim to fame of the Magic Lanterns , besides the hit single in 1969, of the song "Shame Shame," was the inclusion of later soon to be stars, Albert Hammond and Black Sabbath' lead vocalist Ozzy Osborne as band members. Over the course of the bands career between 1968-1971 the Magic Lanterns released three albums in their native U.K. with only one being released in North America on the Atlantic label. This 18 track collection contains highlights from all three albums including the hit "Shame Shame" from the album of the same name and the only album to contain Ozzy as a band member. Although Ozzy still denies he was part of this band, the informative liner notes and band photo offers proof that he cannot refute. "

Obviously, allmusic.com has never compared the stories of their writers.

What IS apparently true, however, was that Albert Hammond ("It Never Rains In Southern California") was a band member, but this was after Shame Shame.

If there is a discrepancy within the same website, how do we know which is true?

What's funny is their drummer's last name was Ward. And Sabbath's drummer's name?

Bill Ward.

[H2IZCOOL]

pete70s said:

h2izcool said:

I've heard of Coven. I think they did one of the versions of "One Tin Soldier" - not very Witchcrafty. - Maybe it's a different Coven.

Yeah, I doubt it's the "One Tin Soldier" group..

I just looked it up and according to allmusic.com (and how could we doubt them ) One Tin Soldier was on the album "Coven" which came out after the Witchcraft album. They say that "Coven" was a more pop oriented album.

[SAT-I need more room!!]

h2izcool said:

pete70s said:

Yeah, I doubt it's the "One Tin Soldier" group..

I just looked it up and according to allmusic.com (and how could we doubt them ) One Tin Soldier was on the album "Coven" which came out after the Witchcraft album. They say that "Coven" was a more pop oriented album.

Ok, I just looked it up, and the actual album was called-
Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls

Now, here's where it gets WEIRD. What is the first song on the album called?

Black Sabbath.

Now, it DOES say this is the same band that sang One Tin Soldier 2 years later. And while I DO know One Tin Soldier and I have never heard anything from the "Witchcraft...." album, I can't help but wonder if it's a different group, and they just listed them together. Besides "Black Sabbath", some of the other song titles are:

For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
Pact With Lucifer
Choke, Thirst, Die
Dignitaries of Hell
Satanic Mass

Now I ask you, with that sunshiney pop sound on Tin Soldier, do you think they would have recorded something called Satanic Mass? Who knows........

[H2IZCOOL]

Man! This is fun! You wouldn't think that JP's posting of an innocent song called "Shame Shame" would lead to researches on Ozzy, Black Sabbath, and one or more groups called The Coven!

OK:

I did a search on The Coven and found a series of reviews on their three albums by a guy named John Viglione for All Music Guide.

First Album:

"Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls : Expert Reviews

From AMG Reviews

The debut LP from the group Coven is noteworthy for reasons more historical than musical. That is not to say it is a bad record; it is more of an interesting record that is unique and listenable. With an elaborate package released on Mercury in 1969, a good trivia question can be made of the fact that bassist Oz Osborne performs on this album, whose opening track is "Black Sabbath," while John "Ozzy" Osbourne of Black Sabbath was allegedly busy playing bass in Magic Lanterns, hitting the Top 30 in 1968 with "Shame, Shame" (Ozzy listed as Mike Osbourne with Magic Lanterns ). That the group Black Sabbath formed in 1969 when this album was issued seems to indicate that Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls may have had more than a little influence on the more popular heavy metal band. Also notable is the fact that the majority of the songwriting on this disc is by guitarist Jim Donlinger, who a year later in 1970 would move on to drummer Michael Tegza's reincarnation of H.P. Lovecraft, known simply as Lovecraft on its Reprise recording. The lyrics are all included in a second gatefold, in script of course, while the first gatefold is a photo of a "black mass." Jinx Dawson's vocals are distinctive, and tunes like "White Witch of Rose Hall" and "Wicked Woman" are almost on target. The band was for real, eventually hitting the Top 30 around Halloween in 1971 with "One Tin Soldier (The Legend of Billy Jack)" from the movie Billy Jack. With the "evil" prayers during "Coven in Charing Cross," Coven get a bit heavy-handed; the group goes over the top trying to push the black magic stuff. "Pact With the Devil" is written "Pack With the Devil" on the label, and the 13-plus minute "Satanic Mass" is more of a curiosity piece than musical adventure; it's no "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," and that's the flaw with this unique album. Had there been a song to hold onto or had "Satanic Mass" possessed the musical individuality of the Seeds' "Up in My Room," this disc would be more than just a novelty. "Choke, Thirst, Die," which ends side one, is actually one of the best performances on the record, though it also suffers from its excesses, with Jinx Dawson acting like a satanic Ruby Starr when she should have gone in the Wendy O. Williams direction. A decent enough attempt, but the group Black Sabbath emerged one year later doing it much, much better. Just compare the Oz Osborne/Coven opening track "Black Sabbath" to Ozzy Osbourne's song "Black Sabbath" by his group Black Sabbath to see the difference.
- Joe Viglione, All Music Guide"

2nd Album

"Coven
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; the problem is that the tunes aren't always there. "Shooting Star" has little to offer, while the LP's longest track, the four-minute "Natural Love," heads into bluesier territory with Dawson coming on like Kathi MacDonald of Big Brother the Holding Company. That style may seem a bit out of place on this LP, but it's better than the lackluster arrangement of the number one Elvis Presley hit from 15 years prior, "Jailhouse Rock." If you're going to take on sacred territory, you'd better do it some justice. "What Can I Get out of You" is leaden, as is "Dark Day in Chitown," for that matter. This album certainly has less personality than their debut -- the bandmembers' names aren't even on the back cover. Jinx Dawson sounds commanding on "Lonely Lover," though again the material fails her. "I Guess It's a Beautiful Day Today" is most likely bassist Oz Osborne (not Ozzy Osbourne) or guitarist/songwriter Chris Nielsen on vocals, and suddenly the group comes off like a low-key Quicksilver Messenger Service. "Washroom Wonder" and "Nobody's Leavin' Here Tonight" suffer from the guys taking over the lead vocal duties. Jinx Dawson proves it with a great performance of the theme to The Legend of Billy Jack. The hit is so far above the rest of this music in production, arrangement, and vocal presentation that the record label must be taken to task for not giving more care to what could have been a breakthrough disc. The hit single was on Warner Bros. and the group's 1974 Shel Talmy-produced release, Blood on the Snow, found a home on Buddah, so with four labels in five to six years, the Coven never really got the chance to carve out a niche. A pity, as the 45 RPM has all the elements.
- Joe Viglione, All Music Guide"

3rd Album:

"Blood on the Snow

Who producer Shel Talmy crafts the smoothest sound yet for Coven, and this is the style that really could have brought the band over the top, but it's too much too late. "This Song's for All You Children" shimmers with fabulous production and an exquisite Jinx Dawson vocal, even better than on her Dennis Lambert/Brian Potter co-write hit from two years prior to this, "One Tin Soldier." Sidney A. Seidenberg, longtime manager of B.B. King, was representing the group at this time, with vocalist Dawson and guitarist Christopher Neilsen having a better handle on the songwriting, a big step forward from 1972's self-titled Coven release on MGM. Heck, they even sound like Spanky Our Gang on the sublime "Lady O," and that is a quantum leap from the witchcraft and magic eventual Lovecraft member Jim Donlinger brought to their first release in 1969 with his labored songwriting. Indeed, Donlinger left for a band with an even more mystical name, that of fantasy writer H.P. Lovecraft, while under Talmy's guiding hand strings and orchestration bring the group to a poppy space that suits it very well. The album cover looks like it came out of ~Creepy or ~Eerie magazines and there are the obligatory Halloween costume photographs in the gatefold, but songs like "Blue Blue Ships" and "I Need a Hundred of You" don't sound like the comic book episodes from the band's past. One has to read the lyric sheet to see that "Blue Blue Ships" is actually a haunting song sung as if Dawson had already passed over. It has ten times the composing skills that Neilsen and Dawson displayed on the previous album's "Shooting Star," the material maturing along with Coven's musicianship. "I Need a Hundred of You" is fun, singer Dawson and guitarist Neilsen collaborating on a song that in future days would be thought of as a song about cloning. It's a shame Buddah dropped the ball on Coven and artists like Buzzy Linhart, who they recorded and marketed but couldn't break on the level of Gladys Knight and some of their higher-profile groups. The version of Alan O'Day's "Easy Evil," covered by Lulu, Genya Ravan, Dusty Springfield, and so many others, really fits. Alan Estes, a Tammy Wynette co-writer and percussion player on many recordings, guests on conga drums, helping give this up-tempo version a uniquely fun perspective. Dawson sounds like she's having a blast, interpreting O'Day's nugget with more drive than the group's take on Leiber Stoller's "Jailhouse Rock" from the previous self-titled outing. Blood on the Snow is an album that, if not a financial success, proves that Coven had more talent than the band was ever given credit for, the title track being the one where the group really cuts loose and goes back to its roots with some blazing hard rock. Though it doesn't contain Coven's hit single, this is the band's key recording.
- Joe Viglione, All Music Guide"

Despite the vast disparity in style. it appears to be the same group with all three albums featuring Jinx Dawson's vocals.

And they speak of Coven being an influence for Black Sabbath.

So how many Ozzys are there, 1 2 or 3 ?

[SAT-I need more room!!]

h2izcool said:

Man! This is fun! You wouldn't think that JP's posting of an innocent song called "Shame Shame" would lead to researches on Ozzy, Black Sabbath, and one or more groups called The Coven!

OK:

I did a search on The Coven and found a series of reviews on their three albums by a guy named John Viglione for All Music Guide.

First Album:

"Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls : Expert Reviews

From AMG Reviews

The debut LP from the group Coven is noteworthy for reasons more historical than musical. That is not to say it is a bad record; it is more of an interesting record that is unique and listenable. With an elaborate package released on Mercury in 1969, a good trivia question can be made of the fact that bassist Oz Osborne performs on this album, whose opening track is "Black Sabbath," while John "Ozzy" Osbourne of Black Sabbath was allegedly busy playing bass in Magic Lanterns, hitting the Top 30 in 1968 with "Shame, Shame" (Ozzy listed as Mike Osbourne with Magic Lanterns ). That the group Black Sabbath formed in 1969 when this album was issued seems to indicate that Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls may have had more than a little influence on the more popular heavy metal band. Also notable is the fact that the majority of the songwriting on this disc is by guitarist Jim Donlinger, who a year later in 1970 would move on to drummer Michael Tegza's reincarnation of H.P. Lovecraft, known simply as Lovecraft on its Reprise recording. The lyrics are all included in a second gatefold, in script of course, while the first gatefold is a photo of a "black mass." Jinx Dawson's vocals are distinctive, and tunes like "White Witch of Rose Hall" and "Wicked Woman" are almost on target. The band was for real, eventually hitting the Top 30 around Halloween in 1971 with "One Tin Soldier (The Legend of Billy Jack)" from the movie Billy Jack. With the "evil" prayers during "Coven in Charing Cross," Coven get a bit heavy-handed; the group goes over the top trying to push the black magic stuff. "Pact With the Devil" is written "Pack With the Devil" on the label, and the 13-plus minute "Satanic Mass" is more of a curiosity piece than musical adventure; it's no "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," and that's the flaw with this unique album. Had there been a song to hold onto or had "Satanic Mass" possessed the musical individuality of the Seeds' "Up in My Room," this disc would be more than just a novelty. "Choke, Thirst, Die," which ends side one, is actually one of the best performances on the record, though it also suffers from its excesses, with Jinx Dawson acting like a satanic Ruby Starr when she should have gone in the Wendy O. Williams direction. A decent enough attempt, but the group Black Sabbath emerged one year later doing it much, much better. Just compare the Oz Osborne/Coven opening track "Black Sabbath" to Ozzy Osbourne's song "Black Sabbath" by his group Black Sabbath to see the difference.
- Joe Viglione, All Music Guide"

2nd Album

"Coven
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; the problem is that the tunes aren't always there. "Shooting Star" has little to offer, while the LP's longest track, the four-minute "Natural Love," heads into bluesier territory with Dawson coming on like Kathi MacDonald of Big Brother the Holding Company. That style may seem a bit out of place on this LP, but it's better than the lackluster arrangement of the number one Elvis Presley hit from 15 years prior, "Jailhouse Rock." If you're going to take on sacred territory, you'd better do it some justice. "What Can I Get out of You" is leaden, as is "Dark Day in Chitown," for that matter. This album certainly has less personality than their debut -- the bandmembers' names aren't even on the back cover. Jinx Dawson sounds commanding on "Lonely Lover," though again the material fails her. "I Guess It's a Beautiful Day Today" is most likely bassist Oz Osborne (not Ozzy Osbourne) or guitarist/songwriter Chris Nielsen on vocals, and suddenly the group comes off like a low-key Quicksilver Messenger Service. "Washroom Wonder" and "Nobody's Leavin' Here Tonight" suffer from the guys taking over the lead vocal duties. Jinx Dawson proves it with a great performance of the theme to The Legend of Billy Jack. The hit is so far above the rest of this music in production, arrangement, and vocal presentation that the record label must be taken to task for not giving more care to what could have been a breakthrough disc. The hit single was on Warner Bros. and the group's 1974 Shel Talmy-produced release, Blood on the Snow, found a home on Buddah, so with four labels in five to six years, the Coven never really got the chance to carve out a niche. A pity, as the 45 RPM has all the elements.
- Joe Viglione, All Music Guide"

3rd Album:

"Blood on the Snow

Who producer Shel Talmy crafts the smoothest sound yet for Coven, and this is the style that really could have brought the band over the top, but it's too much too late. "This Song's for All You Children" shimmers with fabulous production and an exquisite Jinx Dawson vocal, even better than on her Dennis Lambert/Brian Potter co-write hit from two years prior to this, "One Tin Soldier." Sidney A. Seidenberg, longtime manager of B.B. King, was representing the group at this time, with vocalist Dawson and guitarist Christopher Neilsen having a better handle on the songwriting, a big step forward from 1972's self-titled Coven release on MGM. Heck, they even sound like Spanky Our Gang on the sublime "Lady O," and that is a quantum leap from the witchcraft and magic eventual Lovecraft member Jim Donlinger brought to their first release in 1969 with his labored songwriting. Indeed, Donlinger left for a band with an even more mystical name, that of fantasy writer H.P. Lovecraft, while under Talmy's guiding hand strings and orchestration bring the group to a poppy space that suits it very well. The album cover looks like it came out of ~Creepy or ~Eerie magazines and there are the obligatory Halloween costume photographs in the gatefold, but songs like "Blue Blue Ships" and "I Need a Hundred of You" don't sound like the comic book episodes from the band's past. One has to read the lyric sheet to see that "Blue Blue Ships" is actually a haunting song sung as if Dawson had already passed over. It has ten times the composing skills that Neilsen and Dawson displayed on the previous album's "Shooting Star," the material maturing along with Coven's musicianship. "I Need a Hundred of You" is fun, singer Dawson and guitarist Neilsen collaborating on a song that in future days would be thought of as a song about cloning. It's a shame Buddah dropped the ball on Coven and artists like Buzzy Linhart, who they recorded and marketed but couldn't break on the level of Gladys Knight and some of their higher-profile groups. The version of Alan O'Day's "Easy Evil," covered by Lulu, Genya Ravan, Dusty Springfield, and so many others, really fits. Alan Estes, a Tammy Wynette co-writer and percussion player on many recordings, guests on conga drums, helping give this up-tempo version a uniquely fun perspective. Dawson sounds like she's having a blast, interpreting O'Day's nugget with more drive than the group's take on Leiber Stoller's "Jailhouse Rock" from the previous self-titled outing. Blood on the Snow is an album that, if not a financial success, proves that Coven had more talent than the band was ever given credit for, the title track being the one where the group really cuts loose and goes back to its roots with some blazing hard rock. Though it doesn't contain Coven's hit single, this is the band's key recording.
- Joe Viglione, All Music Guide"

Despite the vast disparity in style. it appears to be the same group with all three albums featuring Jinx Dawson's vocals.

And they speak of Coven being an influence for Black Sabbath.

So how many Ozzys are there, 1 2 or 3 ?

Yes, I saw all three of these albums when I found out the FULL title of the "Witchcraft..." album.

And guess what-this IS the band my aunt was thinking of! I called her and mentioned that the group Coven had an album which had Witchcraft in the title. She asked if Wicked Woman was one of the songs and I said yes.

Apparently all the refer back then clouded her memory.

[Ken]

I have this 45 in storage. It was in a collection I bought to resell. Real good.

[Dawn]

Good song, very overlooked on the oldies stations. I first discovered it about 6 years ago.

[Pete70s]

Mar 30, 2006 13:50:32 GMT -5 SAT-I need more room!! said:

h2izcool said:

Man! This is fun! You wouldn't think that JP's posting of an innocent song called "Shame Shame" would lead to researches on Ozzy, Black Sabbath, and one or more groups called The Coven!

OK:

I did a search on The Coven and found a series of reviews on their three albums by a guy named John Viglione for All Music Guide.

First Album:

"Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls : Expert Reviews

From AMG Reviews

The debut LP from the group Coven is noteworthy for reasons more historical than musical. That is not to say it is a bad record; it is more of an interesting record that is unique and listenable. With an elaborate package released on Mercury in 1969, a good trivia question can be made of the fact that bassist Oz Osborne performs on this album, whose opening track is "Black Sabbath," while John "Ozzy" Osbourne of Black Sabbath was allegedly busy playing bass in Magic Lanterns, hitting the Top 30 in 1968 with "Shame, Shame" (Ozzy listed as Mike Osbourne with Magic Lanterns ). That the group Black Sabbath formed in 1969 when this album was issued seems to indicate that Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls may have had more than a little influence on the more popular heavy metal band. Also notable is the fact that the majority of the songwriting on this disc is by guitarist Jim Donlinger, who a year later in 1970 would move on to drummer Michael Tegza's reincarnation of H.P. Lovecraft, known simply as Lovecraft on its Reprise recording. The lyrics are all included in a second gatefold, in script of course, while the first gatefold is a photo of a "black mass." Jinx Dawson's vocals are distinctive, and tunes like "White Witch of Rose Hall" and "Wicked Woman" are almost on target. The band was for real, eventually hitting the Top 30 around Halloween in 1971 with "One Tin Soldier (The Legend of Billy Jack)" from the movie Billy Jack. With the "evil" prayers during "Coven in Charing Cross," Coven get a bit heavy-handed; the group goes over the top trying to push the black magic stuff. "Pact With the Devil" is written "Pack With the Devil" on the label, and the 13-plus minute "Satanic Mass" is more of a curiosity piece than musical adventure; it's no "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," and that's the flaw with this unique album. Had there been a song to hold onto or had "Satanic Mass" possessed the musical individuality of the Seeds' "Up in My Room," this disc would be more than just a novelty. "Choke, Thirst, Die," which ends side one, is actually one of the best performances on the record, though it also suffers from its excesses, with Jinx Dawson acting like a satanic Ruby Starr when she should have gone in the Wendy O. Williams direction. A decent enough attempt, but the group Black Sabbath emerged one year later doing it much, much better. Just compare the Oz Osborne/Coven opening track "Black Sabbath" to Ozzy Osbourne's song "Black Sabbath" by his group Black Sabbath to see the difference.
- Joe Viglione, All Music Guide"

2nd Album

"Coven
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; the problem is that the tunes aren't always there. "Shooting Star" has little to offer, while the LP's longest track, the four-minute "Natural Love," heads into bluesier territory with Dawson coming on like Kathi MacDonald of Big Brother the Holding Company. That style may seem a bit out of place on this LP, but it's better than the lackluster arrangement of the number one Elvis Presley hit from 15 years prior, "Jailhouse Rock." If you're going to take on sacred territory, you'd better do it some justice. "What Can I Get out of You" is leaden, as is "Dark Day in Chitown," for that matter. This album certainly has less personality than their debut -- the bandmembers' names aren't even on the back cover. Jinx Dawson sounds commanding on "Lonely Lover," though again the material fails her. "I Guess It's a Beautiful Day Today" is most likely bassist Oz Osborne (not Ozzy Osbourne) or guitarist/songwriter Chris Nielsen on vocals, and suddenly the group comes off like a low-key Quicksilver Messenger Service. "Washroom Wonder" and "Nobody's Leavin' Here Tonight" suffer from the guys taking over the lead vocal duties. Jinx Dawson proves it with a great performance of the theme to The Legend of Billy Jack. The hit is so far above the rest of this music in production, arrangement, and vocal presentation that the record label must be taken to task for not giving more care to what could have been a breakthrough disc. The hit single was on Warner Bros. and the group's 1974 Shel Talmy-produced release, Blood on the Snow, found a home on Buddah, so with four labels in five to six years, the Coven never really got the chance to carve out a niche. A pity, as the 45 RPM has all the elements.
- Joe Viglione, All Music Guide"

3rd Album:

"Blood on the Snow

Who producer Shel Talmy crafts the smoothest sound yet for Coven, and this is the style that really could have brought the band over the top, but it's too much too late. "This Song's for All You Children" shimmers with fabulous production and an exquisite Jinx Dawson vocal, even better than on her Dennis Lambert/Brian Potter co-write hit from two years prior to this, "One Tin Soldier." Sidney A. Seidenberg, longtime manager of B.B. King, was representing the group at this time, with vocalist Dawson and guitarist Christopher Neilsen having a better handle on the songwriting, a big step forward from 1972's self-titled Coven release on MGM. Heck, they even sound like Spanky Our Gang on the sublime "Lady O," and that is a quantum leap from the witchcraft and magic eventual Lovecraft member Jim Donlinger brought to their first release in 1969 with his labored songwriting. Indeed, Donlinger left for a band with an even more mystical name, that of fantasy writer H.P. Lovecraft, while under Talmy's guiding hand strings and orchestration bring the group to a poppy space that suits it very well. The album cover looks like it came out of ~Creepy or ~Eerie magazines and there are the obligatory Halloween costume photographs in the gatefold, but songs like "Blue Blue Ships" and "I Need a Hundred of You" don't sound like the comic book episodes from the band's past. One has to read the lyric sheet to see that "Blue Blue Ships" is actually a haunting song sung as if Dawson had already passed over. It has ten times the composing skills that Neilsen and Dawson displayed on the previous album's "Shooting Star," the material maturing along with Coven's musicianship. "I Need a Hundred of You" is fun, singer Dawson and guitarist Neilsen collaborating on a song that in future days would be thought of as a song about cloning. It's a shame Buddah dropped the ball on Coven and artists like Buzzy Linhart, who they recorded and marketed but couldn't break on the level of Gladys Knight and some of their higher-profile groups. The version of Alan O'Day's "Easy Evil," covered by Lulu, Genya Ravan, Dusty Springfield, and so many others, really fits. Alan Estes, a Tammy Wynette co-writer and percussion player on many recordings, guests on conga drums, helping give this up-tempo version a uniquely fun perspective. Dawson sounds like she's having a blast, interpreting O'Day's nugget with more drive than the group's take on Leiber Stoller's "Jailhouse Rock" from the previous self-titled outing. Blood on the Snow is an album that, if not a financial success, proves that Coven had more talent than the band was ever given credit for, the title track being the one where the group really cuts loose and goes back to its roots with some blazing hard rock. Though it doesn't contain Coven's hit single, this is the band's key recording.
- Joe Viglione, All Music Guide"

Despite the vast disparity in style. it appears to be the same group with all three albums featuring Jinx Dawson's vocals.

And they speak of Coven being an influence for Black Sabbath.

So how many Ozzys are there, 1 2 or 3 ?

Yes, I saw all three of these albums when I found out the FULL title of the "Witchcraft..." album.

And guess what-this IS the band my aunt was thinking of! I called her and mentioned that the group Coven had an album which had Witchcraft in the title. She asked if Wicked Woman was one of the songs and I said yes.

Apparently all the refer back then clouded her memory.

OK, the reason why I'm digging up this two 1/2 year-old thread is because I found a download of the Coven "Witchcraft" album, and MAN, is it creepy! On the surface, it's just 60's folky psychedelia of a Jefferson Airplane nature, but the satanic overtones just make it BIZARRE! (and I can't listen to the "Satanic Mass", quite frankly I'm terrified of it....). According to what I've read, the band studied and practiced satanism (though they "didn't go overboard and do anything bad", according to singer Jinx Dawson).

Though the album was only in print for a short time (It was pulled in the wake of the Manson Family murders for fear that people might make a connection of some sort), It just ASTOUNDS me that an album of such blatant satanic content came out in 1969, on a MAJOR LABEL, no less (Mercury), and apparently no one batted an eyelash! This was, after all, only 3 years after Lennon's "Jesus" statement. Not only that, but this band would go on to have a TOP 40 HIT!!

And Heavy Metal always got a bad rap... The irony is not lost on me.....

[dave910]

Pete,

You and I were just discussing this the other evening! You have to play me a sample of that first Coven album. Better yet, we should ask our friend Jody if he's ever found a copy.