Genre: psych
Rating: 3 stars ***
Title: Jungle Lady
Company: LIPS
Catalog: L 003
Year: 1974
Country/State: Dallas, Texas
Grade (cover/record): VG / VG
Comments: #353 out of 1000
Available: not available
GEMM catalog ID: not available
Price: not available
James Plummer's Radioactive Records was one of those 'gray area' reissue labels. Before going under in 2006 the label apparently paid royalties to some artists, but screwed far more outfits over. That said, I'm not sure whether this band ever saw any money out of the company ... If I were a betting man, I'd say no. Assuming the Radioactive release was a boot that puts people in the tough position of having to shell out some big bucks for an original copy, waiting for an approved reissue, or temporarily abandoning their morals in order to check the music out. It's not much of a personal defense, but I actually bought a couple of Radioactive releases after I saw a full page ad they'd placed in a nationally distributed music magazine. I mistakenly thought that a company with such a blatant ad campaign must be legitimate. (You'll also notice that my Radioactive copy of the LP isn't for sale.)
You have to admire a band that took it's name from a 16th century lowlife who as a priest was adultery, blasphemy, homosexual behavior, drunkenness, perjury, and a host of other crimes.
Formed in Dallas the early-1970s, Titus Oates featured the talents of keyboardist Bill Beaudet, drummer Steve Eigenmann, singer/keyboardist Rick Jackson (his wife Pam handled lead vocals on a couple of tracks), lead guitarist Lou Tielli, and rhythm guitarist Steve Todd. The group apparently toured regionally for a number of years, releasing "Jungle Lady" on the local Lips label in 1974. Given the hyperbole surrounding this one and the hefty price an original commands, I was somewhat skeptical of this one. The first couple of times I played the set it didn't make a gigantic impression on me. As lead singer Jackson was okay; though judging by the pretty ballad 'Time Is Only To Fear'' his wife (?) Pam was actually the better singer (okay, technically she wasn't in the band). To be honest the thing that made the most impression on me were guitarists Tielli and Todd who turned in some nice twin lead work - check out the opening title track. The same was basically true for the nine original songs - competent AOR that wasn't quite ready for the prime time. Having set it aside for a couple of months when I gave the album a second chance it turned out to be better than my original impressions. For one thing Jackson's voice was better than I originally thought - particularly when he cut lose on the harder rocking numbers. Musically it was still a schizophrenic mess with the band apparently trying to cover all of their bases including top-40 pop ('Dream On a Train' and the painfully cheesy ballad 'Friend of Life'), Allman Brothers-styled rockers ('Blanket' and 'Jupiter, Mars'), and even lite funk ('Don't Get Your Honey Where You Make Your Money'). As before, the band's twin lead guitars provided the majority of highlights which probably explained why they were at their best on the up-tempo numbers. Shame they didn't get a little more time to develop 'cause they has some real talent. Not the hyped masterpiece and I'd certainly think about checking out a reissue before shelling out $300 - $400 for an original copy, but all 'n all not bad.
"Jungle
Lady" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) Jungle Lady (B.M.J. - Lou Tielle - Rick Jackson) -
2.) Dream On a Train (B.M.J. - Lou Tielle - Rick Jackson) -
3.) Blanket (B.M.J. - Lou Tielle - Rick Jackson) -
4.) Friend of Life (B.M.J. - Lou Tielle - Rick Jackson) -
(side
2)
1.) Jupiter, Mars (B.M.J. - Lou Tielle - Rick Jackson)
-
2.) Time Is Only To Fear (B.M.J. - Lou Tielle - Rick Jackson) -
3.) Mr. Lips (B.M.J. - Lou Tielle - Rick Jackson) -
4.) Don't Get Your Honey Where You Make Your Money (B.M.J. - Lou Tielle - Rick Jackson) -
5.) The Cage 7/2/74 (B.M.J. - Lou Tielle - Rick Jackson) -
There were apparently two versions of the LP. They sport different mixes, the second version released in 1975 being the superior of the two. There's a poor quality 1988 boot on the Hablabel (catalog number HBL 11006). The Hablabel reissue is easy to spot since it sports a different color scheme.
As mentioned earlier, in 2004 the album was reissued by the English Radioactive label in vinyl (RRLP026) and CD formats (RRCD026). The Radioactive reissue suffers from defective mastering with a noticeable skip in track 6 'Time Is Only To Fear'.
Rick Jackson has recently set up a Titus Oates website, though as of early 2008 it was a work in progress:
http://www.titusoates.net/index.html
Tielle remained active in music, including recording with The G-Men, Big Smoo and the Trailer Park Kings and the wedding/dance band The Fins.