Titus Oates from Dallas, TX,was a progressive hard rock five-piece that was never well known. Named after the fun-loving 17th Century serial perjurer and Catholic-bater Titus Oates, the rock combo released this lone psychedelic album "Jungle Lady" in 1974.
johnkatsmc5, http://www.discogs.com/user/johnkatsmc5
The album, which is extremely well recorded, has, despite the band's Texan origins, a decidedly West Coast feel. Although their Southern roots do occasionally come to the surface in the form of some excellent Allman Brothers-style dual-guitar interludes, progressive rock keyboards and a couple of heavy bass riff-focused power tunes.
Titus Oates was a Dallas, TX, progressive hard rock five-piece that was never well known. The group's lone 1974 LP was only issued locally on the Lips label, and until this reissue from Radioactive the only way to hear the thing was to lay down hard cash for a shoddy bootleg -- an important point because, while it may not have the bombast of a major-label recording, Jungle Lady does not suffer from the murky sonics that dog most self-released records of this sort. Because it was a local pressing, it has been nearly impossible to locate, too; as a result, Titus Oates has been at the top of many collectors' want lists for years, its legend growing every time someone added it to a personal catalog of Holy Grails. Does it live up to the hype? Sort of. Jungle Lady is a competent curiosity that balances tough Texas-style hard rock playing -- it's not ZZ Top, but it's close -- with progressive rock keyboards and jazzy guitar licks. Those aren't things that often intersect, and so the legend is deserved. The execution leaves something to be desired, though, and despite some very nice guitar playing, Titus Oates sits flatly at the journeyman rock level, which is probably why Jungle Lady didn't make it out of Dallas the first time around. That doesn't really take away from enjoying Jungle Lady, though, and with its heady, largely unexplored mix of rock grit and prog flourish, it's sure to find an appreciative audience.
Yohan Spiritwalker, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV7KzGfQCG0
Titus Oates was a Dallas, TX, progressive hard rock five-piece that was never well known. The group's lone 1974 LP was only issued locally on the Lips label, and until this reissue from Radioactive the only way to hear the thing was to lay down hard cash for a shoddy bootleg -- an important point because, while it may not have the bombast of a major-label recording, Jungle Lady does not suffer from the murky sonics that dog most self-released records of this sort. Because it was a local pressing, it has been nearly impossible to locate, too; as a result, Titus Oates has been at the top of many collectors' want lists for years, its legend growing every time someone added it to a personal catalog of Holy Grails.Does it live up to the hype? Sort of. Jungle Lady is a competent curiosity that balances tough Texas-style hard rock playing -- it's not ZZ Top, but it's close -- with progressive rock keyboards and jazzy guitar licks. Those aren't things that often intersect, and so the legend is deserved. "Jungle Lady" is a heady, largely unexplored mix of rock grit and prog flourish, it's sure to find an appreciative audience.Wade Kergan, http://therockasteria.blogspot.com/2013/02/titus-oates-jungle-lady-1974-us.html
"Jungle Lady" (1974) was the only album released on small private label ("Lips" - catalogue Nr Lips 003 R2) by Dallas-based act, which played top-league hard-rock blended with psychedelia and progressive, in many aspects coming close to super-league British peers (Act One, As Your Mind Flies By). The music of the band is talented, versatile, never boring - not unlike self-repetitive and monotonous ZZ Top* (with which it is often compared due to unknown reasons - geographically, perhaps; further to this criteria one has the right to compare, let's say, Beatles to Sex Pistols - both came from England). High-register vocal harmonies are quite amazing, the duetto on "Time Is Only To Fear" is more impressive than Jefferson Airplane's masterpieces.
The band was called "Titus Oates" - after an English perjurer (1649-1705), who fabricated Catholic plot to kill the King (by the way, he was also accused of buggery=sodomy - I mean Titus Oates, not the King). The name was chosen because of the same reasons (perhaps)as English soupergroup picked up the name of XVII century agriculturist (Jethro Tull, 1674-1741).The musicians were:
Golovanov Alexey,
Lou Tielli - guitars, Christ Eigenmann - percussion, Rick Jackson - bass guitar, arp string ensemble, lead vocals; Bill Beaudet - keyboards, Steve Todd - guitars. Angelic clear voice on "Time Is Only To Fear" belongs to Pam Jackson.
Being in Dallas, and signed to minor label, "Titus Oates" had no chances to make it big.
