Rock that boogie (Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen) (LP 518 - 520)

Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen Country Casanova (Vinyl, Paramount Records, 1973) *** 

Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen (Vinyl, Warner Brothers Records, 1975) *** 

Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen Tales From the Ozone (Vinyl, Paramount Records, 1975) *** 

Genre: Country 

Places I remember: First two came from Real Groovy, third was from a second hand shop in Manchester.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Rock That Boogie (Country Casanova)

Gear costume: Smoke Smoke Smoke (That Cigarette) 

Active compensatory factors: I have a soft spot for Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen. They don't take themselves too seriously; they are a lot of fun; they boogie and they swing in a down home country way; they don't sound slick and polished - more like a garage band than a bunch of Nashville cats; and their album covers are a real hoot!

Each album is a rewarding experience. The second one here (actually their 4th studio album) sounds more honed, and Willin' is the perfect song for the boys to do.

Tales From the Ozone was their fifth studio album and the last one to feature most of the original lineup. It continues the varied approach - from Minnie The Moocher to The Band like Lightnin' Bar Blues.

Where do they all belong? That wraps up the Commander's albums. If you want a great sampler - Too Much Fun has all the high spots.

Hey hey hey (Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen) (LP 7)

Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen  Texas Roadhouse Favorites (CD - Music Avenue, 2005) ***

Genre:  Country rock

Places I remember: New Plymouth's Sounds , before they became rebranded as Marbecks, in the City Centre Mall.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles:   The live version of Hot Rod Lincoln is sublime!

Gear costume: The band is especially hot on Beat Me Daddy, Eight To The Bar with George Frayne (a.k.a. Commander Cody) on boogie woogie piano in sizzling form.

Active compensatory factors: This was recorded in 1974 during the gigs at the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, Texas. A live album Live From Deep In The Heart Of Texas was originally released as the band's fourth album. These tracks were left off that album because the record company wouldn't do a double album!

The only disappointing aspect here is that the audience noise fades after each song. I hate that. I much prefer the feeling that I'm at the concert and that comes with seamless morphing into the next song.

The cover to Texas Roadhouse Favorites is, of course, a shocker! I love the Live...Texas cover with all the armadillos grooving to the Lost Planet Airmen and this one is terrible in comparison.

Where do they all belong? This is really part of a country rock tradition that merges traditional country sounds like pedal steel guitar with guitars and such, so bands like Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks are where the action is.

I close my eyes and remember the days of a blood red sky and a purple haze (Starship)

The final theme centres on the arty farty world of the album cover. In practice this is a bit of a mixture of comic book art, drawings, and paintings used to sell an image - Commander Cody as a Flash Gordon type character, Conan the Barbarian style warriors used on the southern boogie band Molly Hatchet and so on.

I have many favourites in this category - here are the first 10.

By the way - the Big Man's passing will be marked in the appropriate way in a post to come soon. In the meantime suffice to say the world got a little less flamboyent and a little less exciting as a result of his passing.