Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen
| Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen | |
|---|---|
 Andy Stein (L) and John Tichy (R) at the Hollywood Bowl opening for Grateful Dead, July 21, 1974. The Wall of Sound PA is in the background. Photo: David Gans | |
| Background information | |
| Origin |
Ann Arbor, Michigan United States |
| Genres | Country rock, Western swing, rock and roll, rockabilly, jump blues, Americana |
| Years active | 1967–1976, 1997–present as "The Commander Cody Band"[1] |
| Associated acts | Asleep at the Wheel |
| Members |
George Frayne (Commander Cody) Steve Barbuto Mark Emerick Randy Bramwell Greg Irwin (interim) |
| Past members |
John Tichy Billy C. Farlow Bill Kirchen Andy Stein Paul "Buffalo" Bruce Barlow Norton Buffalo Lance Dickerson Bobby Black Steve Davis (The West Virginia Creeper) Peter Siegel Rick Mullen Rick Higginbotham Ernie Hagar |
Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen is an American country rock band founded in 1967. Core members included founder George Frayne IV (alias Commander Cody, born July 19, 1944 at Boise, Idaho) on keyboards & vocals; Billy C. Farlow (b. Decatur, Alabama) on vocals and harmonica; John Tichy (b. St. Louis, Missouri) on guitar and vocals; Bill Kirchen (b. January 29, 1948 at Ann Arbor, Michigan) on lead guitar; Andy Stein (b. August 31, 1948 at New York) on saxophone and fiddle; Paul "Buffalo" Bruce Barlow (b. December 3, 1948 at Oxnard, California) on bass guitar; Lance Dickerson (b. October 15, 1948 at Livonia, Michigan; died November 10, 2003 at Fairfax, California) on drums; Steve Davis (b. July 18, 1946 at Charleston, West Virginia) and Bobby Black on steel guitar.
The band's style mixed country, rock 'n' roll, Western swing, rockabilly, and jump blues together on a foundation of boogie-woogie piano. It was among the first country-rock bands to take its cues less from folk-rock and bluegrass and more from barroom country of the Ernest Tubb and Ray Price style. The band became known for marathon live shows.
History
Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen formed in 1967 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with Frayne taking the stage name Commander Cody. The band’s name was inspired by 1950s film serials featuring the character Commando Cody and from a feature version of an earlier serial, King of the Rocket Men, released under the title Lost Planet Airmen.
After playing for several years in local bars, the core members migrated to San Francisco (along with the similar Asleep at the Wheel[2]) and soon got a recording contract with Paramount Records. The group released their first album in late 1971, Lost in the Ozone, which yielded its best-known hit, a cover version of the 1955 song "Hot Rod Lincoln", which reached the top ten on the Billboard singles chart in early 1972. The band's 1974 live recording, Live from Deep in the Heart of Texas features cover art of armadillos by Jim Franklin. The band released several moderately successful albums through the first half of the 1970s. After appearing in the Roger Corman movie Hollywood Boulevard, Frayne disbanded the group in 1976.
John Tichy had previously earned a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and became head of the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York.[2]
"Hot Rod Lincoln", the band's most famous recording, was voted a Legendary Michigan Song in 2008.[3] The following year Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen were inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame.[4]
Geoffrey Stokes' 1976 book Star-Making Machinery featured Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen as its primary case study of music industry production and marketing. Stokes relates the difficulties the band had recording its first album for Warner Bros. Records. The label wanted a hit album along the lines of the soft country-rock of The Eagles, but the band was not inclined to change its raw-edged style.
George Frayne
Retaining his stage name of Commander Cody, Frayne had a subsequent solo career, touring and releasing albums from 1977 on. Later some unauthorized Lost Planet Airmen recordings were released in Europe and Australia along with previously unreleased LPA tracks and some outtakes from existing Paramount and Warner releases. Recent releases have been as "The Commander Cody Band" as well as "Commander Cody and his Modern Day Airmen". In addition to Frayne, current members of the band include Steve Barbuto on drums and Mark Emerick on guitar.
Frayne is also an artist. He received a bachelor's in design from the University of Michigan in 1966 and a master's in Sculpture and Painting from the Rackham School of Graduate Studies of the University of Michigan in 1968. He taught at University of Michigan and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and has had his art exhibited at numerous shows.[5] He is a student of cinematography, and has a video (Two Triple Cheese Side Order of Fries) in the Museum of Modern Art's permanent video archive. Some of his paintings are oversized, most are medium-sized acrylics and present pop art images from media sources and historic photos.[6] His book, Art Music and Life was released by Qualibre Publications in 2009 and is a mix of his best work and anecdotal comments and related stories. He still does portraits of famous automobiles for the Saratoga Auto Museum in Saratoga Springs, New York, where he currently resides.
George's brother Chris Frayne is credited with the cover art for the Lost in the Ozone, Sleazy Roadside Stories, Hot Licks, Cold Steel & Truckers' Favorites, and Country Casanova albums. He shared credit with George for the album cover for Aces High, and designed other album covers in the music industry. Chris Frayne died in 1992 of multiple sclerosis.[2]
Discography
Albums
| Year | Album | Chart Positions | Label | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US Country | CAN | |||
| 1971 | Lost in the Ozone | 82 | — | 75 | Paramount |
| 1972 | Hot Licks, Cold Steel & Truckers Favorites | 94 | — | — | |
| 1973 | Country Casanova | 104 | 47 | — | |
| 1974 | Live from Deep in the Heart of Texas | 105 | — | — | |
| 1975 | Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen | 58 | — | 95 | Warner Brothers |
| Tales from the Ozone | 168 | — | — | ||
| 1976 | We've Got a Live One Here! | 170 | — | — | |
| 1977 | Rock 'N Roll Again (Midnight Man) | 163 | — | — | Arista |
| 1978 | Flying Dreams | — | — | — | |
| 1980 | Lose It Tonight | — | — | — | Line |
| 1986 | Let's Rock | — | — | — | Blind Pig |
| 1988 | Sleazy Roadside Stories | — | — | — | Relix |
| 1990 | Aces High | — | — | — | |
| Too Much Fun: The Best Of | — | — | — | MCA | |
| 1994 | Worst Case Scenario | — | — | — | Aim |
| 1996 | The Tour from Hell (1993) | — | — | — | |
| 2000 | Live at Gilley's | — | — | — | Atlantic |
| 2002 | Command Performance | — | — | — | BMG |
| 2003 | King Biscuit Flower Hour Archive Series: Greatest Hits Live | — | — | — | KBFH Records |
| 2005 | All the Way from Turkey Trot | — | — | — | Fa-Ka-Wee |
| 2009 | Dopers, Drunks and Everyday Losers | — | — | — | Blind Pig |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart Positions | Album | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US Country | CAN | CAN Country | CAN AC | |||
| 1971 | "Lost in the Ozone" | — | — | — | — | — | Lost in the Ozone |
| 1972 | "Hot Rod Lincoln" | 9 | 51 | 7 | — | — | |
| "Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar" | 81 | — | 87 | — | — | ||
| "Truck Stop Rock" | — | — | — | — | — | Hot Licks, Cold Steel & Truckers Favorites | |
| 1973 | "Semi-Truck" | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)" | 94 | 97 | — | 99 | 37 | Country Cassanova | |
| 1974 | "Diggy Liggy Lo" | — | — | — | — | — | Live from Deep in the Heart of Texas |
| "Riot in Cell Block No. 9" | — | — | — | — | — | single only | |
| 1975 | "Don't Let Go" | 56 | — | 85 | — | — | Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen |
| "It's Gonna Be One of Those Nights" | — | — | — | — | — | Tales from the Ozone | |
| 1981 | "2 Triple Cheese (Side Order of Fries)" | — | — | — | — | — | Lose It Tonight |
| "Roll the Dice" | — | — | — | — | — | ||
References
- ↑ "The Bio". Commander Cody. Retrieved 2013-06-27.
- 1 2 3 "Vile Gossip", Jean Jennings, Automobile Magazine, February 2007
- ↑ "Legendary Michigan Songs". Michigan Rock and Roll Legends. 1965-02-25. Retrieved 2013-06-27.
- ↑ "Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen". Michigan Rock and Roll Legends. Retrieved 2013-06-27.
- ↑ Archived January 3, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ "A brush with art: Sensitive painter George Frayne still rocks as Commander Cody", Austin American-Statesman (October 18, 1986) p D-1