1967–1976 as Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen 1977–2021 as Commander Cody[2]
Past members
George Frayne Billy C. Farlow Bill Kirchen John Tichy Andy Stein Bruce Barlow Lance Dickerson Steve Davis Bobby Black Ernie Hagar Norton Buffalo Rick Higginbotham Nicolette Larson Peter Siegel Rick Mullen Steve Barbuto Mark Emerick Randy Bramwell Chris Olsen Professor Louie Sean Allen Tim Eschliman
Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen were an American country rock band founded in 1967.[3] The group's leader and co-founder was pianist and vocalist George Frayne IV, alias Commander Cody (born July 19, 1944, in Boise, Idaho; died September 26, 2021, in Saratoga Springs, New York).[4]
Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen formed in 1967 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States, 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, in 1969 the core members migrated to Berkeley, California,[5][6] and soon got a recording contract with Paramount Records. (About a year later, Commander Cody invited western swing revival group Asleep at the Wheel to relocate to the Bay Area.[7]) The group released their first album in November 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.[3] Shortly thereafter drummer Lance Dickerson, Bruce Barlow, the band's manager and the band's bus driver, Ed Dufault, moved to a ranch in Kenwood, California named "The Casa Felice". Here in the basement of one of the 3 houses is where the band set up a studio and practiced for upcoming tours. The tour bus at the time was a converted Greyhound bus with the name and logo "Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen" painted on the side. For a short time, the bus could be seen parked on the side of Warm Springs Road in Kenwood. 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. Their 1975 album Tales From The Ozone was produced by Hoyt Axton. After appearing in the Roger Corman movie Hollywood Boulevard, Frayne disbanded the group in 1976.[3]
Geoffrey Stokes's 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. The book also detailed various internal conflicts within the band, some related to the recording process, others not.
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.
Kirchen and Stein went on to have successful musical careers, with Kirchen being acknowledged as one of the preeminent Telecaster players in the world. Stein had a long association with the radio program, A Prairie Home Companion. 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.[7]
"Hot Rod Lincoln", the band's most famous recording, was voted a Legendary Michigan Song in 2008.[8] The following year Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen were inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame.[9]
Members of the original group, excepting Frayne, held a 50th anniversary reunion in the San Francisco Bay area in June 2019.[10][11]
The band disbanded in 1977, but the name "Commander Cody" survived, being used by Frayne in various iterations in his solo career.[A]
Commander Cody
Frayne performing as Commander Cody and His Western Airmen in Sonoma, California, in 2018, with Steve Barbuto, Tim Eschliman, Sean Allen and Peter Seigel
Retaining his stage name, George Frayne had a subsequent solo career, touring and releasing albums from 1977 on under various names including Commander Cody, the Commander Cody Band, Commander Cody and His Modern Day Airmen, and Commander Cody and His Western Airmen.[12][13][14]
Frayne was also a visual 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 the University of Michigan and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and his art was exhibited at numerous shows around the country.[15] He was 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. He has assembled many old movies to go with the band's music as shown on his YouTube channel. Some of his paintings are oversized; most are medium-sized acrylics and present pop art images from media sources and historic photos.[16] 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 did portraits of famous automobiles for the Saratoga Auto Museum in Saratoga Springs, New York, where he resided in April, 1997.[15]
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.[7]
Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen is a country rock band.
Armadillo World Headquarters was an influential Texas music hall and beer garden in Austin at 525½ Barton Springs Road – at South First Street – just south of the Colorado River and downtown Austin. The 'Dillo flourished from 1970 to 1980. The structure that housed it, an old National Guard Armory, was demolished in 1981 and replaced by a 13-story office building.
"Cry Baby Cry" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1968 double album The Beatles. It was written by John Lennon and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The coda of the song is a short segment referred to as "Can You Take Me Back", written by Paul McCartney, which was actually an outtake from the "I Will" session.
"Hot Rod Lincoln" is a song by American singer-songwriter Charlie Ryan, first released in 1955. It was written as an answer song to Arkie Shibley's 1950 hit "Hot Rod Race".
William Knight Kirchen is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a member of Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen from 1967 to the mid-1970s and later worked with Nick Lowe. Guitar Player magazine described Kirchen as "Titan of The Telecaster" for his prowess on the guitar.
Country Casanova is the third album by American rock band Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. It was released in 1973 on Paramount Records.
"Twenty Flight Rock" is a song originally performed by Eddie Cochran in the 1956 film comedy The Girl Can't Help It, and released as a single the following year. The song was published in 1957 as written by Ned Fairchild and Eddie Cochran, by American Music Incorporated and Campbell, Connelly and Company. Cochran's contribution was primarily on the music. His version is rockabilly-flavored, but artists of a variety of genres have covered the song.
Lost in the Ozone is an album by American rock band Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. Their first album, it was released in 1971. it contains their hit cover version of "Hot Rod Lincoln" as well as the band's live staples "Lost in the Ozone" and "Seeds and Stems (Again)".
Hot Licks, Cold Steel & Truckers' Favorites is the second album by American rock band Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. The album is an ode to truckers and songs about trucking, mixing classics of the genre like "Truck Drivin' Man" and "Looking at the World Through a Windshield" with the band's originals. It was released in 1972.
Live from Deep in the Heart of Texas is an album by American rock band Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. It was recorded live at the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, Texas in November 1973, and released in 1974. Unlike many live albums, it contains mostly new material and features only two previously released songs. It reached #105 on the Billboard 200 album sales chart.
Sproton Layer was an American rock and roll group formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the late 1960s. Their music was mostly hard rock with psychedelic touches.
Andy Stein is an American saxophone and violin player. He is a member of The Guys All-Star Shoe Band on the radio show A Prairie Home Companion and the movie. He was a founding member of the country rock band Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. Stein attended the University of Michigan as a contemporary of George Frayne.
"Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar" is a song written in 1940 by Don Raye, Hughie Prince, and Ray McKinley. It follows the American boogie-woogie tradition of syncopated piano music.
Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen is the fifth album by American rock band Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. Released in 1975, it was their first album for Warner Bros. Records.
Austin de Lone is an American keyboardist who records and tours with his own bands as well as with other artists, such as Bill Kirchen, Elvis Costello, Bonnie Raitt, Boz Scaggs, Nick Lowe, Commander Cody, and Loudon Wainwright.
Tales from the Ozone is an album by American rock band Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. Their sixth album, it was produced by the musician Hoyt Axton, and recorded at the Record Plant in Sausalito, California. The last studio album to feature most of the band's original lineup, it was released in 1975. It reached #168 on the Billboard 200.
We've Got a Live One Here! is an album by American rock band Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. Recorded live in England in January and February 1976, it was released later that year as a two-disc LP. The group's second live album, and seventh album overall, it reached #170 on the Billboard 200 sales chart.
Bear's Sonic Journals: Found in the Ozone is a two-CD live album by American rock band Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. It was recorded in February and March 1970 – more than 1+1⁄2 years before their first album was released in November 1971 – by audio engineer and LSD chemist Owsley "Bear" Stanley. It was released by the Owsley Stanley Foundation on July 24, 2020.
Dopers, Drunks and Everyday Losers is an album by Commander Cody. It was released in 2009.
References
Notes
↑ "Frayne continued with a solo career, still using his stage name, and toured and released albums under various titles including Commander Cody, the Commander Cody Band, Commander Cody and His Modern Day Airmen and Commander Cody and His Western Airmen."[12]
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