[.ca] Commander Cody A/H Lost Planet

The band's second peak:
The 1970s premier hippy-country-rock-swing band recorded four long players and an unlikely hit (a 1971 cover of Johnny Bond's "Hot Rod Lincoln") before jumping to Warner Brothers for this album. This self titled work represents the peak of the band's studio craft, ably assisted by John Boylan (the man who put The Eagles together), playing, singing, writing and collecting songs across their entire stylistic range. Sad-sack country tales of displaced Okies spin back-to-back with jump blues and trucker tales (a finer reading of Lowell George's "Willin'" would be hard to find - never have "weed, whites and wine" been in more knowing hands), mixing it up with Hawaiian-themed pop and New Orleans R & B that draw on exquisite steel, piano and sax playing. Sausalito's Record Plant gave these tracks a clarity and crispness missing from the band's earlier albums, knitting the disparate material into an amazingly cohesive whole. This is the refined version of the invention they debuted on "Lost in the Ozone," and though the vision may not have been as new, it was still just as powerful. This original lineup would last just two more albums, but before drifting on to separate fortunes, they waxed a legacy of inventive, highly-lovable albums, with this being chief among them. The entire catalog has been spottily reissued on CD, this being the first legitimate domestic issue of this Warner-era LP. A must-have for Cody fans, and anyone who loves brilliantly played eclectic hippy-country-swing-and-rock.

A "Must-Have" for any fan:
This album is, in my view, second only to Tales From The Ozone with regard to composition and musicianship. Some of my absolute favorites are on this album. Their version of Lowell George's song, Willin', is the best I've heard (even better than the original by Little Feat). This band was at their peak with this album & Tales From the Ozone (only recently available on CD). This is Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen at their very best.

• Southbound
• Don't Let Go
• California Okie
• Willin'
• Boogie Man Boogie
• Hawaii Blues
• House of Blue Lights
• Keep on Lovin' Her
• Devil and Me
• Four or Five Times
• That's What I Like About the South