Artist's albums
Too Much Fun
1990 · album
Hot Rod Lincoln (Live)
2022 · single
Strange Adventures On Planet Earth (Live)
2021 · album
Wine Do Yer Stuff (Live)
2021 · single
Bear's Sonic Journals: Found in the Ozone
2020 · album
Hot Rod Lincoln (Re-Recorded)
2020 · single
Commander Cody - Live in San Francisco
2016 · album
Riot in Cell Block #9
2014 · album
Hot to Trot
2012 · album
The Commander Live - [The Dave Cash Collection]
2011 · album
Truck Stop Rock
2010 · album
In the Midwest
2010 · compilation
Sea Cruise
2010 · album
The Best Of Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen
2009 · compilation
Good Rockin' Tonight
2009 · album
Live In The Ozone - 1973 U.S. Tour
2008 · album
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Biography
Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen were equally adept at stripped-down basic rock & roll, R&B, and gritty country-rock. Commander Cody's country-rock rocked harder than the Eagles or Poco -- essentially, the group was a bar band. Much like English pub rock bands like Brinsley Schwarz and Ducks Deluxe, Commander Cody resisted the overblown and bombastic trends of early-'70s rock, preferring a basic no-frills approach. Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen never had the impact of the British pub rockers, yet their straightforward energy gave their records a distinguishing drive; they could play country, Western swing, rockabilly, and R&B, and it all sounded convincing. The group originally formed in 1967 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The original lineup included Commander Cody himself (born George Frayne IV, piano), John Tichy (lead guitar), Steve Schwartz (guitar), Steve "The West Virginia Creeper" Davis (bass), and Ralph Mallory (drums). When the group relocated to San Francisco the following year, only Frayne, Bolton, and Tichy made the move; the group's membership had been bolstered to include Billy C. Farlow (vocals, harp), Andy Stein (fiddle, saxophone), guitarist Bill Kirchen, bassist "Buffalo" Bruce Barlow, and drummer Lance Dickerson for their 1971 debut album, Lost in the Ozone. The following year the group scored a fluke Top Ten hit with "Hot Rod Lincoln," taken from their first album, Lost in the Ozone. Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen were never able to capitalize on the single's success, partially because their LPs never completely captured their live energy. They continued to release albums until Tichy left the band in 1976. Commander Cody released his first solo album, Midnight Man, in 1977, then he re-formed the group as the Commander Cody Band. The group recorded three albums between 1977 and 1980. In 2009, after a 23-year hiatus, Commander Cody returned to the studio for Dopers, Drunks and Everyday Losers, a collection of new songs and classics from the Cody catalog. George Frayne IV (aka Commander Cody) died of cancer on September 26, 2021 at the age of 77. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi