Search - Commander Cody :: Hot Licks Cold Steel & Truckers Favorites

+1/2 - Super album of hippie trucker country, rock and swing

hyperbolium | Earth, USA | 08/06/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"After inventing their unique brand of hippie-country-rock-boogie-woogie on their debut, the Airmen returned with a second helping dedicated to truckers and trucking. As on their first album, the band wrote and borrowed originals to mix with brilliantly picked covers. Newly penned classics include the country rockers, "Truck Stop Rock" and "Semi-Truck," the seductive, bluesy "Cravin' Your Love," and the old-timey country-gospel of "Kentucky Hills of Tennessee."Covers include one of the best-ever readings of Terry Fell's "Truck Drivin' Man" and a scorching, bar-ready take of "Rip it Up." The Commander takes the microphone for Memphis' Curtis spoken blues, "It Should've Been Me," with a fine fat-toned sax solo from Andy Stein. Stein also swings his fiddle for the cajun-flavored "Diggy Liggy Lo."The toughness of the trucker's life is sung in the classic "Lookin' at the World Through a Windshield," and in Blackie Ferrell's brilliant "Mama Hated Diesels." The loneliness of the road and the emotional wreckage a trucker's life levies on those left behind is one of country music's most powerful archetypes, and the Airmen play it for all it's worth.Though the recording is a bit tinny in spots, the playing and singing are top-notch, and an essential part of the Airmen's ouvre. MCA's put this out on CD and then let it drop from their catalog, which means you either have to track down a used copy or see if the Commander himself has any left in his personal stash.4-1/2 stars, if allowed fractional ratings."

Great Album, Sadly, It's Hard To Find

Earl Jones | DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS | 12/08/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Commander's 2nd album, full of great truck drivin, gear jammin tunes, that will be a delight to the truck stop rockin' redneck in all of us. This album was the most difficult to track down on CD out of everything the good commander ever released. It was released in the early 90s, and was pulled from the catalog real fast, and like Country Casanova, remains rare, and worth quite a bit of money on CD today, due to it's rarity. The only complaint I have about the CD version of this disc, is the MCA "Compact Disc/Compact Price Bastardization of this album" which removed the nice artwork from the back cover, and the super cool picture of all the people dancing to an early live performance put on by CC/LPA...maybe one day it'll be released...untill then, if you have this rare gem on CD, or vynl, or tape,or 8 track, or whatever...be careful with it! There's no replacing it without some effort."