Country Casanova

Country Casanova
Studio album by Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen
Released	May 1973
Recorded	1973
Genre	Country rock
Length	27:36
Label	Paramount Records (original) MCA (reissue)
Producer	Stephan Jarvis
Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen chronology
Hot Licks, Cold Steel & Truckers' Favorites (1972) Country Casanova (1973) Live from Deep in the Heart of Texas (1974)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Robert Christgau	(B-)[2]

Country Casanova is the third album by the band Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. It was released in 1973 on Paramount Records.

The album was originally available on LP and 8-track, and later cassette. In 1991, it was released on CD, however, it was pulled, and put into "out of print" status after a very short time, and is, as a result, quite rare and hard to find in this format. Prices for this album on the used market can be seen at $200.00 or more. The CD re-release was issued by MCA Records, and, unfortunately, suffers the typical "compact disc, compact price" shortcomings. The front cover art is untouched, however, the picture originally appearing on the rear cover is gone, instead it is on the inside cover.

Country Casanova is highlighted by the band's classic cover version of "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)." Their cover version of "Everybody's Doin' It" reportedly got them banned from some country music stations because it includes the word "fuckin'" repeated several times, band leader George Frayne claimed in the liner notes of Too Much Fun: The Best of Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. The original song was a 1937 Western Swing recording by the Modern Mountaineers, a Texas band. It, too included "fuckin'" in the lyric, a trick pulled by pianist-vocalist Smokey Wood. Cody copied the original arrangement at a slightly faster tempo and removed the original's reference to "darkies."

Album cover

The album cover shows George Frayne, a.k.a. "The Commander", leaning against a White 1962 or 1963 Lincoln Continental (suicide doors) The car is backed up to a fence, and there is a donkey off to the left of the car. According to The Commander, the Donkey's name was also George. The Lincoln belonged to the famous Rock & Roll photographer Jim Marshall, who was the photographer who took the picture for the album cover.

Back cover

The back cover of the album features the band standing in front of their tour bus, which was a 1950s Greyhound Scenicruiser (double decker) in its past life. The bus is pulled off to the side of a road...somewhere...and to the right of the bus, in the background, you can see what looks like a blue and white Ford pickup truck cruising down the road. If you notice, Commander Cody can be seen holding a drink of some sort in this picture. Band members are displayed left to right, front to rear, as noted: Andy Stein (fiddle, saxophone) Billy C. Farlow (Lead Vocal) (both sitting on an instrument case) behind them, standing, left to right, we have Bill Kirchen (Lead guitar and banjo, lead vocal on "My Window Faces The South" and "Honeysuckle Honey") (On original the LP release, as well as the MCA CD issue of this album Kirchen's name is spelled "Kircher", which is incorrect.) Lance Dickerson (Drums) Bruce Barlow: (Fender and Stand-up Bass) John Tichy: (Rhythm Guitar and Lead Vocal on "Shall We Meet" and "Sister Sue") Bobby Black: (Pedal Steel guitar and Dobro) Commander Cody: (Piano and Lead Vocal on "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! That Cigarette").

Track listing

1. "Country Casanova"* (Billy Farlow, Michael J Richards) – 2:38
2. "Shall We Meet (Beyond the River)"* (Billy Farlow, John Tichy, Andy Stein) – 4:21
3. "My Window Faces The South" (Jerry Livingston, Mitchell Parish, Abner Silver) – 1:54
4. "One Man's Meat (Is Another Man's Poison)"* (John Tichy, Bruce Barlow, George Frayne, Billy C. Farlow) – 2:46
5. "Everybody's Doin' It" (George Frayne, Bruce Barlow, Andy Stein, Billy C. Farlow, Bill Kirchen, Lance Dickerson, John Tichy, Bobby Black) – 2:05
6. "Rock That Boogie" (George Frayne, Bruce Farlow) – 2:48
7. "Rave On!" (Norman Petty, Bill Tilghman, Sonny West) – 2:12
8. "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! That Cigarette" (Merle Travis, Tex Williams) – 3:41
9. "Sister Sue" (John Tichy, Bruce Barlow, Andy Stein, Billy C. Farlow) – 2:41
10. "Honeysuckle Honey"* (Michael J Richards)– 2:30

*Indicates songs that the band never performed live.

Personnel

• George Frayne (Commander Cody) – piano, keyboards, vocals
• Billy C. Farlow – harmonica, vocals
• Bill Kirchen – guitar, vocals
• John Tichy – guitar
• Lance Dickerson – drums, vocals
• Bruce Barlow – bass, vocals
• Andy Stein – violin, saxophone
• Bobby Black – steel guitar, vocals

Production

• Stephan Jarvis – producer
• Jim Marshall – photographer

Notes

1. ^ Tamarkin, Jeff. Country Casanova at Allmusic
2. ^ Country Casanova review by Robert Christgau