Customer Rating: 
Summary: Great Gig
Comment: The Commander and his Airmen were my favourite rockin' country band of the 70's and this album shows them at their very best. Since there is no definitive Commander "Best Of" album out there, (the "Too Much Fun" album is probably the best but still less than satisfactory), Cody fans should just go out and get all their early albums (i.e. those albums released prior to 1976). Start with "Lost in the Ozone", "Hot Licks, Cold Steel and Trucker's Favourites", this Armadillo live album (and its companion piece "Sleazy Roadhouse Stories" - the rest of the Armadillo concert) and then go from there. The Airmen were not just a bunch of stoned, drunk musos but instrumentalists (and songwriters) of the highest quality. Many are still making a living from music over 30 years later. They may seem rough and ready on the albums but that was the effect they sought. Listen closely and you will hear superb musicianship, arranging, singing and songwriting (including inspired selection of covers).
CCAHLPA burned hot and bright for a short time and this live album is the pinnacle of their recorded work.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Commander Cody at His Best
Comment: These are all of the Commader Cody songs that have made him a legend. Highly recomended for any one into Rock-a-billy or Texas Rock.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Should have been a double live...
Comment: ...And it almost was a double live...the commander wanted it that way, record company said no...what do record companies know? Not much, sadly, becuase there WAS a WHOLE LOT more music from this concert at the world-famous Armadillo World Headquarters...the rest of this concert can be found on one of three albums...Sleazy Roadside Stories, Bar Room Classics, or Texas Roadhouse Favorites...the third mentioned is hard to find, apperantly a UK only release. Sleazy Roadside Stories has two tracks missing from the other two, but any of those are good if you want the rest of the concert. This is a great album, it has, arguably, the BEST version of "Riot In Cell Block #9" ever recorded...was that July 27 1973 or 1963? Hmmmm Anyway, crank this one up, crack open a lone star, and drift away to 525 and 1/2 Barton Springs Road in Austin, TX...in 1973, was there a better place to see the greatest progressive country band in history?
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Good Rockin Tonight
Comment: There were a lot of groups that I enjoyed in my wilder 20's and 30's. Asleep at the Wheel was my favorite until I discovered Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen. These guys could really rock and roll. Their early albums showed them finding their style and they kept getting better. Unfortunately, when they had really hit their stride, the real talent of the group went elsewhere and we were left with the Commander and a new group. He may have put the group together and his name at the front but Commander Cody was not the heart and soul of this group.
"Live from Deep in the Heart of Texas" is one of those great later albums when the group had found their sound and wasn't afraid to show it. My favorite cuts are "Sunset on the Sage", "Git It", "Diggy Liggy Lo", "Mean Woman Blues", and "Too Much Fun". They show that they can do ballads, rock and roll, and out of control rockabilly. I thing what gives them their special sound is the liberal use of the pedal steel guitar and the fiddle. It gives their sound a sort of "take off" to a higher level.
I saw Asleep at the Wheel live on several occassions (including the original cast) but I never had an opportunity to see Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen. There's nothing I can do to fill the void except continue to listen to their live albums. If you can't get excited about this album, you're on too much medication.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Superb live album of hippie-country-rock-swing
Comment: Following a third album that didn't shine as inventively as their first two, the Airmen returned with an absolutely brilliant document of all that their music meant. Recorded live at Austin, Texas' "World Armadillo Headquarters," the Airmen sound like the Buckaroos in their prime: relaxed, confident, and deadly across a wide variety of inter-related musical genres. They even cover Owens' "Crying Time," much to the crowd's delight.The band swings effortlessly from the opening fiddle-driven instrumental into a rousing take of Elvis' "Good Rockin' Tonight." They cruise along with Johnny Horton's trucker themed "I'm Coming Home" only to plow headlong into the misery of the band's signature "Seeds and Stems (Again)." They harmonize with equal beauty for the cowboy tune, "Sunset on the Sage," and the doo-wop "Git It." The Commander gets his boogie-woogie slot on the band-penned "Oh Momma," and his spoken-vocal leads a guitar-and-sax heavy take of Leiber & Stoller's "Riot in Cell Block #9. The Cajun-influenced "Diggy Liggy Lo" bursts with incredible, manic energy, and the band's "Too Much Fun" shows what a fine dance-combo they were, as does the rousing closer, "Mean Woman Blues." This would be the last record the band would make before jumping to Warner Brothers, and it's a pitch-perfect document of all they created in their time at Paramount. All that's missing from this album is the dancer's sweat and a cold Shiner Bock -- the good times are preserved here for all to hear.
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