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Lucky Luck, The Best of Lucky Luck – If you’re looking for an obscure, hardcore tiki type album to play at your next tiki party, one with a strong old-school vibe yet fun, interesting, and thematically island-centric, Luky Luck may be your guy. I have a lot of Hawaii themed music on vinyl (Ed “Kamanaloha” Kenney & The Hilo Hawaiians, for example), but unlike that older stylized sound which blends in with a party, Lucky Luck is more of a guest. Let’s face it, tiki drink themed parties are never quiet affairs and rum drinks, torches, grilled pork, and tiki mugs require a musical vibe that this Waco, Texas to Hawaii transplant provides. Learning the Samoan language well enough to score a gig as a translator during WWII & being buddies with the Gov. of Hawaii led to a strong career in aloha culture. He’s kind of an Island-themed balladeer & folk artist combo, who sing/talks his way through such chestnuts, or should I say coconuts, like Mynah Bird, Hapa Hapa Hula Girl, & Kanaka Nui Hotel. He’s straight out of the fifties with his jokes, and “hey, brudda,” and rowdy background singers & crowds. A Hawaiian Phil Harris would be a good comparison. Get this while you can.
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When I recently heard that the pop-tiki-writer-guru of Polynesian culture had created a collection on disk of what, he considers, absolute tiki classics, I didn’t just bite, I dove in and ordered it. It’s just a killer tiki-themed album, definitely the best I own and so chock full of themed classics that you could, if necessary, just play this one over and over again at your next tiki-drink party, or while you’re just having a couple at home. Gold, I tells ya, gold. Don Ho singing the Hawaii 5-0 theme, original tiki restaurant commercial themes, Martin Denny & Les Baxter classics & even the seldom-heard yet important first hippy turned Island beat poet & crooner, Eden Ahbez. Throw in a few more Hawaiian themed detective show themes and a few more equally entertaining gems, and man, do you have a record on your hands. The filler pages or classic tiki & Hawaii themed pop-art & album covers will more than entertain you should you be sipping alone. Sven wrote The Book of Tiki, Modern Tiki, & Tiki Style, all considered classics, so he more than knows what he’s talking about. I honestly hope he follows this CD up with another volume ’cause it’s so darned good. If you ever mix juice with your rum, buy this record.
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This is a cold beer album if there ever was one. An entire rockabilly styled record built entirely around the theme of fast, souped-up cars. Dick’s a Fender guitar genius and he plays like his fingers are on fire, leaving most other California style guitarists & guitar bands behind in his exhaust trail. Far from the traditional lounge. swing, jazz and crooner sounds I review here, I still feel that this guitar & rhythm jacked sound has its place in your home bar or garage bench. It’s fast, fun, retro-chilly and, like I said, will go great with a couple cold beers on a late Saturday afternoon. If you dig the old cars like I do, and an old Rock ‘n Roll sound, Dick will certainly take you there. Songs include Wild, Wild Mustang, 50 Miles To Go, Big Black Cad, & more.
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Slowin’ things way, way down with this next pick. Tony Arden was a singer from back in the day who can best be compared to Margaret Whiting, Jerry Southern and Dinah Shore. She has that 40’s living room quality which I enjoy on rainy evenings with a classic drink of the same era. We lost her last year at 88, and really, I believe she was one of the last surviving songbird, Big Band singers which America cherished some sixty years ago. I refuse to let this style of singing and innocence through song vanish from our homes. Optimistic, heavily stylized, lilting and beautiful, this type of singer, and Toni’s a fantastic one, reminds the listener of our jazz singers’ beginnings. Everything, as long as love was involved, was put into the lyrics and interpretation by these women. I thank them every time my needle hits the vinyl. Songs include Too Late Now, Wonder Why, Rain, & more.
