This was a dollar. My buddy Jeremy turned me on to it so I was looking out for it. Apparently, he got his copy out of a dumpster while working construction.
Mr Lucky was a Blake Edwards television show on CBS which aired in 1959. Despite being one of the highest rated new shows, it was dropped after one season. It is the kind of show you would watch today if you did not have cable and naturally watched a lot of Antenna Television or MeTv. Henry Mancini wrote the theme music and put out two Mr Lucky records, both of which were successful (this one a bit more so).
This album is Mancini reworking some of the shows tunes with Latin flair. This was made during his 60’s prime years and there are plenty of Mancini-isms on this. The music is very good and the instrumentation is spread. Highlights include “Rain Drops in Rio” , “The Sound of Silver”, “Blue Mantilla”, and “Cow Bells and Coffee Beans”. I will admit; it took me a couple of listens to really like this album, but once I gave it a few listens, I really liked it.
As a side note, “Lujon” was used in The Big Lebowski. It was used as the background theme music for Jackie Treehorn. Because other blogs have noted this and posted this song on thier blogs. I decided to post “No Cal Sugar Loaf”. Otherwise, it would have been the other one.
Top Rated album. Thanks Jeremy.