LUCKY
RECORDS

 Lucky Records was a British Country label, dating from 1969 and into the 70's. Lucky was a joint venture between Cliff Cooper's Orange Record company and Opry music magazine, and it was due to release its first five records on the first of September, via mail order only. The new label was to be the first British one to be dedicated to Country music, the five records were to be by Phil Brady, the Cody Nash Outfit, Brian Chalker, Country Express, and Hickory Wind - the first four duly appeared but there's no sign of a Hickory Wind release. Orange had taken over Opry magazine and had gained sole ownership of the Lucky label.  Manufacture of Lucky records was by Pye; distribution was still by mail order only at that point, Willie Nelson had heard a couple of Lucky releases and had been so impressed by the sound of them that he was flying to London to record an album at Orange. A distribution deal in 1969: Would be a relaunch of the label in February, with the release of six mid-price (19s 11d) albums which would be distributed by Pye. In 1970, the company had signed a worldwide distribution agreement with Pye and that Gordon Smith, the founder of the Country Music Federation, was Lucky's executive producer.  The first six LPs were now available, and it was expected that in the future selected album tracks would be issued as singles.  The manufacture of a batch of six singles was 500 copies, each of records by Cody Nash, Dave Plane & Lisa Turner, Ian Russell, Country Fever, the Hillsiders and Ron Ryan had been made specially for the second Country Music festival at Wembley, the tracks being taken from Lucky's first six LPs.  There's no sign of the Ron Ryan single, but LU-109 is missing from the discography below. All six appear to only have been pressed as promos, the company's LPs were available through Pye its singles remained mail-order only, It did however continue to release records into 1971.  A couple of singles featuring Lucky artists and produced by Gordon Smith came out on Pye in July 1970, which suggests that the company had given up on that particular medium by that point and had licensed the material to Pye; the records concerned were Country Fever's 'A Picture Of You' b/w 'Too Far Gone' (7N-17963) and 'The Exeter By-Pass' b/w 'Papa' by Phil Brady & The Ranchers (7N-17964). Lucky's roster of artists included several acts which were highly regarded in their particular field.  The company's main interest was in albums, of which more than twenty were released, including a double sampler, but catalogue numbers suggest that some fifteen singles were issued as well, in an LU-100 numerical series.  Ian Russell's 'Love Locked Out' (LU-112; 3/70), a faux-mediaeval folk song about a chastity belt, was an odd departure from the usual Country fare.  Labels used the same label design throughout, but towards the end the usual pink colour was replaced by a brown one. LPs always had brown labels.  Promotional copies were in the standard Pye format of the time.   

  

69	Phil Brady	Let The Whole World Sing It With Me	LUCKY	LU	101
69	Cody Nash Outfit	Too Many Honky Tonks	LUCKY	LU	102
69	Brian Chalker	Ballad Of Ned Kelly	LUCKY	LU	103
69	Country Express	Watching Trains Go By	LUCKY	LU	104
69	David H. Lee	You'd Better Take Time	LUCKY	LU	105
70	Country Fever	Mental Revenge	LUCKY	LU	106
70	Frank Yonco	The Ballad Of Forty Dollars	LUCKY	LU	107
70	Jamie's People	Ashes To Ashes	LUCKY	LU	108
70	Not Traced		LUCKY	LU	109
70	Hillsiders	Tiger Woman	LUCKY	LU	110
70	Dave Plane And Lisa Turner	Eleven More Months And Ten More Days	LUCKY	LU	111
70	Ian Russell	Love Locked Out	LUCKY	LU	112
70	Cody Nash	Honky Tonk Season	LUCKY	LU	113
70	Country Fever	Come And Stay With Me	LUCKY	LU	114
70	Bryan Dolan	Kentucky In The Morning	LUCKY	LU	115