AMG Review of Wonderland by Night

Greg Adams
All Music Guide

Wonderland By Night is a far cry from the boisterous, good-time Italian swing of Louis Prima's popular Capitol recordings. This sequel to Prima's 1960 album, Pretty Music: Prima Style, is comprised of orchestral pop instrumentals, some of which incorporate a wordless vocal chorus. Nighttime is the theme of the album, with Prima's trumpet out in front to carry the melody. Prima's copycat version of the title track competed on the charts with Bert Kaempfert's original, but Kaempfert enjoyed substantially greater success. Wonderland By Night is a fine, atmospheric album that sets an evening mood any time of the day, but is completely unlike the music for which Prima is best known.