It's easy to draw parallels between
Bunny Paul and the more famous
Georgia Gibbs: both were white pop vocalists who enjoyed hits with covers of R&B songs, had a penchant for singing dramatic exotic pop songs ("Take a Chance" is
Paul's "Kiss of Fire"), and dabbled in rock & roll and teen material while in their mid- to late thirties. Unlike
Gibbs,
Paul also wrote some of her material, including the double-sided rockabilly classic "History" b/w "Sweet Talk."
Such a Rock and Roll Night is a 31-track anthology of
Paul's commercial recordings, including two of her three chart hits (her first hit, "Magic Guitar," is missing) and a sampling of her work for ten different record labels from 1948-1963.
Paul recorded prolifically despite her modest chart success, and crossed racial barriers by appearing on record with the doo wop group
the Harptones in 1954 and signing with Berry Gordy's Gordy label in 1963. That said, her singles -- again, like
Gibbs -- offer a fairly typical (for the time) assortment of R&B covers, pop oldies, teen-oriented efforts, and occasional pop ballads.
Such a Rock and Roll Night is mastered from vinyl with varying results, and sports a thick booklet with numerous label shots, trade ads, and photographs. The sound quality isn't always the best, but a collector could easily spend more than the price of this anthology to obtain just one of
Paul's vintage 45s. ~ Greg Adams