The Puppini Sisters: The Rise and Fall of Ruby Woo
The Puppini Sisters - not really sisters
Also In The News
|
When the first 200,000 Zimbabwe dollar banknote was released earlier this summer, it was a stark reflection of how far the economy of this southern African nation has fallen. |  |
Friday, 28, Sep 2007 03:43
Universal, out October 1st.
In a nutshell.
Original, swinging, glamorous, harmonious, melodic
What's it all about?
The Rise and Fall of Ruby Woo is the second album from cult trio the Puppini Sisters. A follow-up to last year's Betcha Bottom Dollar, the record features a few unconventional covers - as fans would expect - plus a handful of original songs.
Pop favourites including Crazy in Love, Walk Like an Egyptian and We Have All the Time in the World are re-worked in the band's trademark rockabilly style, with all three members taking it in turns to produce original arrangements.
Featuring all the trademark nostalgia of the first album, this CD is complete with close harmonies, jazz strings, salutes to the toy piano and some serious sass.
Incidentally, Ruby Woo is not an actual person, but a bright red lipstick shade favoured by the group.
Who's it by
The Puppini Sisters, not really sisters, but a trio of female troubadours, are classically-trained musicians Marcella Puppini, Stephanie O'Brien and Kate Mullins.
All three met at the Trinity College of Music in London, with the band founded by Puppini.
Puppini herself leads the vocals and plays piano and accordion on the majority of the tracks. Not to be out-done, Mullins is in charge of the toy piano, the melodica, the piano and the triangle. O'Brien, who is responsible for the supreme arrangement on Crazy in Love and new single Spooky, plays the violin and occasionally the triangle.
The girls have three token male band members, who appear on the record and are regular fixtures in live shows. These boys bring the throbbing sounds of the double bass, the twinkling of the mandolin and the jangle of the pandeiro that weave throughout the tracks.
As an example.
"It ain't the melody, it ain't the music/There's something else that makes the tune complete/It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing." - It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got That Swing
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
Awards may be unlikely, but the tracks here are bound to keep new and old fans more than happy.
What the others say
"It really is like being blasted back and forth through time as their sublimely eerie vocals coo through the swing era." - The Guardian
"When it works, the gimmick . . . is amusing and even enlightening." - The New York Times.
So is it any good?
Comparisons with the Pipettes are inevitable, though this is a fate undeserved of the Puppini Sisters who have produced an incredibly good record here. Possibly not the type of CD you would want to listen to day-in day-out, The Rise and Fall of Ruby Woo is definitely an amusing score to an evening drinks party.
It would be easy to dismiss the sisters and their songs as a gimmick, but that would fail to do justice to the musical credibility of the album. All the songs are neatly put together, with the covers masterfully re-worked and the big-band sound unlike anything else that is in the charts at the moment.
Some of the better tracks are the ones that take the listener by surprise; the girls' version of Duke Ellington's It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got That Swing fades out for to be replaced with Could It Be Magic - taken from the Barry Manilow original and not the Take That cover.
Walk Like an Egyptian is equally amusing, with the sisters' tongue-in-cheek whistling a nod to the Bangles' own ironic breakdown. The well-known refrain of whey-oo, whey-oo (everyone knows how it goes) is catchy and floats along nicely with the Puppini Sisters' own distinct vocal stylings.
Original tracks, Soho Nights and Jilted give the listener more of an insight into the ironic world of the Puppini Sisters and make a refreshing change from the covers. Though still in the swing band style, the songs have slightly more depth and are some of the standout musical moments on the album.
Ultimately, The Rise and Fall of Ruby Woo is a triumph. Old and new, irony and sincerity, nostalgia and modernity, all combine on this album of contradictions.
8/10
Rebecca Amir
Your comments:
"You pretty much hit the nail on the head with your review. A great and worthy follow-up to their first album, Ruby Woo finds them further exploring and expanding their horizons. Soho Nights is my favorite track. But then again, I like so darn many of the tracks. I really love these girls to pieces." - Paul Richards