The Puppini Sisters

THE PUPPINI SISTERS
"THE RISE & FALL OF RUBY WOO"
(Verve, 2007)


I've always had a passing interest in "close-harmony" vocal groups of the '40s like The Andrews Sisters, so when I saw the debut album by The Puppini Sisters as I was passing by the racks in a local store a few months ago, I made a mental note to check them out online when I got home. I was intrigued right away, but my want list was long enough that I put off buying either of their albums until I was on vacation last month ... and I came home with both their debut, "Betcha Bottom Dollar", and this, their sophomore release.

Their first album was made up entirely of cover tunes, some of them faithfully remade period classics by their progenitors like The Chordettes, The Ink Spots, and of course The Andrews Sisters, and some of them retro takes on more contemporary tunes such as Blondie's "Heart of Glass", Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights", and Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive". But this time around they've thrown five self-penned songs into the mix, while at the same time taking more interesting liberties with the classic tracks. The Duke Ellington chestnut "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing" starts out with its traditional arrangement, but halfway through it slows down into a slinky, seductive sway that draws the listener's interest right in. The country-bluesy "Jilted", the samba-like shuffler "Soho Nights" (with gorgeous vocal scattery), and the hauntingly beautiful waltz "And She Sang" show off the ladies' songwriting and arranging skills wonderfully, not to mention fitting in completely naturally with all the cover songs. Beyoncé's "Crazy In Love" and Barry Manilow's "Could It Be Magic" get the Puppini treatment so well that anyone who isn't the wiser would almost assume they were '40s tunes.

The only tune that (in my opinion) doesn't really work here is "Walk Like An Egyptian" -- perhaps the "oh-eh-oh" vocals being kept so close to their original arrangement are what break the deal for me; rearranging them into the close-harmony style like the rest of the vocals would have made the song more interesting. But that's a small complaint since the rest of this album, as well as their first one, are so darn enjoyable. Word has it that the trio of Marcella Puppini, Kate Mullins, and Stephanie O'Brien will be filling their next album with all-original tunes, and I for one am already eagerly looking forward to it.

Buy it digitally from iTunes
Buy it on CD from Amazon

a Blast(er) From The Past

This might entertain you. While visiting with my sister and brother-in-law during vacation, she invited me to borrow a boombox from their office so I could listen to some of the CDs I had just bought. Well, imagine my surprise when the boombox in question struck me as looking strangely familiar ... it turned out to be one I used to own! If I remember correctly, it was actually the first device I had ever bought that was capable of playing CDs ... at least the date of manufacture stamped on its backside (November 1989) seems to confirm that presumption.















It was dusty, scuffed, and tired-looking, but to my surprise that old JVC beast sprang to life as nimbly as I remember it doing back in the day, and played CD after CD without the slightest glitch. Sure, the sound was a bit tinny, as those players couldn't help but be, but there wasn't any of the hum or crackling or distortion in either of the speakers that the machine's condition made me expect to hear. After twenty years, a good 16 of them under what I suspect was decidedly less TLC than I give my electronics, it still runs perfectly. I'd like to see the consumer electronics they manufacture nowadays stand the test of time so well.

Oh, and on a totally unrelated note, I thought you might want to know that I spent a recent evening updating all the links that had gotten broken when I changed my blog's URL a year and a half ago. I know, I know, it's about time, right? Well, it was just one of those things I'd never gotten around to. All the MP3 links, most of the YouTube videos, and many of the pictures I posted back in the day are dead or gone, but at least you can navigate to other articles in my blog.

JJ72

JJ72
"I TO SKY"
(Lakota, 2002)


Before I go any further, let me say in no uncertain terms that JJ72 are not for everyone. Indeed, with their often cryptic lyrics and the at-first startlingly androgynous voice of lead singer Mark Greaney, this Irish rock band is definitely an acquired taste. You see, several years ago, shortly after their self-titled debut came out, I picked it up on a whim and listened to it several times before eventually trading it in; it had grown on me some, but apparently not quite enough. But while in one of the half-dozen or so music stores I visited on vacation a few weeks back, I picked it up (again on a whim), and something about its familiarity struck a chord with me, prompting me to seek out their 2002 follow-up album as well.

While their debut was largely made up of subdued semi-balladry not unlike early Coldplay, the trio boldened and broadened their sound for their sophomore release, with their fuzzier guitars, thicker bass and heavier drums regularly approaching U2's more arena-like moments. The energetic songs "Always And Forever", "Formulae", and "7th Wave" should appeal to anyone with a taste for early- to mid-'80s Brit-rock like Big Country and the forementioned U2, or even their new-millennium aural descendants like Blur and Travis. Greaney's falsetto might seem odd in the rockier numbers, but it's right at home on the ballads such as "Brother Sleep" and the compellingly atmospheric tracks like "Sinking".

One of the problems with JJ72's first album was that a few of their songs tended to sound the same -- not just similar, but actually borrowing from each other's melodies at points -- and those unfamiliar with the band might come away from this album having the same feeling, but trust me that it's not nearly as much of a problem here. (The track "City" is worth hearing ... it's kind-of like a Radiohead/Keane mash-up.) Neither of JJ72's albums are perfect, but I've come to appreciate them and the band despite their idiosyncrasies. Just remember that, if you do decide to give them a try, you'll need to also give them some time to sink in.

Buy their first album digitally on iTunes
Buy "I To Sky" on CD from Amazon

Top Of The Shops

I'm back from vacation ... and boy howdy, did I have some fun!! In fact, as far as my credit card goes, I probably had a little too much fun ... but I'd been behaving myself over the last several months, so you could say I was entitled. I'll probably be sharing some of my favorite new acquisitions with you in the coming weeks (gonna try and get back to at least a semi-regular posting schedule ... but, as usual, I can't make any promises), but for now I thought I'd share with you some of the amazing stores I visited on my travels. Now, some people like stores based on the ambience or the friendliness and forthcomingness of the staff (with regard to exposing their customers to artists they might not have known about before), but what I look for when I go into a store is the selection. I usually have oddball stuff and imports on my want list, so the more stock a store has, the more likely I am to find what I'm looking for (or, all too often, a lot of stuff I wasn't looking for). Here are some of my new favorite stores in California:

Rasputin Music (6623 Pacific Ave., Stockton) -- Rasputin is a chain of nine (and counting) stores stretching from Vallejo to Fresno, but they're still independent of the corporate machine. I'd never been in one before, but I had to check out the Stockton location, which is housed in what used to be a Tower Records, and that gives you an idea of how much square footage they have. The selection really impressed me ... they have two big racks of 50-cent CDs on the wall, a whole aisle of budget CDs ($5 and less), and a massive main section, divided up into nearly every genre imaginable. I only had a little over an hour to spend in the store, and I could have spent twice that long and still not seen everything. I've been thinking about taking a weekend trip down to Berkeley to visit their Amoeba and Rasputin locations, and now I'm all the more eager to do so. If you live in Northern California or are planning to visit or even just pass through, pencil this one in.

Rhino Records (235 Yale Ave., Claremont) and Mad Platter (1223 University Ave. #160, Riverside) -- Long before the Rhino label was bought out by Warner Bros. Records in the '90s, they also ran this store, which has led to the erroneous impression that it's corporate-owned; in fact, Rhino sold this store way back in 1981, and it's been independent ever since. The owners opened a sister store, the Mad Platter, later on in the '80s. I'd been into Rhino a couple of times before, but hadn't visited Mad Platter until this trip. They're not the biggest stores, and they don't even have the biggest selection, but the racks are packed plenty full and you'll always find some obscure item that you forgot you were looking for or didn't even know existed, and sometimes at a really good price, so that makes both of these stores a whole lot of fun to go into.

Record City (3757 6th Ave., San Diego) -- Another store I hadn't seen or even known about until this visit, Record City is almost deceptively small-looking from the outside, and is hidden on a side street in the Hillcrest area of San Diego. But inside is an impressive selection of CDs, with just as much vinyl occupying the other half of the store. Again, not the best selection in the world, but I found a few things not on my list that I just couldn't resist picking up -- especially since half my purchases came from the dollar section! It's a good enough shop that it's now on my list of regular stops in San Diego.

Amoeba Music (6400 Sunset Blvd. [at Cahuenga Blvd.], Hollywood) -- This is the granddaddy of them all ... nearly a whole city block of CDs and records of every imaginable genre and subgenre, and an upstairs crammed with DVDs (and even VHS tapes!). I must have had my expectations a bit high, because I didn't find as much on my list here this time as I hoped to, but I still came away with a whole bag full of stuff that came to nearly $150 (after $30 credit for the bag of CDs I took in for trade). It'd be easy to spend half a day in this store, and it's an absolute must stop for any music fan, no doubt about it. They also have locations in San Francisco and Berkeley, so you don't have to be in the L.A. area to get The Amoeba Experience.

Best of all: every one of these stores is independently owned and operated, so you can be assured that by patronizing these fine businesses you're helping to keep "the little guys" in business.