The Rise & Fall of Ruby Woo

• Artist: The Puppini Sisters
• Rating:
• Release Date: September 17, 2007
• Genre: Rock

Review

On record you can't see the many costume changes into stunning '30s vintage dresses, or be impressed by the trio's mugging or musical chops -- Marcella Puppini plays piano and accordion and Stephanie O'Brien plays credible jazz fiddle. This leaves the vocalizing, and while the trio isn't half bad, its members are not spectacular or particularly adventurous singers. On their second album they follow the template of their first. There are a couple of standards including "It Don't Mean a Think If It Ain't Got That Swing," and contemporary numbers -- "Spooky," "Walk Like an Egyptian" -- delivered in '40s vocal trio-style arrangements. Fine as far as it goes, but the joke is wearing thin. The Puppini Sisters' salvation is clearly in their original material. All three Sisters write solid tunes; the sooner they can come up with a full album's worth of original tunes, the better their career prospects will be. Puppini's "I Can't Believe I'm Not a Millionaire" is a blues full of arch humor, and her "Jilted" sounds like it would have been a natural for Peggy Lee, a sultry, sexy tune with a strong hook and a great lyric. O'Brien contributes "Soho Nights" a jump tune with a strong vocal arrangement, a perfect evocation of the era they obviously love. Kate Mullins may be the strongest writer of the three. Her "It's Not Over (Death or the Toy Piano)" is another song in the big-band mode, but its complex melody and inventive lyric make it one of the album's strongest tracks. ~ j. poet, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Spooky (Lyrics)	Buddy Buie, Mike Shapiro, James Cobb	The Puppini Sisters	(2:44)
Walk Like an Egyptian (Lyrics)		The Puppini Sisters	(2:44)
Old Cape Cod	Milton Yakus	The Puppini Sisters	(3:33)
Soho Nights		The Puppini Sisters	(4:31)
I Can't Believe I'm Not a Millionaire	Marcella Puppini	The Puppini Sisters	(4:32)
It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)	Irving Mills, Duke Ellington	The Puppini Sisters	(4:51)
Could It Be Magic	Adrienne Anderson, Barry Manilow	The Puppini Sisters	(3:34)
Jilted	Marcella Puppini	The Puppini Sisters	(5:39)
Crazy in Love (Lyrics)	Rich Harrison	The Puppini Sisters	(3:39)
It's Not Over (Death or the Toy Piano)	Kate Mullins	The Puppini Sisters	(3:16)
And She Sang	Marcella Puppini	The Puppini Sisters	(4:18)
We Have All the Time in the World (Lyrics)	Hal David	The Puppini Sisters	(4:03)

Credits

John Catchings (Cello), Kate Mullins (Group Member), Marcella Puppini (Piano), Kate Mullins (Shouts), Marcella Puppini (String Arrangements), Nick Terry (Mixing), Stephanie O'Brien (Violin), Kate Mullins (Piano), Ray Staff (Mastering), David Angell (Violin), David Davidson (String Arrangements), David Davidson (Violin), Tony Dunne (A&R), Marcella Puppini (Shouts), Kate Mullins (Arranger), Jon Hall (Shouts), Kate Mullins (Melodica), Kate Mullins (Triangle), Stephanie O'Brien (Arranger), Kate Mullins (Toy Piano), Marcella Puppini (Accordion), Marcella Puppini (Duet), Kate Mullins (Vocals), Martin Terefe (Producer), Monisa Angell (Viola), Stephanie O'Brien (Soloist), Jon Hall (Producer), Marcella Puppini (Arranger), Jeff Williams (Trombone), Nick Terry (Engineer), Stephanie O'Brien (Vocals), Kris Wilkinson (Viola), Stephanie O'Brien (Triangle), Marcella Puppini (Vocals), Marcella Puppini (Group Member), Stephanie O'Brien (Group Member)