The Puppini Sisters - Hollywood reviews
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| Popmatters |
 Shrewdly retro-chic, just slightly kitsch and possessors of enough talent (you try singing those close harmonies without an Auto-tune in sight) to make it work over the long haul, the Puppini Sisters—Marcella Puppini, Stephanie O’Brien and Kate Mullins—are to pop music what Dita Von Teese is to the adult entertainment industry. Four albums into an unlikely career that’s seen these wanna-be ‘40s dames accumulate a fan base which includes Prince Charles, Michael Bublè and Mad Men designer Janie Bryant, who currently works with the gals as Creative Director, the Puppini Sisters are both a glossy novelty act and straight-faced revivalists of a lost pop-jazz style—think Andrews Sisters and anyone who ever sounded like the Andrews Sisters. The group shot to fame in the mid/late 2000s with their quirky ‘40s swing versions of Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive”, Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights” and the Bangles’ “Walk Like an Egyptian”. This mixing of old and new was both winning schtick and best taken in small doses. Alas, on their latest offering, Hollywood, the Puppini Sisters have traded in smart, modern pop choices for the by now rather familiar standards that initially inspired them. Additionally, listeners will quickly discover they’ve wandered into something of a concept album. Feel like beating those recession blues with a tribute to the glamour and excesses of vintage Hollywood? Anything beats austerity.
Hollywood gets off to a promising start. On the girls’ self-written title track—the sole original here though it sounds like a bona fide jazz standard—we eavesdrop on a late-night conversation. The pretty small-town girl is contemplating a move west to make it as an actress while Marcella, Stephanie and Kate egg her on. It’s a nice tribute to a more innocent time and also swings mightily. In L.A. and apparently learning fast, the girl, now presumably waiting on tables, tells her new beau it’s precious stones or nothing on “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend”. The acting career might not have panned out but she’s not going back to Pleasantville either. Transferred to a minor key and snugly arranged, the Sisters do a fiendishly good job of putting their own mark on one of Marilyn Monroe’s signature tunes. From here style begins to get the better of substance as the girls trot out competent versions of the tried and true. The are these public domain yet “I Got Rhythm” and “Moon River” get traditional readings but the Andrews Sisters sing Tom Waits arrangement on Cole Porter’s “True Love” is refreshingly unexpected. A cutesy version of “Good Morning” (from Babes in Arms in case you were wondering) is a total misstep....full text |
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| Guardian |
| Neither sororal nor from the 40s, the Puppini Sisters are a London-based trio who sing kitschy, close harmony covers. They may not have particularly robust or characterful voices, but the public's appetite for all things retro has got them to this, their fourth album. Stylish, rather than substantial, it's filled with busy arrangements of standards such as "I Got Rhythm" and "Moon River", which, for the most part, are irritatingly light. Mannered perkiness reaches its nadir on "Good Morning" - its fussy tempo changes, cuckoo clocks and spoken "good morning"s will have you wrenching the duvet over your head and groaning....full text |
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| Independent |
Sadly, The Puppini Sisters have abandoned the more modern repertoire - '40s-style versions of pop hits like "Wuthering Heights" and "I Will Survive" - that gave them their original quirky appeal.
This album of period movie show-tunes is simply an exercise in retro-kitsch, which isn't quite as enjoyable. They're swimming up-river all the time: their "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" lacks the coquettish appeal of Marilyn's original, and their vocal arrangement of "I Feel Pretty" tests the limit of its melody in a queasy manner. Nor are their attempts at musical idiosyncrasy as successful as those devised by Benoit Charest for their debut album: here, the wobbly musical saw added to "Moon River" is just plain creepy, though the hillbilly fiddle and ukelele treatment of "Get Happy" works better. And the French-language setting of the Godfather theme, "Parle Plus Bas", is the best idea here....full text |
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