The Puppini Sisters • The Rise & Fall of Ruby Woo

Left to right: Kate Mullins, Marcella Puppini, and Stephanie O'Brien

While the Saturday night posts are dedicated to Torch songs from the past, I decided to try to go a bit more current So I went to the 2007 album released by The Puppini Sisters, 'The Rise & Fall of Ruby Woo'. Before we get to the music, I should tell you a bit about The Puppini Sisters. First off, they are not really sisters. They are Stephanie O'Brien, Marcella Puppini, and Kate Mullins. The group formed in 2004. The ladies loved vocal harmonies, as well as an appreciation of great girl groups of yesteryear, which inspired the name. While not related, their love of the Andrews sisters inspired the name. They began in England where O'Brien and Mullins were from, and where Italian-born Puppini had studied fashion design. In fact, it was at Trinity College of Music where the trio first met. By 2005, the ladies were signed, and honing their music. In 2006, they released their first single, a cover of "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy", followed by the album debut, 'Betcha Bottom Dollar'. The end of the year, they released a second single, the holiday-flavored "Jingle Bells/Silent Night (Little Match Seller)". All of this leads, of course, to 2007.

It was in 2007 the ladies released their second album, 'The Rise & Fall of Ruby Woo'. The album was certainly an interesting collection of songs from various periods. The songs selected were both covers and original material written by the ladies themselves. The second single off the album was "Crazy In Love", a sweet little ditty written by Rich Harrison, Beyoncé Knowles and Shawn 'Jay-Z' Carter, and first released by Beyoncé.

But as I said, not all the music were covers from other people. Take, for instance, "I Can't Believe I'm Not A Millionaire", a beautiful song written by Marcella Puppini. The song has a bluesy feeling, and if I had to categorize is, I might call it a lament. But the harmonies are unmistakable and tight, as you can tell when you watch the video.

That was not the only song on the album written by Marcella. There is also "Jilted", a song sounding like it could have been written should have been written for Miss Peggy Lee, with a strong and sexy undertone. And, I must admit, I love the song, from talk about 'jumping through hoops', 'my geisha ways', as well as for 'reaching for the gin'. I mean, we've all been there, haven't we?

The first single off the album is an amazing song most remember for the great version by the Classic IV in 1968. "Spooky" was written by Mike Shapiro, Harry Middlebrooks, Jr., James Cobb and Buddy Buie, the members and producer of Classic IV. It had such a wonderful feeling in that version, capturing the 1960s Pop flavor so well. I mean, you could hear the California music scene bubbling through. Now in this version, there is no California coming out, but a definite Big Band Swing feel. I am eating up the Puppini Sisters singing "Spooky".

For more about the Puppini Sisters, visit their official website. You can purchase 'The Rise & Fall of Ruby Woo' from iTunes and Amazon.