The Puppini Sisters

When you hear "nouveau Andrews Sisters," a frequent description of the Puppini Sisters (and one they don't disavow, with their studied 1940s look), chances are your reaction is either "Hooray! Someone who can sing!" or "Who needs yet another version of 'Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy'?" Their debut album, Betcha Bottom Dollar, contains slightly less great singing than expected and slightly more rehashing of classic songs than one would want, but anyone who's ever had a weakness for The Lawrence Welk Show will appreciate the close harmony wholesomeness that comes across like an extra-mayonnaisey sandwich. That is, grasping for nostalgia or not, the Puppinis' co-mingling of vocals is beautiful.

The production, however, doesn't mimic the brass-in-ya-face up-frontness of the period the group imitates. Rather, the Puppinis' vocals hang out in a big space that, occasionally, shows their weakness. The ladies fare best, though, when they retrofit modern classics, as opposed to vice versa. On novelty covers of marvels like the Smiths' "Panic" and Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights," they multiply the already tremendous vocal lines into braids of loveliness. It's not that they top the originals (hard to do), but they do let one see that the songs survive translation and even a thin smear of uncool.

- Hillary Brown
05.04.07

Poised somewhere between the Andrews Sisters and Nouvelle Vague, the Puppini Sisters modernize vocal harmony pop while keeping its "so traditional, it's hip" appeal. On their debut Betcha Bottom Dollar, the Sisters' style is their substance; it's not a coincidence that the founding Puppini, Marcella, worked for fashion icon Vivienne Westwood before forming the group. Fortunately, the trio's style -- vintage '40s outfits, cheeky covers of new wave and post-punk classics and all -- manages to stay on the likeable, not grating, side of kitsch. Taken individually, the trio's voices aren't spectacular, but they blend together nicely enough to create a convincing homage to the heyday of vocal harmony pop in the '30s and '40s. A very pleasant "Mr. Sandman," a pretty, languid "Java Jive" and "Sway" are among the best vocal pop standards on Betcha Bottom Dollar, but interestingly enough, the Puppini Sisters often sound less campy on the songs they remake than on the classics. Not surprisingly, the original versions of the tracks they've chosen to give three-part harmony makeovers have strong melodies and distinctive singers, so it's not really all that surprising that Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights" sounds lovely with three-part harmonies, or that their version of Blondie's "Heart of Glass" fits right in with "Mr. Sandman." There are times on Betcha Bottom Dollar that things feel a little too knowing and ironic, as on the chirpy cover of the Smiths' "Panic," and the album might be a little too long for the mood it's trying to sustain. On the whole, however, the genuine affection for the styles the Puppini Sisters adopt and adapt saves Betcha Bottom Dollar from being insufferably cutesy. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide