December 15, 2009

Mod-A-Day: The Pipettes

There's The Pipettes and then there's The Pipettes. The Pipettes these days are not much more than a tribute band to the original line-up, and won't be more than that until such time as they produce an album as good as the original. All of which just shows that the band's theme song, "We Are The Pipettes" can apparently be sung by any trio of young women with an all male backing band.

The Pipettes first line-up change came before they had an official full length release. That release landed in 2006 to many accolades, and the delight of listeners of everywhere. The group that carried those vocals were RiotBecki, The Duchess of Darkness and Rosay. They are the lineup then that most people are familiar with, even though a scant 19 months after their release two of them had left the band. And, that meant that any lineups after 2008 would lack a founding vocalist -- though much of the boy powered backing band has stayed in place throughout.

That's the drama. What about the music? The band's album "We Are The Pipettes" is 14 tracks of girl-group goodness. It's tight, well written (mostly), and reminiscent both of girl groups of the sixties, and attitude strutting girl groups of later eras. The attitude though is all channeled through a very "girly" sort of filter that takes the angst and puts ruffles and sparkles on it.

No matter, the sound is what counts and The Pipettes had that in spades back then. There's a definite sixties foundation, a sort of Ronettes first floor that every other floor is built on. While some of the lyrics are tongue in cheek, none of the music is -- they take that very seriously, fortunately for us listeners. If you like tightly crafted pop songs with catchy hooks and harmonies, than The Pipettes are for you.

The Pipettes -- Because It's Not Love (But It's Still A Feeling)