Whilst we’ve not been able to keep up with the constant line-up changes, the temporary break-ups or just who the feck is really running the thing, Crud were no less pleased to learn that cheerfully manufactured all-girl pop band, The Pipettes would be releasing their second album, ‘Earth Versus The Pipettes’ And naturally, in a world of such freakish infidelity, precious few constants remain. So what are we waving goodbye to? Well all three original members, Ani, Gwenno and Beth, the polka dots dresses for one thing and the Phil Spector template the girls’ had adopted so successfully on their critically acclaimed debut, ‘We Are The Pipettes’ has also been sent on its way. No, they never really were a typical band and this is still no typical comeback, the band having already supported a fairly eclectic range of artists including REO Speedwagon and Mark Ronson.
What we have still though are the tunes. Big, brash, covered in sequins, layered in camp and arriving on our planet like love-hungry she-women from outer space. Which is apt really, as the concept this lightyear round is all things extraterrestrial, the girls evidently having relocated to Venus.
‘Earth Versus The Pipettes’, a successful marriage of Sophie Ellis-Bextor posh-bird pop and Barbarella zero-gravity kitsch pretty much picks up where ‘I Love My Heart To A Starship Trooper’ and the Rah Band’s ‘Clouds Across the Moon’ left off – and it promises to be no less entertaining because of it. All we really need is John Barrowman bursting out of the Tardis in assorted leather bondage restraints and the picture will be complete.