The Rubettes (Official Thread)

METALPRIEST

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The Rubettes were an English pop band formed in the early 70's...and now these cats are an interesting band for sure. These guys came out wearing Satin and Caps and singing a brand of early 60's influenced pop. Roy Wood styled fun rock. This band would go through a fast, drastic style change that many who are not familiar would think they were looking at and listening to two different bands.

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Thier first big song was of course Sugar Baby which reached number 1 in the United Kingdom!! Paul Da Vinci's voice is great and he had a killer falsetto...Davinci (only a session singer for Sugar Baby) would not be a member of the band that drummer John Richardson put together.



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The band had a number of other hits including Jukebox Jive and I Can Do It!!




The following year the band were to knock the glammy image and sound on the head and trade it all in for a more serious southern rock style. Their most successful song being Baby I Know which you will hear here...



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One of their more serious numbers was Under one Roof...this controversial song for the time was about a gay man who was disowned and later killed by his own father.

Sort of a far cry from where the band came from originally.

Love the toy xylophone and piano at the end of this song.




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In the 2000's after legal hassles over the rights to the name, the band ended up in court with a judge deciding that singer Alan Williams and keyboardist Bill Hurd had breached the bands agreement. Both members were given the rights to the name as long as it was clear who was fronting what band. After a television spot with Hurd's version is when they were back in court...Court costs were awarded to Williams as well as Hurd's appeal costs due to the severity of Hurd's breach leaving him bankrupt.

Hurd's version of the band did however play again in 2009

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Soot and Stars

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Re: The Rubettes: Two Bands,One Name

Cool writeup MP on the interesting background of this band. Two different bands for sure! Under One Roof is definitely a surprise as it sounds controversial for the tie. It's cool when writers can put themselves in someone's else's shoes that especially someone that is so different from them. This type of song makes me think of Third Eye Blind "Slow Motion" and Blue October " The End" where a pop artist takes their music into a dark world. :grinthumb
 

METALPRIEST

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Re: The Rubettes: Two Bands,One Name

It is a dark song...my favorite part is the ending...the xylophone and piano combination. Sounds sooo good.

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METALPRIEST

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Re: The Rubettes: Two Bands,One Name

Paul Da Vinci STILL has a GREAT falsetto...can't believe he;s that high and that clean to this day!! Beautiful!! :grinthumb

 

Nai Noswad

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Depending on how you look at things-
I was either a bit f- ucked up or had a chameleons ears, I recall buying this... and Bowie's Young Americans at the same time!
I Can Do It.
 

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