The Archies, of course, were the saccharine comic-book-creation-made-flesh of Bubblegum Svengali, Don Kirshner; the evil impresario who also played his hand so well in the cynical manufacure of The Monkees. Devised originally in late 1967, there was so much of a liberal sprinkling of sugar on this one that even Kellog's were soon queuing up at the door, cheque in hand.
Written by producer, Jeff Barry and newly appointed staff writer, Andy Kim, and released on the Calendar imprint initially, the 45 - also available on the LP, "Everything's Archie" - was subsequently one of the biggest selling singles for media giant, RCA of all time.
Archie Andrews: guitar;Reggie Mantle: guitar;
Jughead Jones: drums;
Betty Cooper: tambourine;
Veronica Lodge: keyboards.
Jeff Barry;Ron Dante;
Ellie Greenwich;
Toni Wine.
A Man with the Golden Ear production.
The Chilton cover was culled from those solo sessions recorded at Ardent Studios, Memphis in 1970, directly after the collapse of The Box Tops. Lacking cohesion in totality, the projected debut solo vehicle was ultimately shelved. Raucous and deliriously lacking in any attempt for mass appeal, I would easily have revelled in a whole LP's worth of this shit like a pig in muck. Not least because "Sugar, Sugar" may just be one of the finest songs ever written. Sadly, the rest of the material chewed over here comes nowhere close. Think on what might have been.
As Beer N. Hockey recently opined, who wouldn't have fucked Veronica ? Spoiled sugarbabe or not.▼ THE ARCHIES: SUGAR, SUGAR from "Sugar, Sugar b/w Melody Hill" 45 (Calendar) 1969 (US)
▼ ALEX CHILTON: SUGAR SUGAR / I GOT A FEELING (Heavy Medley) from "1970" CD (Ardent) 1996 (US)
