Customer Reviews

Absolutely the Best

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I still have all the old 45's of The Archies, but this CD blows them all away. Ron Dante & Co were indeed a unique sound that shall be with me forever. I can't understand why the bubblegum sound is so dissed, when it was merely good-time, have a party, and enjoy life music. People nowadays really need to dig this kinda sound. Gee, if only we COULD go back in time, I'd be the first in line! But, I'll take this in the meantime.

"Absolutely the Best" may be a bit of a misnomer for this excellent Archies compilation. In order to qualify as 'absolutely the best' of the Archies, a CD would easily need more than twice as many tracks than are offered as this one. However, if we the consumers are forced to make do with only 16 Archies songs, these are 16 good songs to make do with!

If you're a babyboomer like I am, the very first track will instantly transport you back to September 1968, when The Archie Show premiered on Saturday-morning CBS-TV. Apart from a Television's Greatest Hits CD I own, "Absolutely the Best" is the only compact disc to feature the television version of "Archie's Theme (Everything's Archie)," complete with the tambourine brought forward to coincide with Betty's closeups and lead singer Ron Dante's enthusiastic "C'mon, let's go with the Archie Show" at song's end. This version differs from that released on the self-titled Archies debut LP, and it's so good hearing it again in its original form. Fifteen more great tracks follow, including the group's first single, "Bang Shang a-Lang;" their fourth attempt, "Jingle Jangle," which earned a second gold record; and of course the million-selling third single, "Sugar, Sugar." Cuts from all five Archies studio albums are represented on "Absolutely." The artwork is excellent, as are the liner notes, giving credit where credit is due (Ron is mentioned often, as are music supervisor Don Kirshner and composer/producer Jeff Barry), and the orange CD is a nod to the Calendar/Kirshner label on which the original recordings were issued.

For those of you not familiar with The Archies, take it from me ... this is true rock and roll, not kiddie stuff. Ron Dante did a terrific job as the voice of the group; his beautiful voice has a nearly limitless range as well as a rainbow of color (the man can shift vocal styles as effortlessly as the automatic trannie on a Caddy), and his tight overdubbed harmonies with himself showcase his flawless ear. And the songs are good, too!

If you want a taste of what the Archies would sound like today, grab a copy of Ron Dante's solo CD "Favorites" while you're here.

What do you have when you put redheaded loverman Archie Andrews on guitar, rascally scoundrel Reggie Mantle on funky bass, and rhythmic eating machine Jughead Jones on drums? Man, you get one outtasite band! These kids were only 17, but they were absolute masters of their instruments. Just listen to the bassline of "Jingle Jangle" for Reggie's brilliance! Or the rhythm track of "Sugar Sugar"--Jughead is in the groove, baby! And man, what sweet guitar Archie plays on the wonderful "Melody Hill." These cats cannot be beat! If you want a self-contained hit machine, these are your boys! The only thing I don't get is why they always put cartoons on their album covers! Weird!

Over the years, the market has been flooded with more than its share of Archies compilation CD's, most of which have been marginal or just plain miserable. This effort by Fuel 2000 is among the few high-quality Archies CD's to come along. Most notably, along with a selection of album cuts and TV-series related tunes, it contains every single to make the top-100 charts, a claim few other Archies compilation CD's can make.

For a reasonably priced piece, the production is top-notch. Sound quality is respectable and far better than most other Archies CD's. All the tracks except 1 and 8 are in stereo. The eight-page liner notes booklet contains five pages of detailed and interesting musical background on the studio group behind the name. Overall, if you're looking for an Archies collection, this deserves front-runner status on your list.

You can have your Led Zeppelins, Beatles, Rolling Stones and all the other so-called super groups!!!! For my money, it's The Archies!!!!

Jughead's use of the high hat on "Sugar, Sugar", destroys anything John Bonham ever did. In fact, few people know that it was Jughead who actually taught Bonham how to play. Reggie lays down a bass line on "Jingle Jangle" that puts anything John Entwhistle did to shame. And the depth of the lyrics on all of these tunes, makes what Lennon and McCartney wrote seem trite and unimportant.

The Archies had it all. As if the stellar musicianship wasn't enough, they also played to our sexual sensibilities. Watching Veronica shake that tambourine is enough to drive any red blooded American male absolutely wild!!! And Betty shaking that blonde hair---well, they WERE rock in the late 60's/early 70's!!!

And Archie!!!! I mean what can you say about Archie?!?!? Jagger with red hair. The sheer passion he pours in to "Sugar, Sugar" makes the Stones "Gimme Shelter" sound like "Mary Had A Little Lamb". He is so missed by the rock world, who still mourn his untimely death from choking on a wad of Bazooka in 1983.

If you own only 1 CD this needs to be the one. The Archies are what rock and roll is all about!!!!

I love the Archies music. I bought this CD thinking I would get the same perfect quality I did when I bought THE ARCHIES: The Best Of, released by Cult Records, but nope, I didn't. Many of the songs are the same but the songs on this release were not remastered and in fact, the songs are actually worse in audio than originally recorded. What happened here? Some of the songs actually max out and make your speakers sound like they can't take the sound. I recommend buying THE ARCHIES: The Best Of, if you want a perfect, remastered version of THE ARCHIES.

'Absolutely the Best of the Archies' is far and away the best sounding Archies compilation out there. When compared to even the RKO releases, there is simply no comparison. The audio is warm and full with amazing detail simply inaudible on any other Archies CDs. If Varese Sarabande would release more of the Archies catalogue, the world would be a better place. This compilation is a well-rounded mix of sunshine-pop sure to make you feel like a kid again. Varese Sarabande consistently produces wonderful-sounding CDs and it's obvious that they really love and care about the music they reissue. Please support their efforts and buy this CD. You won't be disappointed. [...]

I was so excited to see this cd in my local Barnes and Noble, even though I had most of the songs on other compilations, this one had a few that I didn't have, I just had to buy it. Was I ever glad that I did. I never knew that there was an Archies album called This is Love. What a great song it is too. I also barely remeber the Sunshine album. I know I didn't have that one, but I did have the 45 of that song. Also the song Whos Gonna Love Me rocks as well. I wonder why they didn't include some other songs that, frankly, I never knew existed like Summer Prayer for Peace, or Plum Crazy. I would LOVE to get my hands on those songs. These songs have hooks that don't end and just some of the best lyrics around. I swear I cannot listen to some of the music I did when I was younger, The Osmonds, The Partridge Family, alot of the Jackson Five, but these Archies songs are awesome. Buy this one and keep it forever.

a 4 year old wakes up every Saturday morning to see the newest cartoons on tv.After hearing much adult artists as Dean Martin,Glen Campbell,and Johnny Mathis,I needed a switch.I wanted something that could rock.Across the tv screen in 1968 came this red head teenager and his four friends opening with the line"Everything's Archie" and along with it came a pre-MTV video .As 4 yr old kid,it rocked.To this day those same songs til play on my cd and record player.I have almost all their LPS except 'THIS IS LOVE' which some of those classsic songs made it here.It still rocks from the theme song to ARCHIE'S PARTY.The only ones missing and my personal favorites are BOYS AND GIRLS and LA DA DO DOWN DOWN and some others NURSEREY RHYME.I wished a boxed set would bring back all five of their LPs on cds.Its corny,but its classic and holds up very well.

Finally, we get an Archies compilation with great sound that includes all of the Top 100 hits. The only bad thing about this disc is that the total time is just shy of 40 minutes. In this day & age there is no excuse for not filling a "best of" cd with 75+ minutes. They could've fit at least a dozen more songs on here! I think a "Volume 2" is in order, or better yet, reissue the albums as two-fers with bonus cuts. Now we're talking!