Archies ‑ Essentials

A thrill to hold and hear all of these recordings - although they are not from the studio masters, they are good and audible in their own right. Together on two discs - fun to listen to and remember! There must be many session recordings, alternate takes and unreleased Archies recordings hiding away - waiting to be packaged and released unlike never before. Until then, grab this package and enjoy!

First the good stuff. The transaction was smooth and easy. Delivery was fast. Now the odd. There are two discs in the set. They both have the songs identified and played without issue. However, disc 2 was fine, but disc one was labeled according to the computer as a disc from Piney Brown and Eddie Daniels. Not sure what the mechanism for this happening was, but I fixed things. It took me over two hours. I had to go into the details of the recording and replace all the metadata, which basically tells the computer the name of the song and who the artist is. I also had to replace the file JPG which shows the album cover. If it wasn't for my knowledge my ARCHIE's boat would have been sunk with one disc titling correctly and the other titaled "Hootin' and Hollerin' Saturday Night". So approach this one with caution. If it wasn't for the "ODD" part this would have been a five star review, and maybe three is generous.

Now this is the Archies set to own! A generous 44 tracks with great sound, with all of the hits included! So why not 5 stars? For the following reasons:1. It would have been better to have called this "The Archies Anthology" and have the tracks in chronological order, to hear the development and change in sound throughout the years (from the very-bubblegum-sounding first album to the very-mature-sounding final album). That, or mix the tracks up more. For whatever reason, they generally group a handful of album tracks together (a few from this album, a few from that album, etc.), especially on the second disc. Doesn't make any sense.2. While I can understand including all of the tracks from the Archies' second album and all but one track from their third (which are indeed the two best albums), including 9 tracks from their final and definitely weakest album while including only 5 tracks from their first album and 4 from their fourth not the smartest move.3. The liner notes mention that "A Summer Prayer for Peace" was a #1 hit in a couple of countries overseas, yet they can't include that song as part of a 44-song collection?? Yes, I know some people don't care for the song, but still, to exclude any #1 hit, especially when you reference it in the liner notes? Uh-uh.Okay, so that nit-picking aside, this set has so many great tracks, including a few rarities, that it is a great pop music collection! If you love the Archies music, or are a fan of Ron Dante, this is the set to own! Not an Archies fan? Give this a listen! You just might change your mind!

I received the Essentials album today. The quality is good but the engineers equalized the sound to favor the vocals and I can hear a little surround-sound added in there. Also, "This Is Love" may have been mastered from vinyl. I heard a little 'click' at the :09 mark. Otherwise the quality is good.Nice to finally hear "Plum Crazy" and "Strangers In The Morning" on CD. What's 45 years? "Love Is Living In You" is in mono. The domestic and some import versions of the single are in stereo but to all Archies fans, we know it never should have been released as an Archies single. "Who's Your Baby" is in mono also, but maybe Ron Dante can enlighten us as to whether there actually is a stereo version of it available.Overall, I'd say it's good for collectors but "Absolutely The Best of The Archies" is the one to get for the best quality.

Never had a more complete collection of the archies!!

Big collection of tracks, sounds great.

The overall sound quality is good. A few tracks definitely came from a vinyl source.

Much Better,improved sound is on this,and even includes 3 Super-Rare Non-Lp sides that have never seen issue outside their initial issue on Vinyl 50 Years ago! Collectors will rejoice in this issue!

This has it all. All the rare tracks previous reviewers have lamented are missing are now here including Plum Crazy. Whose Gonna Love Me is the only omission and I have that on Sugar Sugar. Recording quality seems ok to me but I'm no expert. I can hear what I expect tho and that's what matters. This is probably the only album to buy and you have everything your likely to want. Buy Sugar Sugar album as well and you have it all. Love it

OMG !!! This CD is a shambles. To start with some of their European and Aussie hits are missing. Worse still, Bang Shang A Lang and a few other other songs are watery MP3 files [tracks] that the CD producers opted to use... THE SOUND QUALITY IS A DOG'S BREAKFAST!

Un estupendo disco de colección para los amantes de la buena música