AMG Review of Very Best of the Archies [Master Classics]

Heather Phares
All Music Guide

Master Classics' 2004 compilation The Very Best of the Archies is more or less a straight repackaging of Cleopatra's 1999 collection of the same name. Despite its somewhat scattered release history, the collection is a solid one, offering the big hits, as well as several lesser-known tracks, mostly compiled from the Archies' second and third albums Everything's Archie and Jingle Jangle. That album's title track, along with "Sugar Sugar," "Melody Hill," and "Bang Shang-A-Lang" (from 1968's The Archies) are among the collection's highlights. Diehard Archies fans will probably want to stick with the Repetoire anthology Sugar, Sugar..., which features a more complete look at the band's output, but The Very Best of the Archies will satisfy anyone just looking for the Archies' biggest hits and a few other goodies.