ARCHIE'S ALBUM COVER GALLERY: THE LEGACY ERA, Part TWO
THE LEGACY ERA
ARCHIE'S ALBUM COVER GALLERY
Part Two
In early 2027, The Archies will begin recording again after a hiatus of twelve years. From then until the year 2033 when they officially disband, they will complete over 250 masters: Brand new studio tracks, live tracks and overdubs of older material. The years 2029 to 2033 will be the most productive period of their entire career, as well as the most lucrative and critically-acclaimed. Part Two of THE LEGACY ERA documents the stream of best-selling album reissues and previously-unreleased recordings that will anchor the group's presence in a 21st century Pop music market. The focus is on record labels that delve into the Archie catalog on a regular basis: Republic USA, its successor Vox Sound + Image, and Discos Fuentes.
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ONCE IN A LIFETIME
Recorded @ The Capitol Tower in Hollywood
Discos Fuentes, 2044
Even though The Archies' artist contract with the Fuentes label will expire in 2033, the distribution pact between Fuentes and the now-defunct Archie label will still be in effect! The sale of Archie masters to Republic Records in 2014 had no bearing on this prior agreement - the Colombian imprint retained the right to distribute Archie masters in South America. This explains the steady stream of Archies product on Fuentes that extends into the 2040s and beyond. For example, ONCE IN A LIFETIME, which is a collection of previously-unreleased Kirshner era masters recorded in 1989. Fuentes has access to this material because Archie Records purchased it in 2005.
A LA LINEA, Vols I + II
GET ON THE LINE, Vols I + II
Discos Fuentes, 2045
(streaming only)
This is the first release of tracks from HEAVEN HELP THE NON-BELIEVER, an aborted 2005 Country music album that The Archies recorded in Memphis. Clumsily remixed for the dance floor, these downloads will be roundly rejected by both critics and longtime fans! Consequently, they'll only be available for a short time.
SOUL MOTION
Tiger's Milk Records, 2048
As unpopular as A LA LINEA will have been, SOUL MOTION will be popular. In fact, it will score a smash hit - albeit a belated one. The 2028 Atlantic Records LP RIDE, RIDE, BABY will go down in flames because of a trumped-up racism scandal. Soon enough, it becomes clear that The Archies were unfairly targeted. First fans and then critics will champion the record that was widely trashed. Twenty years later, Archie + Veronica create a one-off label specifically to license its tracks for reissue. To sweeten the package, they add a disc of demos and unissued Atlantic sides. SOUL MOTION will begin the slow but steady process of a shift in public perception of The Archies - from a "Bubblegum" Pop group to a top Soul band!
ARCHIE'S CHICANO OLDIES
Republic USA, 2048
Produced by RON DANTE
Recorded @ The Bungalow in Nassau
(deluxe reissue on the Vox label in 2076)
Recorded in 1992 for the Kirshner label and first scheduled for release on Archie Records in 2015, The Archies' first attempt at recording Soul music finally surfaces. It takes the involvement of producer Ron Dante and the rebooted Archies group to make it happen! A perfect companion to the Tiger's Milk SOUL MOTION compilation, ARCHIE'S CHICANO OLDIES is the Republic USA album that will turn the biggest profit - although the deluxe reissue of 2054 will surprise everyone by failing to sell.
I CAN LOVE YOU
Republic USA, 2055
(scheduled for release but cancelled,
issued on the Tiger's Milk label in 2137)
Promo copies of this never-issued compilation will change hands for upwards of $700.00 each, making it one of the most coveted Archies rarities. Decades from now, a descendant of Archie will revive the Tiger's Milk label in order to give I CAN LOVE YOU a long-delayed proper release. Republic USA will never schedule another Archies compilation - in another four years, it will sell off the group's catalogue to a foreign buyer.
ARCHIE SINGS SOUL
THE 75th ANNIVERSARY ALBUM
Vox Sound + Image, 2065
The Republic era is over - the Vox era has begun. ARCHIE SINGS SOUL combines tracks from the never-issued 1990 WHO'S YOUR BABY? album with excerpts from an appearance at the Apollo Theater that same year. It's a hodgepodge that leaves fans wanting more, but not in a good way. This poorly-conceived compilation is Vox's sophomore release from the Archie Records catalog, and it will be a deserving flop! Vox's maiden release, 2060's FURY IN MY SOUL will have become the subject of litigation by Discos Fuentes, the rightful owners of that live recording. These missteps give the Bangalore, India-based imprint inauspicious launch.
BIG NOISE FROM RIVERDALE
Vox Sound + Image, 2066
(Asia only, reissued as a 45 RPM
box set in 2079)
Playing a cautious hand, Vox decides to restrict its third Archies release to the Asian continent. The third time proves to be the charm when BIG NOISE FROM RIVERDALE turns a handsome profit for the company. This compilation blends hit singles with a choice selection of unissued sides. Thirteen years later, this same album will make its North American début in a radically re-imagined box set format.
ARCHIE-MANIA!!!
Vox Sound + Image, 2069
Jackpot! This catalogue chart-topper kicks off a decade-long craze for everything Archie-related. Its healthy sales figures pave a path for numerous best-selling compilations, reissues and first-time releases. By now, Discos Fuentes has come to legal terms with Vox Sound + Image, resulting in a joint distribution deal. Vox will take the lead in marketing new releases and establish its imprint in North America, Europe and Asia. Meanwhile, in South America, Africa, Australia and the rest of the world, most of those releases will appear on the Fuentes label.
THE KIRSHNER ALBUM COLLECTION box set
Vox Sound + Image, 2070
Another blockbuster catalogue item for Vox, THE KIRSHNER ALBUM COLLECTION boasts the first full release of the 1990 live-in-concert recording ARCHIE @ THE APOLLO as well as the 1992 studio album ARCHIE'S CHICANO OLDIES - neither of which ever got pressed on the Kirshner label despite being tracked during that era. Still unreleased from the same time period is the Kirshner LP TRACY and the soundtrack to the Filmation TV special ARCHIE + HIS NEW PALS, both from 1989. Those album masters are believed to be lost, but one of them will surface decades later.
ARCHIE COUNTRY box set
Produced by RALFI CHINGAS
Recorded @ Sun Studio in Memphis +
The Ryman Opry House in Nashville
Vox Sound + Image, 2070
This expanded album reissue and the one that follows will play leap-frog with each other on the Catalogue Album charts in early 2071!
HITS OF THE SIXTIES box set
Produced by RALFI CHINGAS + THE ARCHIES
Recorded @ The Chapel of Rock in Santa Barbara
Vox Sound + Image, 2071
With this box set and the previous one scoring unprecedented catalogue sales, Archie-Mania is definitely in full swing! Not many Rock bands can consistently sell in the box format, but The Archies will have proven to be one of them.
JUMP BACK, HONEY! box set
Produced by THE ARCHIES
Recorded @ Spanish Eddie's Bar + Grill
in New Orleans
Vox Sound + Image, 2074
From the warm reception fans will give this deluxe reissue of The Archies' first and only Jazz + Blues album, you'd never guess that JUMP BACK, HONEY! was a huge flop when first released in 2013. Sadly, Archie will not live to see his faith in this project belatedly rewarded - the last surviving member of the original band, he'll pass away suddenly in 2073.
RETRO! box set
RETRO! sampler
Vox Sound + Image, 2075
Prior to his death, Archie will be heavily involved in the planning of this eight-album retrospective. He will have contributed most of the photos, personally selected all of the rarities and approved new mixes of previously-released tracks. The package also includes his liner notes, completed just days before his passing. In eulogizing Archie, Rolling Stone will call RETRO! "an awesome testament to a life devoted to Rock + Soul." It will be considered the definitive Archies box set until the release of ONLY IN AMERICA at the turn of the 22nd century.
ARCHIE ON THE BAYOU
Produced by RALFI CHINGAS
Recorded @ El Rancho Chingas in Bayamón
Vox Sound + Image, 2076
Ralfi Chingas was slated to produce both ARCHIE COUNTRY LPs, but he and Veronica stopped seeing eye-to-eye during tracking sessions for the second one. It wasn't the first or last time when creative differences spoiled a working relationship. Roni called in Dilton Doiley Briseño to sub for Ralfi, and his work on RETURN TO ARCHIE COUNTRY contributed to making it a huge success! The abandoned version of the album was shelved, but fan interest in it grew stronger with each passing year. This will be its first official release. Due largely to changing musical tastes, late 21st century fans will favor this Cajun-flavored set over the Country Rock million-seller released in 2009. Going forward, ARCHIE ON THE BAYOU will be the preferred source for compilation producers when they program Country songs by The Archies.
TOUT CE QU'ILS DIRENT
de MOI box set
WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT ME box set
JUGGY avec LES ARCHIES
enregistré chez l'Honky Château à Deauville
Vox Sound + Image, 2077
Produced by JUGHEAD w/BREE SPELLMAN
Vox facilitates the first North-American release of Jughead's 2011 solo album of French Disco tunes, recorded at the famous Honky Château. Fans regard it as a "lost" Archies record, and that's because Juggy called on his bandmates to salvage mediocre backing tracks cut by session musicians. The original LP on the Pathé label credited Jean-Emanuel de Luxe with production, but that discrepancy is corrected here: Juggy himself produced the sessions in collaboration with arranger Bree Spellman. At the time, she was music director for Archie Records. From 2038-40, she'll produce hits for the rebooted Archies band.
ÉXITOS en ESPAÑOL box set
Produced by RALFI CHINGAS + TONY BRISEÑO
Recorded @ Chapel of Rock in Santa Barbara +
Spanish Eddie's Bar + Grill in New Orleans
Vox Sound + Image, 2078
Upon its original release in 2008, ÉXITOS en ESPAÑOL was of greater interest to Spanish-speaking fans than English speakers, and that's also true of its deluxe version - it wastes no time crossing over from the catalogue album charts and landing Top Ten on Billboard's Contemporary Latin Pop listing! A much-coveted live version of this album almost duplicates that success: ÉXITOS en VIVO is among the holdings of Atlantic Records, and Atlantic will market it concurrently. (That release is chronicled on a Pop Cantina page called ARCHIE'S SOUL SESSIONS.) Lovers of Rock en Español will be spoiled for choice!
ARCHIE ON THE FLIPSIDE
Vox Sound + Image, 2081
(Africa only)
Unique to the African continent, this B-side compilation will become something of a golden fleece for diehard Archie collectors. It's also rare for being a Vox album marketed in Discos Fuentes territory.
HITS OF THE SIXTIES REMIXED,
Vols I + II
Vox Sound + Image, 2081
(Asia only)
In the 2080s, Archie-Mania transfers from North America to the Asian continent, and this is the album series that kicks it off. The two volumes of HITS OF THE SIXTIES will be specially mixed for spinning in Asiacore-loving dance venues. Asiacore is a culturally-specific remix style pioneered by future Archies member Ramsay Khalid Sharma, among others. This fusion of South Asian folk music, Rock, Reggae and Disco will spawn a craze that encompasses dance, lifestyle and fashion. It will also revitalize the catalogues of numerous western acts that were active during the heyday of Rock 'n' Roll.
PLAIN AND SIMPLE
Vox/Philles, 2082
(Asia only)
This release fulfills Betty Cooper's long-ago desire to see an Archies ballad collection on the market. "A good ballad will always sell, no matter what the dominant Pop trend is," she declared, adding that "women tend to prefer ballads, and they're the most reliable consumers of music." Her commercial instincts were sound, because PLAIN AND SIMPLE will become a sales juggernaut on the Asian continent, topping the charts in over half-a-dozen countries! This beautifully-packaged album will provide source material for a multitude of wedding singers, especially in Thailand, South Korea and the Philippines.
ARCHIES RELOADED
Vox/Philles, 2082
(Asia only)
For Asian fans who prefer their remixes up tempo, ARCHIE RELOADED will fit the bill. This release on Vox's Japanese Philles imprint proves to be so popular, it hurls vintage Archies singles like "Glitter + Gold", "Lonely Weekends", "Jump Back, Honey!" and "Let's Get It On Today" back on the charts after an absence of several decades! The Archies also score a first-ever hit with the Asiacore remix of "Voodoo Doll" - a 2032 recording that up until then was only known as the theme song of a long-running German radio show.
POP ART box set
Vox/Philles, 2083
(Asia only)
While technically a various artists compilation, one side of this 2011 LP was given over to excerpts of a live show that The Archies staged at Radio City Music Hall. That entire show is included in this Japanese box set, along with an abundance of live and studio rarities performed by Archie, Veronica, Josie + The Pussy Cats, Kevin Keller and the Jazz vocal group Savoy Sound - all featured on the original release. POP ART will do very good business in Asia and move lots of stock as an import, too.
ARCHIE IN LAS VEGAS
Produced by CLAUDE WOLFF
Recorded live @ The Sands in Las Vegas
Discos Fuentes, 2084
(South America only)
The estate of Petula Clark brings this rarity to market, much to the delight of Archies fans! The British Invasion diva requested that the band perform at her 57th birthday party, which was held at the legendary Sands Hotel. Her husband Claude Wolff captured the show for her archives and the tape will have gathered dust there for nearly a century! Dating from November of 1989, this is the oldest surviving complete concert by The Archies, and it slays! The group sounds so seasoned and tight, it's hard to believe that they'd only been performing for a little over two years. That may be due to solid music direction by Billy Ward, founder of seminal Rock 'n' Roll vocal group The Dominoes. Had ARCHIE IN LAS VEGAS been released at the height of Archie-Mania, it surely would've been a chart-topper.
DEFINITIVE ARCHIES
Vox Sound + Image, 2085
The worldwide release of ARCHIE IN LAS VEGAS is successful enough to justify a new compilation of hits from the Kirshner Records era. Unfortunately, the sound mixes leave much to be desired!
ARCHIE'S EXTENDED PLAY COLLECTION box set
Vox Sound + Image, 2086
A top sound engineer - Sonny Yin-Bao, the resident audio wizard @ Witch Queen West in Salt Lake City - is at the mixing board for this project, a partial reissue of the group's EP catalogue on Archie Records. Most of their extended-play rarities are saved for a second volume that for some reason won't drop until after the turn of the century.
ARCHIE COUNTRY REMIXED
RETURN TO ARCHIE COUNTRY REMIXED
Vox Sound + Image, 2087
Jametta Cooley, a celebrity deejay known as Tiki Goddess, will make her reputation on floor-filling remixes of Country music hits. The two ARCHIE COUNTRY! albums are some of her favorite spins, and she'll have vigorously lobbied the Vox label and Archies, Incorporated for permission to produce this pair of remix LPs. While critically acclaimed, they'll tend to appeal more to her fans than to Archies aficionados.
END OF A CENTURY box set*
END OF A CENTURY LP
Vox Sound + Image, 2088
(*Asia only, limited edition)
Archies music will have become so integral to Pop culture in the late 21st century, it's hard for people to believe that the group scored its first hit 100 years ago. Pressed up in very limited quantities, the Japanese END OF A CENTURY box set will become a holy grail for hardcore Archies collectors! That said, most fans will be quite satisfied with the downsized two-record set version, which is easier to find and much less expensive to own.
THE ARCHIES
100th ANNIVERSARY EDITION
Produced by JEFF BARRY
Recorded @ The Capitol Tower in Hollywood
Vox Sound + Image, 2088
Vox delivers a beautiful repackaging of The Archies' début album on Calendar Records, including a bonus LP of the songs performed live-in-concert and two boot-scootin' remixes by Tiki Goddess Jametta. THE ARCHIES will just barely miss cracking the Catalogue Album Top Ten.
ARCHIE ITALIANO
Produced by THE ARCHIES w/D'ANGELO WONG
Registrato presso i Grand Prix Studios di Milano
Vox Italia, 2089
(reissued in 2109)
European fans will spring for this long-overdue compilation of songs recorded for the Italian market. ARCHIE ITALIANO also sells quite well in Japan, even though Asian Archie-Mania will have peaked and begun to wind down by 2089.
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