Pour A Little Sugar On It: The Chewy Chewy Sounds of American Bubblegum 1966-1971 3CD Box Set – Review
By Dominic Picksley
‘Yummy, yummy, yummy, I’ve got love in my tummy…’ Who can possibly forget loquacious, onomatopoeic and basically simple lyrics emanating from the pores of bands like Ohio Express and The Archies, who churned out a plethora of made-to-measure synthetic hits that formed the sugary bedrock of the bubblegum sound in the mid-to-late 1960s.
Forever castigated and, wrongly, filed away in the so-called cheesy bargain bucket of pop, bubblegum music has always been viewed as an embarrassment by veteran rock critics, who would rather swoon over an endlessly pretentious prog rock improvisational ramble than acknowledge the glorious impact of a solid two-minute, sunshine-flavoured and highly commercial upbeat tune that you can’t help but tap your foot to.
Heck, even the general public have poured more scorn and disdain on this particular era than any other musical genre, despite the fact that most of the groups and people involved in the short-lived classification had more talent and musical chops than many of today’s leading auto-tuned, Pro Tools protagonists.
And the wonderment of that genre is no better exemplified than by Cherry Red Records’ recent three-CD anthology entitled Pour A Little Sugar On It: The Chewy Chewy Sounds of American Bubblegum 1966-1971.
Containing 91 tracks and more than three hours’ worth of material, this boxset is a dream for fans of this particular musical style, while casual onlookers’ ears will also be warmed by a multitude of joyous pop songs that blast out from the speakers.
Those archetypal bubblegum heroes and cartoon wonders The Archies are obviously at the forefront, with half-a-dozen tracks, including their smash hit ‘Sugar, Sugar’, along with the breezy ‘Bang-Shang-A-Lang’ and infectious ‘Archies Party’, while lead singer Ron Dante gets three of his solo songs included from his 1970 album ‘Ron Dante Brings You Up’.
He can also be heard singing all the parts on ‘Tracy’ by another ‘pretend’ band The Cuff Links, while pre-eminent bubblegum acts The Cowsills and The Lemon Pipers are also obvious inclusions with ‘Indian Lake’ and ‘Green Tambourine’ respectively, while the latter also have ‘Jelly Jungle (Of Orange Marmalade)’ , which sounds just like a rewrite of their more famous hit.
We’ve already mentioned ‘Yummy, Yummy, Yummy’ by studio group Ohio Express (the band that toured under that name were completely different musicians), but the inspiration for the name of this compilation, ‘Chewy, Chewy’, is also enclosed within – and both with lead vocals by co-writer by Joey Levine – and the two of them are definite ‘ear candy’, I think the Americans would say.
“Brilliantly catchy”
Levine’s sneery vocals can also be heard on The Third Rail’s ‘Boppa Do Down Down’ and on ‘Quick Joey Small’ by Kasenetz-Katz Singing Orchestral Chorus, a project put together by leading producers of the genre, Jerry Kasenetz and Jeffry Katz, whose work is all over this compilation, including on Crazy Elephant’s ‘Gimme Gimme Good Lovin’, which was a top-20 hit in both the US and UK.
The band that could be argued actually kickstarted the bubblegum fad, The Monkees, have just the one offering, the corny but obvious ‘A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You’, and there are other tunes you’d expect to be included on a compilation such as this, like ‘Simon Says’ and ‘Goody Goody Gumdrops’ by the 1910 Fruitgum Company (formerly known as Jeckell & The Hydes), ‘Jam Up Jelly Tight’ by Tommy Roe, ‘I Think We’re Alone Now’ by Tommy James & The Shondells, plus ‘She’s The Kind Of Girl’ and ‘Little Miss Sunshine’, by California’s The Peppermint Trolley Company.
There are tracks that will surprise you. The Velvet Underground are about as far away from bubblegum as you could imagine, but ‘Who Loves The Sun’ – with a rare lead vocal by Doug Yule – from their ‘Loaded’ album, is deemed to have crossed several boundaries and dipped a toe in the sugary waters, while fans of psych legends The Electric Prunes may be shocked to see the inclusion of the upbeat ‘Everybody Knows You’re Not In Love’ also included.
I’m a huge Beach Boys fan and have never viewed Wild Honey album filler ‘How She Boogalooed It’ as treading a bubblegum path, but here it is, while Shadows Of Knight were surely far too raucous to ever be considered even if ‘Shake’ has that hypnotising keyboard driving a simple, but effective rhythm. Paul Revere & The Raiders’ ‘Mr Sun, Mr Moon’ also gets an airing, but is it bubblegummy enough? You decide.
On comps like this, there are always forgotten hidden gems sprinkled within, and The Fun & Games’ ‘The Grooviest Girl In The World’ is a prime example. Just under three minutes long, it’s a blast from start to finish by the sunshine pop group from Houston. The song reached the ridiculously low charting of 78 upon its release in early 1969 and the band broke up soon after (check out their only album,’ Elephant Candy’, too).
I had never heard of Arnim-Hamilton (a duo from Houston), but ‘Pepperman’ brought them totally into my world. This brilliantly catchy tune was released by International Artists shortly before that company’s demise in early 1970, so what could (and should) have been a huge hit fell by the wayside.
Mortimer’s ‘Would You Believe’, some of which sounds inspired by The Monkees’ ‘Can You Dig It’, The Jaggerz’ glorious, bass-drenched ‘The Rapper’ and The Knack’s singalong sunshine ditty ‘Banana Man’ are all welcome additions to anyone’s collection.
Meanwhile, fans of The Wurzels will recognise Melanie’s ‘Brand New Key’, Sesame Street aficionados will love The Free Design’s inclusion, singing the famous theme tune, while big tunes from big names from the era like Mama Cass’ ‘Move In A Little Closer, Baby’, Lou Christie’s ‘She Sold Me Magic’ and ‘I’m Gonna Make You Mine’ and Brian Hyland’s ‘The Joker Went Wild’ are also shoehorned into the collection.
There are a multitude of other bands and artists I’ve not even mentioned, so go and explore this fantastic smorgasbord yourself to discover them all.
And all this comes with a magnificent 48-page booklet, that describes each song in detail, offering up pictures of the artists and bands, and what happened to them afterwards, all in great detail.
A stunning collection, worthy of a place in any music library.
Dom has worked in journalism for 25 years, specialising in sport, but with a penchant for penning travel features, at home and abroad, and also has a vast knowledge of 60s music, from the popular hitmakers to those bands long since forgotten.
He’s become something of a theme park reviewer now, sparked by his children’s interest, and if there’s an interesting book that appeals, then he’ll review that as well.
