The Clique are a late 1960s U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 sunshine pop

Sunshine pop

Sunshine pop is a subgenre of pop music originating in the United States, mainly the state of California, in the mid-1960s. Sunshine pop, by nature, is cheerful and upbeat music which is characterised by warm sounds, prominent vocal harmonies, as well as sophisticated productions...

 band

Band (music)

In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...

 from Beaumont, Texas

Beaumont, Texas

Beaumont is a city in and county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, United States, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 118,296 at the 2010 census. With Port Arthur and Orange, it forms the Golden Triangle, a major industrial area on the...

, 90 miles east of Houston.

The group was centered around record producer

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

/songwriter

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

 Gary Zekley

Gary Zekley

Gary Zekley was a former West Coast record producer and songwriter associated with 1960s, 1970s and 1980s bands and songs in the bubblegum, rock and roll, sunshine pop, and surf genres....

, who often employed session musician

Session musician

Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...

s. Their self-titled album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

, The Clique (1969), released by White Whale Records

White Whale Records

White Whale Records was an American record label, founded in 1965 by Ted Feigin and Lee Lassiff in Los Angeles, California, and probably best known as the record label of The Turtles....

, featured the singles

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 I'll Hold Out My Hand and Sugar on Sunday, which reached #45 in the U.S, on 12/13/1969 and #22 on the U.S. on 10/18/1969 Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 chart

Record chart

A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....

, respectively. Sugar on Sunday was a cover

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 of a Tommy James

Tommy James

Tommy James is an American pop-rock musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer, best known as leader of the 1960s rock band Tommy James and the Shondells.-Early life and career:...

 song

Song

In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...

 and its B-Side

A-side and B-side

A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...

, Superman, was covered by R.E.M.

R.E.M.

R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...

 on their 1986 album Life's Rich Pageant.

The Clique reached #177 on the Billboard Hot 200 album chart. A 1970 single, Sparkle and Shine, reached #100; this song is included, along with six other added songs, on the 1998 re-release of The Clique put out by Varèse Sarabande

Varèse Sarabande

Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums as well as newer releases by artists no longer under a contract...

.

Many thought The Clique was actually Tommy James & the Shondells, because of the dead-ringer sound of Sugar on Sunday.

External links

• [ Allmusic review of The Clique]