''Shop Assistants'' is the only album released by
Shop Assistants
Shop Assistants were a Scottish indie pop band from Edinburgh, Scotland, formed in 1984, initially as 'Buba & The Shop Assistants'.Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 502 After achieving success with inde ...
. It was released in November 1986 on the
Chrysalis Records
Chrysalis Records () is a British record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ellis-Wright Ag ...
"indie" offshoot Blue Guitar. The album was critically acclaimed by ''Sounds'' staff who put ''Shop Assistants'' in the list of top 50 best albums of 1986.
[Andrzej Buda (2006) ''Historia rocka, popu i hip-hopu wedlu krytykow'', Wydawnictwo Niezalezne: 68, 2006, ]
The album was reissued in 1997 by Overground Records under the title ''Will Anything Happen'', and again on CD by
Cherry Red in 2008 with two bonus tracks, both of which had originally appeared on the B-side of the single "I Don't Wanna Be Friends With You". The album was described by ''
Allmusics Jason Ankeny as "an essential artefact of its times".
[Ankeny, Jason: "Shop Assistants", in Bogdanov, Vladimir, Woodstra, Chris, Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (2002) ]
All Music Guide to Rock
', Backbeat Books,
Track listing
All tracks composed by Shop Assistants; except where noted.
# "I Don't Wanna Be Friends With You" - 2:18
# "All Day Long" - 1:50
# "Before I Wake" - 2:42
# "Caledonian Road" - 2:13
# "All That Ever Mattered" - 2:15
# "Fixed Grin" - 2:51
# "Somewhere in China" - 3:13
# "Train From Kansas City" (
Ellie Greenwich,
Jeff Barry) - 3:42
# "Home Again" - 1:41
# "Seems to Be" - 2:22
# "After Dark" - 2:36
# "All of the Time" - 2:23
# "What a Way to Die" (David Leone - uncredited) - 1:59
# "Nature Lover" - 1:55
# "Looking Back" (CD reissue only) - 1:45
# "All Day Long" (slow version) (CD reissue only) - 2:27
"What a Way to Die" was credited to "unknown", but it is a cover of David Leone's small hit for Pleasure Seekers.
Personnel
;Shop Assistants
*Alex Taylor - lead vocals, tambourine
*David Keegan - guitar, noises
*Sarah Kneale - bass guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on "What a Day to Die"
*Laura MacPhail - drums, glockenspiel
with:
*Jon Hunter - trumpet on "All of the Time" and "Nature Lover"
;Technical
*Graeme Hughes, Sean,
Stephen Street
Stephen Brian Street (born 29 March 1960 in Hackney, London) is an English music producer best known for his work with The Smiths, The Cranberries and Blur. Street collaborated with Morrissey on his debut album ''Viva Hate'' following the spl ...
- engineer
References
External links
*Sheridan, David
Shop Assistants, ''
Trouser Press''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shop Assistants
1986 debut albums
albums produced by Mayo Thompson