Will Anything Happen

The Shop Assistants were one of the defining bands of the '80s independent boom. Formed in Edinburgh in 1984, originally as Buba & The Shop Assistants, they released the Peel-approved indie staple "Something To Do", which featured Stephen Pastel on backing vocals. With line-up changes and an abbreviated name, they released the Shopping Parade EP a year later, which saw Morrissey describe "All Day Long" (included on this collection) as his favorite track of the year. The band's David Keegan (who would subsequently join the Pastels) then formed 53rd & 3rd Records, which housed the band's "Safety Net," one of two songs, along with "I Don't Want To Be Friends With You" (again, included here) to be voted part of John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1986. They also featured on that year's celebrated, infamous, nay, iconic C86 NME compilation. This re-release incorporates the material they released after signing to Chrysalis' Blue Guitar subsidiary. The Shop Assistants, aka Will Anything Happen, is their sole album release, and is accompanied here by two bonus tracks; "Looking Back" and the slow version of "All Day Long." Although reissued in 2001, it has long been out-of-print, fetching scary prices on a well known auction site in acknowledgement of its status as one of the indispensable articles of the C86/shambling/independent scene.