This is, quite possibly, going to be a new series on 17 Seconds. The aim is to post singles that have become legendary or mythical and are downright near-impossible to get hold of. If appropriate, I may also be including details of Peel Festive Fifty positions, so consider it a mixture of Festive Fifty and Great lost single posts.

This first single is the Shop Assistants’ All Day Long EP. Released in 1985 before the band signed to Chrysalis, releasing the Will Anything Happen? LP and the Safety Net and I Don’t Want To Be Friends With You singles, both of which made it into the 1986 Festive Fifty. (This sole LP and the two singles are on the Shop Assistants Anthology compilation, which I have never seen in a shop, but IS available on both eMusic and iTunes). the band split then, before reforming in the late eighties to issue two more singles.

The Shop Assistants -‘All Day Long EP’ (Subway Organisation)

1. All Day Long
2. Switzerland
3. All That Ever Mattered
4. It’s Up To You

The line-up was on this single was:
Alex -vocals
David -guitar
Sarah- bass
Ann- drums
Laura -drums (yes, two drummers)

The line-up changed over the years, at one point the singer had been Aggi, would later join Bjork in The Sugarcubes, Margerita of Jesse Garon and the Desperadoes would drum and David eventually joined the Pastels. (Did you follow all that?)

As a couple of bonuses, here is the very first single, credited to Bubba and the Shop Assistants, released in 1984.

Bubba and the Shop Assistants -‘Something To Do.’ mp3

(If anyone has a copy of the b-sdie to this, please could they send it to me. Address above)

Finally, towards the end of the eighties, a limited version of one of the singles had this as an extra track, a cover of the Jesus and Mary Chain’s You Trip Me Up:

Shop Assistants -‘You Trip Me Up.’ (Jesus and Mary Chain)

In the 1985 Festive Fifty, ‘All Day Long’ made no.50, while ‘All That Ever Mattered’ made no.17.

For an excellent Shop Assistants web page, try here.

Part two of this series will be Primal Scream’s Crystal Crescent 12″…