Leading on from last weeks post. This is a concert recording credited to Buba & The Shop Assistants recorded at the Edinburgh Waterloo Bar on the 19/12/1984. I think it is Alex Taylor on vocals although I can't be sure. Either way it is the only live recording I have come across for band under this monikor.

Buba & The Shop Assistants - Live @ Edinburgh Waterloo Bar 1984

Credit must be given to the unknown person who first shared this recording.

This is what I wrote for Last FM on the band:

Buba & The Shop Assistants formed in Edinburgh 1983 and consisted of Annabel Wright (Aggi) on vocals alongside David Keegan (guitar), Sarah Kneale (bass), Laura MacPhail (drums) and Ann Donald (drums). Stephen McRobbie (Stephen Pastel) produced and provided backing vocals for the bands only single Something To Do (Villa 21 Records, 1984).

Aggi left the band joining McRobbie in The Pastels and was replaced by Alex Taylor on vocals with Buba being dropped from the bands name.

Buba & The Shop Assistants - Something To Do
Buba & The Shop Assistants - Dreaming Backwards

(these are not my rips and whilst, not the greatest quality, it's a rare airing for these tracks. I still refuse to pay the £45+ this single demands. One day, maybe one day)EDIT: A copy has just gone for £97 on e-bay!

More can be found on my Shop Assistants pages. One day I will finish these band sites I have.

The trouble with a music collection scattered all over the place and not in any sort of order means that the track I wanted to bring you this week will have to wait for another airing. Whilst trying to find it I came across Somewhere Soon by The High which is an album I haven't played in years.

When indie dance, or baggy as it is more widely known, was all the rage record labels were falling over themselves to sign anything out of Liverpool & Manchester. Most bands were not that good and soon found their five rather than fifteen minutes up before they knew it (35 Summers anyone?). Some bands however had a bit of quality about them and one such band was The High who produced an indie rock sound not far removed from the likes of The Stone Roses whilst pre-dating that of Oasis. Indeed the bands guitarist Andy Couzens was one of the founding members of the former.

The band were signed to London for all of their career releasing some fine singles most of which ended up on their album Somewhere Soon in October 1990. A couple more singles followed and they the distinction of their single More being Martin Hannett's last production/remix before his death. Sadly the remix on a 10" version of the single was pretty awful. Another album, which I have never heard, titled Hype was released in 1992 and the band finally folded in 1993 after the release of their final single Sweet Liberty.

This weeks track was the bands second single released in August 1990 reaching number 53 in the charts. Only a reissue of their début single Box Set Go would get higher (number 28 January 1991).

The High - Up and Down

The only web presence I can find on the band is this rather garish site!

The first ever track I posted on indie-mp3 in February 2002 was Velocity Girl by Primal Scream. As that track was re-issued on last years CD86 compilation I thought I do the next best thing and post the cover of it by the Manic Street Preachers.

Originally a b-side on one of the CD releases of their single Australia it later turned up on 2003's Lipstick Traces - A Secret History compilation.

The Manics were big fans of C86 as this interview of Nick Wire in The Guardian testifies.

Manic Street Preachers - Velocity Girl

You can pick up Lipstick Traces for as little as 99p on e-bay!

After getting nostalgic for the old indie mp3 track of the week I have decided to bring it back. So alongside the everyday writing on the site I will post a track from my collection once a week, generally at weekends.

However there will not be an archive this time round and tracks will only be available on a weekly basis. You can view the old indie mp3 site at the Wayback machine. An example of the archive can be found here. I will try and re-post some tracks from the list over the coming weeks.