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Shop Assistants – Train From Kansas City (The Shangri-Las Cover)

The Shangri-Las were an American pop girl group of the 1960s.
Between 1964 and 1966 they charted with often heartbreaking teen melodramas, and remain known for “Leader of the Pack” and “Remember (Walkin’ in the Sand)”.
In April 1964, when the girls were still minors, their parents signed with Red Bird Records; Mary was 15, Betty was 17, and the Ganser twins 16. Having been hired by record producer George “Shadow” Morton, they had their first success with the summer hit, “Remember (Walking in the Sand)” (U.S. #5, UK #14). Billy Joel, a then-unknown working as a session musician, played on the demo of “Remember (Walkin’ In The Sand)”.[4] The demo was nearly seven minutes long, too long for Top 40 radio. Morton had hired the group to perform on the demo, but Red Bird released a re-recorded version. Morton faded the new version out around 2:16.
The recordings for Morton featured lavish production with heavy orchestration and sound effects, and their next and biggest hit, “Leader of the Pack” (U.S. #1, UK #11), climaxes with roaring motorcycles and breaking glass. UK re-issues peaked at 3 in 1972 and 7 in 1976. The song epitomized the “death disc”; other examples include Ray Peterson’s “Tell Laura I Love Her”, Jan and Dean’s “Dead Man’s Curve”, J Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers’s “Last Kiss,” and Twinkle’s “Terry”.
By the end of 1964 the group was an established act. They performed with the Beatles, toured with R&B artists such as The Drifters and James Brown (who, according to Mary Weiss, was surprised to discover the girls were white), and Cashbox magazine listed them as best new R&B group. They also promoted Revlon cosmetics. In March 1965 they toured the UK with Dusty Springfield and The Zombies.[Because Betty did not tour until 1966, and because she often did not appear in photos, many fans believed the Shangri-Las were a trio.
The group alternated between touring with their own band and local bands. Among the latter were the Sonics, as well as the Iguanas, featuring a young Iggy Pop.

The Shop Assistants were an indie pop band from Edinburgh, Scotland, formed in 1984, initially as Buba & The Shop Assistants. The original line-up was Aggi (Annabel Wright, later of The Pastels), on vocals, David Keegan (guitar), Sarah Kneale (bass), Laura MacPhail (drums) and Ann Donald (drums). This line-up released one single, the now highly-collectible ‘Something to Do’ which was produced by Stephen Pastel. Stephen Pastel also contributed backing vocals.

Aggi left to be replaced by Alex Taylor. Soon after, the name shortened to simply ‘Shop Assistants’ and the first release under their new name was the Shopping Parade EP in 1985 on The Subway Organization, whose track All Day Long was described by Morrissey as his favourite single of that year. Ann Donald left round about November 1985 and was briefly replaced by Joan Bride (possibly a pseudonym!). Shopping Parade was followed in early 1986 with Safety Net, the first release on Keegan’s 53rd & 3rd Records, which topped the UK Indie Chart, and the band recorded a national radio session with Janice Long and a second John Peel session, both of BBC’s Radio One. The exposure they gained from the sessions enabled the group to have two songs to be voted into John Peel’s Festive Fifty in both 1985 and 1986.

In 1986, they were featured on the NME’s compilation C86 with one of their slower songs, It’s Up To You, taken from Shopping Parade EP. Also in that year, they signed to Chrysalis Records’s sublabel Blue Guitar for another single, I Don’t Wanna Be Friends With You as well as their first and only LP album, The Shop Assistants. This spent one week at number 100 in the UK album charts, which gives the band the distinction of being the (joint) least successful act ever to hit the national charts. The LP album was re-released on CD in 2001, although it is now very hard to find.

The band split early in 1987, when Taylor left the group to join The Motorcycle Boy. After a two-year hiatus, the band reformed without Taylor in 1989 with Kneale on vocals and MacPhail on bass and the addition of Margarita Vasquez-Ponte of Jesse Garon And The Desperadoes on drums. With the new lineup they released Here It Comes and Big ‘E’ Power in 1990 before splitting again, Keegan joining The Pastels.

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