No bandwith...

it's all rather odd, i've been on fileden for months, and have got nowhere near my download limit, and suddenly, last month, I reached my limit with 15 days to go. I can only think that someone has gone through the blog, and downloaded everything, and told their friends to do the same. Hey ho. i've got about 5 days before fileden resets, and then all links will be active, howzat?

Shop Assistants "Safety Net" (unreleased rough mix for single) (53rd & 3rd, 1985)

There's a story behind this particular song, and it's here, in all its glory. I do ramble on a bit, but look at that time! 2.18 am! I think alcohol may have been involved.
As it says in the blog post, this version of "Safety Net", without doubt the highpoint of the Shop Assistants short career, was the rough mix, and not the eventual version that was released. The comparisons between the two versions are pronounced: the stereo separation is greater, the vocals are higher in the mix....but at the end of the day, the most obvious difference is the lack of guitar. By the time it was finally released, David Keegan had quite literally COVERED the song in waves of squalling guitar. To be honest, it's those waves of nose-bleed guitars that give the actual single it's thrilling power, but it's really interesting to hear how it was initially recorded. Hearing this rough mix again, after so many years, still sends a chill up my spine.
I got this tape on a Saturday afternoon, in October 1985, the day after "Safety net" was recorded, and later on that Saturday evening, we watched the band open their set at Moray House in Edinburgh with it. I've posted that live version as well, plus the second song in the set "All That Ever Mattered", with Alex giving me a little shout out at the start :)

Shop Assistants "Safety Net" (Rough Mix) (mp3)

Shop Assistants "Safety Net/All That Ever Mattered" (Live at Moray House College, Edinburgh, October 1985) (mp3)

OK, let's get this party started.

My name's Iain. I help to run Shadowglobe, I used to be a DJ on Xfm (R.I.P.) and a musician as well.
And, since the latter part of the 1970's, I've been an avid collector of records that only I seemed to love. So, just to put that to the test, I figured it was time to start up a little mp3 blog, to share some of those tunes with you.
Enjoy
x