When the Shop Assistants first married punk intensity with gorgeous, '60s-style female vocals in the mid '80s, it was one of those small steps for a little group that was also a huge step for garage-band-kind. The Scottish act's perfect pop formula has been liberally borrowed by other indie-pop acts ever since the Shoppies broke through — by the D.C.-based Black Tambourine in the late '80s, Ann Arbor's Slumberland in the mid '90s and Brooklyn's Vivian Girls here in the late '00s. Consider the group's two signature, template tunes, "Somewhere In China" and "Home Again." That former number, perhaps their finest moment, is fuzzy and beautiful, an airy confection that takes jangle-pop and turns it on its ear. The latter finds them showing their peppy side, a revved-up and pretty little pop-punk jingle.

The songs here seem to have been mastered from vinyl — but doesn't indie-pop always sound better with a little bit of crackle and hiss? Any quibbles with this collection will be minor and trainspotter-y. It would have been wonderful if the compilation started a year earlier (when the group were called Buba & the Shop Assistants, before Aggi left to join the Pastels… read more »