GOING FOR GOLD DISCS

Shed Seven’s best five singles

GOING FOR GOLD (Polydor 576 214-7, 7”, yellow vinyl, 1996) £10 (from A

Maximum High) Rather than yield to second album pressure, becoming a success boosted Shed Seven’s confidence. Yet there’s a melancholy here suggesting their biggest anthems are seeking affirmation, rather than demanding it. Their only Top 10 single, it reached No 8.

CHASING RAINBOWS

(Polydor 575 928-7, 7”, gatefold sleeve, 1996) £20 (from Let It Ride)

Released just two months after On Standby, the final single from A Maximum High, by the end of 1996 Shed Seven were bulletproof. Sounding as massive as guitar band ballads get, it remains an instant singalong, so it’s jolting to be reminded it only reached No 17.

SHE LEFT ME ON FRIDAY (Polydor 569 540-7, 7”, gatefold sleeve, 1998) £8 (from Let It Ride)

Oasis’ cover of Cum On Feel The Noize means they generally get the credit, but Shed Seven were arguably Slade’s real inheritors during Britpop. Throw in Ocean Pie and Getting Better, and this brilliantly rowdy racket shows there was nobody better at glam-tinged stomps.

DISCO DOWN

(Polydor 563 875-2, CD, 1999) £8 (from Going For Gold: The Greatest Hits)

File next to New Order’s True Faith as great singles written specifically for hits comps. Paul Banks’ slippery wah-wah riff and Alan Leach’s Reni-class drumming make this perfect for the discos they’re protesting against. Kylie Minogue released a song called Disco Down a year later. Coincidence? Pah.

IN ECSTASY

(Cooking Vinyl COOKLP 898, LP, yellow and red splatter vinyl, 2023) £30 (from A Matter Of Time)

An unabashed Madchester tribute, with a chorus of “stand with me in ecstasy”, they just needed Rowetta to join in the chorus to complete its Happy Mondays mood. As for Tom Gladwin’s elastic bass, it nods to

Duran Duran.