The Heart Throbs were formed in 1986 by Rose Carlotti and Stephen Ward, both college students, who recruited Rose's sister Rachel DeFreitas and Mark Side to join the band, with Rose and Rachel both being the sisters of the late Echo & the Bunnymen drummer Pete DeFreitas. The band released their first single 'Toy' in mid-1987 on Marc Riley's In-Tape label, and within a year they had made inroads towards infamy, supporting the Jesus And Mary Chain on tour, and releasing their 'Bang' single in a controversial 'car crash' record sleeve on their new label Rough Trade Records. Further publicity followed at the close of the decade when the band started up their own Profumo label, named after the political sex scandal that shocked Britain in the early 60s, and after releasing two further singles on this imprint, they were signed by the UK label One Little Indian Records. It was at this time that guitarist Alan Barclay a.k.a. Alan Borgia joined the group, allowing original guitarist Ward to move to keyboards. Their first album 'Cleopatra Grip' appeared on One Little Indian in the UK, and was distributed in the US by Elektra Records, achieving moderate success on both sides of the Atlantic, and including the superb 'Dreamtime', which was released as a single. The band embarked on a tense tour towards the end of 1990, which resulted in the departure of both bass player Carlotti and drummer Side, and when their deal with Elektra ended they were signed by A&M Records, who released their next album 'Jubilee Twist' in both the UK and the US. Following a change of management, Colleen Browne had taken over on bass and Steve Beswick had joined on drums for 'Jubilee Twist', but after disappointing sales A&M elected not to distribute their third and final album, 'Vertical Smile', which just appeared in the UK on the One Little Indian label. It probably didn't help their US profile that the first and third albums were named after euphemisms for female genitalia, while the jubilee twist is a martial combat technique for attacking the male genitalia. Despite 'Vertical Smile' being a strong album, the band struggled to regain the ground they had lost in the intervening period, and they ground to a halt the following year. After The Heart Throbs split up in 1993, Rose Carlotti and Steve Beswick formed the group Angora, who then changed their name to Tom Patrol, before eventually disbanding. I always liked The Heart Throbs, and I think that 'Cleopatra Grip' still holds up today as a great record, and so as an introduction for anyone who doesn't know them, here are all their non-album singles and b-sides from their all too short career.
Track listing
Disc I - 1987-1988
01 Toy (single 1987)
02 Make My Day (b-side of 'Toy')
03 I, The Jury (b-side of 'Toy')
04 Bang (single 1987)
05 Sick At Heart (b-side of 'Bang')
06 Naked Bang (b-side of 'Bang')
07 Too Many Shadows (single 1988)
08 Things That Linger (b-side of 'Too Many Shadows')
09 I See Danger (b-side of 'Too Many Shadows')
10 Here I Hide (single 1988)
11 Pale Fire (b-side of 'Here I Hide')
12 Come (b-side of 'Here I Hide')
Disc II - 1989-1993
01 Cry Hard Cry Fast (b-side of 'Blood From A Stone' 1989)
02 Smothered (b-side of 'Blood From A Stone' 1989)
03 Shut Down (early version of 'Dreamtime', John Peel session 1989)
04 Toy '89 (from 'Lie To Me: A Compilation Of Guitar Use And Abuse' 1989)
05 Clear As A Bell (b-side of 'I Wonder Why' 1990)
06 This Man (b-side of 'Dreamtime' 1990)
07 Turn Away (from the 'Total Abandon' EP 1991)
08 Pumping (My Heart) (from the 'Total Abandon' EP 1991)
09 Laughing & Falling (from the 'Spongy Thing' EP 1992)
10 Tranquilized, Naked & Shy (from bonus 12" with vinyl edition of 'Jubilee Twist' 1992)
11 We Connect (b-side of 'Worser' 1993)
12 Visionary Song (b-side of 'Worser' 1993)
