Third night of Chanukah - Cannon Heath Down - Heart-Throb Companion (1987, Bongo Sunrise)

Big unveiling today folks.  I honestly can't recall how Cannon Heath Down made it onto my radar, but I must have liked what I heard on their Myspace page, because after no small amount of searching, it took about half a days wages to cover Heart-Throb Companion’s hefty price tag.

It’s a stretch to imagine that twenty-five years ago a quartet of Vancouver kids had their ear this darn close to the lower 48 indie underground, but aside from sheer coincidence, how else could CHD have taken on so many properties of Game Theory, early Ric Menck/Paul Chastain, Buzz of Delight-era Matthew Sweet, Three o’ Clock, and even the Primitons?  I can’t say that Heart-Throb…is as seminal as the work of the aforementioned, but it does boast several premiere efforts like, “Bone (of Contention),” “Julia Rainbow,” and “Safe as Milk,” all exuding a fresh, visceral deliriousness that only comes along once in a blue moon.  There’s a decidedly demure lilt to this album, but one marked anomaly is “Not Now,” a comparatively serrated slice of punky riff-rock that seems to take on a life of it’s own outside of Heart-Throb's remaining dozen selections.   

I've got the video of "Bone (of Contention)" for ya'll below.  By the way, no one in group bears the band’s namesake, rather the moniker would appear to be taken from a rural locale in England.  One more thing.  This disk was followed up by a 1989 cassette-only release, Peace Bum Days that I'd love to get my hands on.  Comment away.



01. Light Your Eyes
02. Julia Rainbow
03. Je Suis Certain
04. ma-de-moi-selle
05. Fortunate
06. A Charming Sound
07. Blue Skye
08. Bone (of Contention)
09. Having Dreams
10. Not Now
11. Safe as Milk
12. quagmire
13. Belly Through

http://rapidshare.com/files/785584514/cannonheathdown.rar