RECORDS THAT CHANGED MY LIFE
by Roy Harter
Roy Harter is a New York-based, Emmy award-winning, composer, sound designer and audio mixer, best known for his work in television and film. He is also a multi-instrumentalist for various performing and recording artists. Harter is the founder and owner of the post-production facility SkinnyMan. As comfortable on the stage as he is in the studio, Harter spends his summers performing with various acts on the European music festival circuit. Some of the artists he has performed or recorded with include: Ray Wylie Hubbard, Damien Dempsey, Goldblade, The Membranes, Dan Donnelly, Common, 3 Daft Monkeys, The Fabulous Good Time Party Boys, Men With Ven, The Celtic Social Club, Duke Special, and The Levellers.
Roy can now be seen televised every Tuesday night 7-8PM (EST) on The Anthony Cumia Network on The East Side Dave Show, playing Dave’s sidekick and musical director.
He lives a surprisingly quiet life in Manhasset, Long Island with this wife, two children, and two dogs.
Amon Düül II
Yeti (1970)
Krautrock has always conjured up images of cold, Teutonic precision, yet this album is about as soulful and heavy as anything Led Zeppelin ever did. However, instead of ripping off American blues-inspired pentatonic riffs, these licks have a much more exotic, eastern European, or even Asian flavor. Definitely one of the most captivating album cover sleeves I own, and along with Britain’s Hawkwind, possibly the greatest psychedelic rock band of all time. The crown jewel of my record collection, and a serious trip. I still can’t figure out if they were a legitimate band or a German hippie cult. Probably both.
Talk Talk
Spirit of Eden (1988)
The perfect culmination of rock, jazz, classical and ambient music. I first became of aware of this album and the arduous process of recording this minimalist masterpiece, after reading engineer Phil Brown’s book, Are We Still Rolling?. It was probably the last time a major label gave a band an open budget and schedule. Talk Talk discarded almost everything that made them recognizable as a band, eschewing programmed synths and predictable song structures, and forged ahead into new, transcendental territory. It is a work for all listeners who want the most from music.
Jellyfish
Spilt Milk (1993)
I was born a generation too late to grow up surrounded by the vocal harmonies of Queen, The Beach Boys, The Association, ELO, Supertramp, Badfinger, and the Beatles. Instead I had Jellyfish. Perfectly constructed pop masterpieces fleshed out with harpsichords, organs, banjos, pedal steels, and brass sections whose production has stood the test of time. This album is a college course in musical arranging. Sure, they dressed like bellbottom-wearing hippie clowns, but they still managed to solidify a Big Star-like cult following for anyone who didn’t really understand the Seattle grunge movement.
The Felice Brothers
Celebration, Florida (2011)
The Felice Brother’s were the first band to accurately depict the corruption of contemporary America in a rusty, punk, dancehall fashion. I consider them to be the American counterpart to Britain’s Fat White Family. Ironically, it was a UK producer Phil Johnstone (Robert Plant) who first turned me onto this band of brothers from rural upstate New York. I fondly recall sitting in his studio listening to this record, and then returning to the studio the next morning, and found Phil was STILL there listening to it on repeat. Celebration, Florida was a real departure from the rustic folk they had become known for. Everyone expected them to be the next Bob Dylan or The Band, but the brothers were having none of that.
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