There was no turning back for Harte after his label’s second release, the Neighborhoods’ power-pop marvel “Prettiest Girl,” an enduring number that’s one of the compilation’s highs. Harte had made his first 45 with punks the Infliktors on his beloved two-track behemoth, but “Prettiest Girl” was his — and the ’Hoods — first foray into a professional studio. It sold 10,000 copies.
“When ‘Prettiest Girl’ became a regional hit, I realized there was no reason why I couldn’t make records that would succeed nationally.” And the Lyres and Burma discs accomplished that, creeping from the underground into the tendrils of the mainstream.
Neighborhoods frontman David Minehan, now the in-demand local producer and engineer behind Woolly Mammoth studios, describes the music-obsessed, pageboy-haired Harte as a “true eccentric.” Also as a deep talent and mentor. “When we started working together, Rick handed me a box of English singles that today would probably be worth $30,000 — original 45s of the Stones, Traffic, the Beatles, the Kinks — and said, ‘Find out what it is about this stuff that’s magic.’ He helped my musical education immensely. His knowledge is incredible. Rick had an uncanny knack for drawing your attention to some ingredient you took for granted and hadn’t stopped to think what role it was playing. He was extremely interested in capturing my vision as an artist. But he also became a real part of forming that vision.”
Harte remains an active member of the Mission of Burma camp. He was a consultant for the band’s 2004 comeback OnoffOn (Matador) and provided archival music and footage for the forthcoming Burma documentary Inexplicable, which premieres April 22 at Somerville Theatre.
“When Rick first came to a rehearsal, we were a bit baffled by him,” Burma guitarist Roger Miller says. “He’s got an interesting demeanor and he looked like Jeff Beck. But he was very supportive of any idea we had.”
More important to hard-core Burma fans, Harte recently rediscovered a pair of unfinished songs on the same tape reel as “Max Ernst” and “Academy Fight Song,” which the band returned to the studio to complete.
“It was peculiar because we don’t have that much attachment to these songs anymore,” Miller relates. “We hadn’t heard them since 1979, and we played only one of them out, for only about six months.” Nonetheless, “Devotion” and “Execution” are now complete and will appear on Harte’s next compilation as well as the Burma EP Signals Call and Marches when Matador reissues the band’s historic catalog later this year. As for Burma’s current music, their new The Obliterati (Matador) hits the street May 23.
And Harte is still a devoted recordist. “I’ve been redefining my whole concept of live recording lately. I recently recorded a CD by drummer William Hooker, Roger Miller, and Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth that Atavistic issued” — Out Trios — “and it’s 50 minutes of music that really goes somewhere. It’s proof that live albums don’t have to be an afterthought, which I’ve always believed.”
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Ace of Hearts Records: http://www.aceofheartsrecords.com/
