Recorded and produced in the 1990’s this was the first ever Saltpetre Radio Show. Initially, Peter Coyte and I, wanted to make a series of CD’s, a quarterly audio magazine. I recall us trawling bookshops and record-stores begging them to stock this. It was impossible, stockists not knowing whether this was ‘talking books’ and distributors not knowing where this belonged. We then went on to make late night SaltPetre Radio Shows at Resonance FM and also the BBC’s GLR - now BBC LDN.
I’ll convert and share this brilliant work to MP3’s and post them on mixcloud slowly but surely. I’ve been working on a new collection, emptying my vaults and finding such treasure. I arrived in London to do this poetry-music-writing-thing in 1992 and have the best part of twenty years of classic recordings, live and studio: the best of all books, booze and beats
Many of these poets and writers have gone from strength to strength, publishing acclaimed collections, winning prizes and wowing stages at the likes of Latitude with stunning performance. You'll hear the wonderful Francesca Beard, John Cooper Clarke, Tim Wells, Jock Scot, AD Winans and John Siddique to name just a few...
And listening to this I sense time passing and am saddened to realise that in the last twelve months we lost the wonderful Joe Ross, Fran Landesman and Cheryl B to the great gig in the sky - which makes those clips more poignant than ever.
It was not until the 21st century we changed the spelling from Saltpetre to SaltPeter and I hid behind the moniker Salena Saliva back then too - But this was how we rolled before i-phones, before myspace and facebook, back in the days when we still made fliers and punky chapbooks by hand with glue-stick and collage.
Saltpetre was very much the precurser, harbinger for The Book Club Boutique - We produced boozy spoken-word parties in Soho, in bars like Filthy McNasty’s and in Borders Bookshop on Oxford Street, which is no-more and recorded everything on mini-discs. Those parties and the studio sessions were great fun - as you'll no doubt hear in all the whoops and laughter.
Those of you that have a keen ear, listen out for guest drop-ins by Jonathan Ross, Keith Allen, Louis Theroux, Arthur Smith, Tom Hodgkinson, Maja Prausnitz, Jello Biafre, Meg Lee Chin and Labi Siffre. Enjoy! Keep It Burning Baby!
TRACKLIST
1. Intro / Saltpetre Theme
2. Nick Constance / Soho Blue (music by Frank Williams)
3. Roxanne Escobales / Tijuana Dreams
4. Paul Birtill / Out Walking With my Father
5. Joseph Rye / That’s Nice (music by John Silver)
6. Trudy Blake / Take Away That Brochure (Cultureword)
7. Fran Landesman / Bustin’ Our Asses Gratis (music by Simon Wallace)
8. Seni Seneviratne / Cinnamon Roots (Cultureword)
9. Jock Scot / Thunder Over Kilburn (music Nectarine Number 9 / Postcard Recordings)
10. Cheryl B / Motor Oil Queen
11. John Cooper Clarke / The Day My Pad Went Mad
12. Ivan Penaluna / Street Walking Poet
13. Oliva Spleen / Formaldehyde, Thalidomide, Hermaphrodite
14. Tim Turnbull / Binary
15. Salena Saliva / Magpie (music by Peter Coyte)
16. Tim Wells / Space
17. Bette O’Callaghan / How I Got Religion
18. Joe Ross / Stream
19. Jack Phillips Lowe / Poem For Alistair Frazier
20. John Siddique / The Kissing Ritual
21. Martin Newell / Around The Counties With Martin Newell
22. Salena Saliva, John Cooper Clarke & Jock Scot / Live at Broomhill Literature Festival
23. Charley Marlowe / This Way (Beard & Faccini)
24. Jenny Wren / On The Cusp Of My Cunt
25. Bette O’Callaghan / To Die For
26. AD Winans / DA Levy Was Right
27. Paul Birtill / Brilliant Student & Best Seller
28. Paul Lyalls / Postcard From Nowhere (music by Grant Leboff)
29. Joe Asser / Rush Hour
30. Francesca Beard / The Poem That Was Really A List
31. Exit / The SaltPetre Theme (music by Peter Coyte & vocals by Salena Saliva)
