Salt Solution disbanded amicably in 1995 but there were still half a dozen recordings unfinished. Over the next five years these were completed, but at an even slower rate than when the band had been together, and all the Salt Solution tracks from previous session were assembled. The 'Arctic Frosties' CD was issued as a retrospective in 2000 and the album is still widely available as a download (although all the tracks are now available on this site for free). Some of the songs needed to be faded pre-maturely in order to crowbar the 19 songs onto the 74 minute CD. The album title is taken from the nick-name that Rob Bathurst had for the song Arctic Ostrich.
Artist: Salt Solution Title: Arctic Frosties Release: 2000 1. The Straight Furrow 2. Your Country Needs You 3. Who is Mr. X 4. When's it Gonna Change 5. My Mind Has Hands 6. The Perfect Day 7. New Life 8. Must Be Seen 9. Second Fall 10. Lightning 11. Arctic Ostrich 12. The Day in Between 13. The Art of Growing Old 14. Buried in the Mix 15. Get Out 16. Unwilling Guest 17. The Blood 18. Sonbathing 19. Hard Way to Learn
I'm Martin Day. Please contact me about anything on this site. I will reply personally.
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Sleeve notes If there was ever a typical concert for Salt Solution, this was it. A darkened church hall with a single spot light and pulsing disco lights. I was off the stage with my microphone lead trailing behind, with an arm full of broken percussion. It was that time in the evening when I usually hunted out likely victims to perform with the band on stage. I thrust a cow bell at a bloke in the audience, "Can you play that?" I shouted in his ear. "I'm better on saxophone" came the reply. "We haven't got one of those" I didn't have time for this conversation. "I've got one in the car". "Off you go then". He was better on saxophone, and Pete stayed with the band for the next seven years. It would have been the stuff of legend, had we ever been famous. But fame was fairly low on the agenda, and just a well. Not that there weren't high points to savour. The large and enthusiastic crowd at the Brixton Academy; that hadn't come because of us. The near Beatle mania in the small mining town in Yorkshire; but then they hadn't seen a live band before. Then there were the schools concerts where with kids queuing for autographs at the staff room door, asking when we were going on Top of the Pops. Rob was on Top of the Pops once; in the audience. There were low points too, but we won't dwell on those. Suffice to say that most involved audiences that you didn't need your shoes and socks off to count. Essentially the Salties were always a live band, ever conscious that we were subjecting each audience to an hour or more of unfamiliar music, we needed to ensure that it didn't all sound the same. And so to the songs themselves, eventually, here they are, on the album we always longed to make. There are stories behind each one, if anyone had cared to ask. The oldest is Unwilling Guest, dating back to our "Mervyn Sprocket and the Crankshaft Assembly" days. It was played at the first concert in St. Johns Church, where we were pelted with kneelers, and at the last concert too. Not with the same tune, mind. This was always a Salty habit, putting old lyrics to new tunes. I was always slow at writing. If the truth be known this song only survived because the tempo was right for dancing, and it was a good excuse for the fire breathing. A strong theme throughout this collection is the re-telling of Bible stories and a gravitation towards scripture; another comments on lifestyle. In fact you have to look hard for songs without an obvious Christian stance, but there are a couple. Now recorded, these songs can live on, but what of those that didn't make it? Strong, Lonely, Torn Leather Tearaway, Tarmac Wheels on Rubber Roads, Floating on the Peddelo of Life, Taking His Own, Safe Among the Shadows, Insurance Man, Dogs life, Tearing the Curtain, Second Fall... sorry not Second Fall. That was a recording that I found abandoned 8 years later. We hadn't known how to finish it at the time. But then that was before Pete started the tap classes. Who knows what will become of this album. I would always hope for something grander, but I suspect that they will get tucked to the back of a few record collections, serving as an occasional reminder of a splendid evening, afternoon, or morning assembly, long ago. Maybe of the first live band you ever saw. And I would be happy with that. Martin. The credits and a few honorary mentions: Andy Clark - Drums. Simon Bartlett - Bass, backing vocals. Pete Milner - Sax, keyboards, occasional backing vocals, tap dancing. Robert Bathurst - Lead & rhythm guitar, occasional backing vocals. Martin Day - Vocals, occasional lead & rhythm guitar. Special contributions from: Helen Jayne - backing vocals on The Day in between & The Perfect day Jo MacKinnon - backing vocals on Must be seen Mags Law - Keyboards on Arctic Ostrich & Your Country Needs You Doug McKellar and 'Brett' - Backing vocals on Your country needs you. Tim Hawes - Mixing: Second Fall, MrX, Get Out, Must be, Unwilling Guest, Hard Way, and Straight Furrow, and post production of all other tracks. Nigel 'Chopper' Palmer - Engineering & Mixing: New Life, You Country and Arctic Ostrich Doug McKellar - Engineering & Mixing: All other tracks Richard Taylor - Artwork Heartfelt thanks to those who gave us special encouragement and support: Julie Bartlett, Marion Bathurst and Jill Day. For the Kids (who would love to get a mention) Janna, Stevie & Robbie Bartlett. Ben, Josh & Hannah Bathurst. Chloe & Sam Day. Joseph & Luke Milner. Tony Stippelmans for our single Jon Wensley for his constant generosity Doug McKellar for his days as drummer, manager and engineer. © 2000 Salt Solution Music
Sleeve notes
If there was ever a typical concert for Salt Solution, this was it. A darkened church hall with a single spot light and pulsing disco lights. I was off the stage with my microphone lead trailing behind, with an arm full of broken percussion. It was that time in the evening when I usually hunted out likely victims to perform with the band on stage. I thrust a cow bell at a bloke in the audience, "Can you play that?" I shouted in his ear. "I'm better on saxophone" came the reply. "We haven't got one of those" I didn't have time for this conversation. "I've got one in the car". "Off you go then". He was better on saxophone, and Pete stayed with the band for the next seven years. It would have been the stuff of legend, had we ever been famous. But fame was fairly low on the agenda, and just a well. Not that there weren't high points to savour. The large and enthusiastic crowd at the Brixton Academy; that hadn't come because of us. The near Beatle mania in the small mining town in Yorkshire; but then they hadn't seen a live band before. Then there were the schools concerts where with kids queuing for autographs at the staff room door, asking when we were going on Top of the Pops. Rob was on Top of the Pops once; in the audience. There were low points too, but we won't dwell on those. Suffice to say that most involved audiences that you didn't need your shoes and socks off to count. Essentially the Salties were always a live band, ever conscious that we were subjecting each audience to an hour or more of unfamiliar music, we needed to ensure that it didn't all sound the same. And so to the songs themselves, eventually, here they are, on the album we always longed to make. There are stories behind each one, if anyone had cared to ask. The oldest is Unwilling Guest, dating back to our "Mervyn Sprocket and the Crankshaft Assembly" days. It was played at the first concert in St. Johns Church, where we were pelted with kneelers, and at the last concert too. Not with the same tune, mind. This was always a Salty habit, putting old lyrics to new tunes. I was always slow at writing. If the truth be known this song only survived because the tempo was right for dancing, and it was a good excuse for the fire breathing. A strong theme throughout this collection is the re-telling of Bible stories and a gravitation towards scripture; another comments on lifestyle. In fact you have to look hard for songs without an obvious Christian stance, but there are a couple. Now recorded, these songs can live on, but what of those that didn't make it? Strong, Lonely, Torn Leather Tearaway, Tarmac Wheels on Rubber Roads, Floating on the Peddelo of Life, Taking His Own, Safe Among the Shadows, Insurance Man, Dogs life, Tearing the Curtain, Second Fall... sorry not Second Fall. That was a recording that I found abandoned 8 years later. We hadn't known how to finish it at the time. But then that was before Pete started the tap classes. Who knows what will become of this album. I would always hope for something grander, but I suspect that they will get tucked to the back of a few record collections, serving as an occasional reminder of a splendid evening, afternoon, or morning assembly, long ago. Maybe of the first live band you ever saw. And I would be happy with that. Martin.
The credits and a few honorary mentions:
Andy Clark - Drums. Simon Bartlett - Bass, backing vocals. Pete Milner - Sax, keyboards, occasional backing vocals, tap dancing. Robert Bathurst - Lead & rhythm guitar, occasional backing vocals. Martin Day - Vocals, occasional lead & rhythm guitar.
Special contributions from:
Helen Jayne - backing vocals on The Day in between & The Perfect day Jo MacKinnon - backing vocals on Must be seen Mags Law - Keyboards on Arctic Ostrich & Your Country Needs You Doug McKellar and 'Brett' - Backing vocals on Your country needs you. Tim Hawes - Mixing: Second Fall, MrX, Get Out, Must be, Unwilling Guest, Hard Way, and Straight Furrow, and post production of all other tracks. Nigel 'Chopper' Palmer - Engineering & Mixing: New Life, You Country and Arctic Ostrich Doug McKellar - Engineering & Mixing: All other tracks Richard Taylor - Artwork Heartfelt thanks to those who gave us special encouragement and support: Julie Bartlett, Marion Bathurst and Jill Day. For the Kids (who would love to get a mention) Janna, Stevie & Robbie Bartlett. Ben, Josh & Hannah Bathurst. Chloe & Sam Day. Joseph & Luke Milner. Tony Stippelmans for our single Jon Wensley for his constant generosity Doug McKellar for his days as drummer, manager and engineer.
© 2000 Salt Solution Music
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