REAL THING 1989
MARTIN HALL
7″/12″
JANUARY 1989
VIRGIN RECORDS (111940/611940)
“Real Thing 1989” was the second single to be released from Martin Hall’s hugely succesful album Presence that came out in September 1988. The single was remixed and released in both 7″ and 12″ formats entitled respectively “Discotheque” and “Broadcast” in the two various edits.
The 12″ version also featured a new track, “Theme”, a song for which the video was included on Hall’s 1990 Audio-Visual VHS release.
1. Real Thing 1989 (Discotheque) (5:32)2. Theme (4:34)3. Real Thing 1989 (Original Version) (5:35) 1. Real Thing 1989 (Broadcast) (4:41)2. Real Thing 1989 (Original Version) (5:35)
REAL THING 1989
River deep, mountain high
Out of the blue
As pure as the real thing
The state and the feeling
It leaves me no doubt of what needs to be done
A thunder’s been raging
A choice has been taken
To never look back
To be one of the few
While all things must pass
A fire will burn, purify – never change
It’s seen in the sky
As there’s so much more to this than meets the eye
It’s something within
The longing inside is the drive that allows
The work to be done
River deep, mountain high
A shadow inside
In the light of a greatness from which none can hide
Out of the blue, into the fire
And I’m stronger than ever in my one surrender
A red storm arising
Now I know what I want
And I know how to get it
It’s calling within and without
As pure as the real thing
The state and the feeling
It leaves me no doubt of what needs to be done
A thunder’s been raging
A choice has been taken
To never look back
To be one of the few
I know it ’cause I feel it
I don’t need no further proof to believe it
There’s a guiding light
Burning inside out
As pure as the real thing
I return
In the light of the sun
A shadow is cast of a moment in time
Like turns of the tide
In the still of the night it begins
What is is to be
THEME
Regain your human rights
Surviving
The countdown
Face the fact
Born to die
Cut down to black and white
Love under will
REAL THING
I return
In the light of the sun
A shadow is cast of a moment in time
Like turns of the tide
In the still of the night it begins
What is is to be
While all things must pass, a presence remains
A fire will burn, purify – never change
It’s seen in the sky, it’s felt deep inside
As there’s so much more to this than meets the eye
It’s something within, it’s something without
The longing inside is the drive that allows
The work to be done
River deep, mountain high
A shadow inside
In the light of a greatness from which none can hide
Out of the blue, into the fire
And I’m stronger than ever in my one surrender
A red storm arising
Now I know what I want and I know how to get it
It’s calling within and without
As pure as the real thing
The state and the feeling
It leaves me no doubt of what needs to be done
A thunder’s been raging
A choice has been taken
To never look back
To be one of the few
I know it ’cause I feel it
I don’t need no further proof to believe it
There’s a guiding light
Burning inside out
As pure as the real thing
In this forum of time and of place
There’s a rainbow arising after the rain
As the sun melts the snow
The ice and the fire
Mountain streams overflow
Run down from the higher
And the water, it glitters like diamond
As pure as the light
Flemming Nygaard: Keyboards, cello
Lotte Grundlev: Backing vocals
Martin Hall: Vocals, keyboards, guitar
Tina Schæfer: Backing vocals
Design: Birgitte Wester
Photo: Robin Skjoldborg
Presence received excellent reviews. It was also the first Hall record to ever to enter the official top 20. The album is a crystalline pop production featuring catchy songs with grand-scale arrangements and epic, highly charged lyrics. The record was subsequently released throughout Scandinavia and Northern Europe where it also generated a line of great reviews.
Topping several reader polls and year lists in various Danish music magazines at the end of 1988, Martin Hall began to feel slightly alienated towards his new role as pop star. As a comment to this turn of events he wanted to release the remix of “Real Thing” with a new title, Surreal Thing. This didn’t go down well with Virgin Records at the time though and a compromise was made calling the new version of the song Real Thing 1989. However, when the track was included on his Catalogue box in 2007, it was finally called Surreal Thing.
The video stills are taken from Hall’s live appearance at the national danish television Friday night show Fluen in January 1989.
The recording of Presence were made using a Fairlight CMI music computer. The album is co-produced with Flemming Nygaard, former member of Under For as well as musician on Hall’s previous record, Cutting Through. He is also the pianist on the television stills above.
Nygaard was both a classically trained cellist and a highly gifted technician – all in all an invaluable aid to Hall in the making of Presence. When Nygaard tragically died in the late summer of 1989, Hall dedicated his newly written Requiem‘ to him, an organ concert performed at Taksigelseskirken (a church in Copenhagen) in December.
