BANDCAMP

FOR

BALLET M
LP
SEPTEMBER 1982
CBS (25032)

Ballet Mécanique wrote Danish music history with the release of their debut album The Icecold Waters of the Egocentric Calculation in 1981. The group synthesized rock, avant-garde and poetry in a quite unheard way, using dancers and films at their concerts to recreate their own surrealistic ecology on stage.

They released their second and final album For in 1982 after which Martin Hall reconstituted the group as Under For.

1. The Mark (4:49)
2. Among (4:41)
3. Conviction Justifies All Means (4:32)
4. Den Ødeste (5:31)
5. As Hit (3:55)
6. Violent (5:04)
7. Given (4:10)
8. Is To Be (2:35)
9. Mature Evil (3:39)

THE MARK

Haven’t learned my lesson
Be as “am” and climb these colours
I won’t excuse when I say I
Hate sharpening needless intense
Please do not beg me
Do you like the taste of symbols
Please do not beg me
Better than the search for meaning

Senseless responsible as I hold this knife
Please do not seduce me
Guilt is heavier than any weapon
Into your reality
Unprovoked as I testified
Then rather falseness
The burden of therapeutic lied gave me the right to judge
Because no reality can obtain the both of us

The fear has reached a limit
Where is heaven – up or down
Where armless have no helping hands
Without guilt I committed a crime
Please do not beg me
Terrorize me if it feels good
Please do not beg me
I feel sorry for you already

And with the feverish light as guide
I was given the mark of the beast
I as you this close
Held of to believe

Searching for the gift of life
Feel the mark of this timeless touch

AMONG

Unheard, unheard
You will fall with the masculine delusion
Tasteless you, traceless you
Beyond the bloodless necessities
Somewhere lies the feel of splendour

How to fight the denial of feel
How to fight this denial of feel
Among bloodless, will I fall

A spastic appeal for unknown ideals

Frailty, your name is strength
Useless wise in all their lies

It lead into this

CONVICTION JUSTIFIES ALL MEANS

Like you said
May the powers be in your hands
Stretch out your sense for someone’s sake
If not your own

Defeated I won it all

And then the icecold waters spread without intention
But I don’t regret what I fought for then, only all the weapons I fought with

Here in the glory of dirt under nails
I say
I can recall how I once made a promise
And I fattened dreams like we think to see
But it’s too late for knowledge

And in a careless move I was left behind
Tried to betray a vision that I had
But then again, the days were here I insisted upon
It’s too late to regret stipulated prices

Conviction justifies all means

And all their care in me mentioned briefly then
It almost killed every hope
I was selfish bourgeois by intellectual self-mutilation

So I’m ashamed of being ashamed right now
In this heir of culture
I’m just another sign of the crippled souls who live in this time

And when my words became my weapon then
I realized the mistake I’d done
As I still compared
As I never shared monumental weakness

But now I’m here right beside you

DEN ØDESTE

Ikke altid vidste jeg
Hvorfor det blev som det blev
Sov blot roligt
Alle hader alle

AS HIT

Words are just too precious now
I have noticed
What you gave became it all
Rape your own life

You have my blessing
Pose yourself to death
To feel the power of words you have to use hands

Meaning conquers hairstyle now
Words are posters
Meaning has this aching chain
Can’t dance hungry

Fulfil a need or kill yourself
Sensational creeps fill their own life

VIOLENT

As a triumph of misunderstanding
You excused your sacred shield
While you sat there waiting for salvation

And in my effort to be free
I forgot about cruelty
I love you but I’m not in love with you

In the inflation of words
In jewelry of panic smartness
All was just another acceptable truth

You scream for an ear
I scream for a truth
Sensual violence
Rebellion is gone and I’m so alone

GIVEN

You said it’s happening now
Can’t you feel the start?
I said I’m sorry friend
I once gave you my heart
Caress all the broken words
Heal them with your care
I have no hate for you
But we have nothing to share

Once it was easier
I could hide behind
Any mistake of yours that was left to find

And I want to give far more than I can
But I don’t believe in the helping hand
And a golden threat used to manifest
As I screamed to you please don’t live by form
And I wondered why I could never die
I was misunderstood but I don’t care why
I will not betray this ideal again
Even though the swine still confirm the pain

You said, see we’re still friends
After all we said
Taste, taste your tolerant tongue
While I look away instead
Your words are worn out now like empty cans of beer
And now there’s only room for me and the ideal here

Once it was easier
I could hide behind
Any mistake of yours that was left to find

And I want to give far more than I can
But I don’t believe in the helping hand
And a golden threat used to manifest
As I screamed to you, please don’t live by form
And I wondered why I could never die
I was misunderstood, but I don’t care why
I will not betray this ideal again
Even though the swine still confirm the pain

When you change ideal to idol
You can’t cure your own sickness

Right way
I think I’m on the right way now
Still for the love and the life
Alone
Isolated by the hope
Isolated by the dream
Changeable are only we

IS TO BE

And the honesty
Is that too much to ask for?
I refuse to believe that the broken is unchangeable

Something has begun to open
Is that pretentious?
Something has begun to open

MATURE EVIL

Amnesty for well-known me
I – the damned pr just the poor?
When they judge
It reminds me of that blind can’t see colours

And they turned a victim out of a heart
And felt so strong
This neurotic culture kills
Kills what’s good and pure

I don’t need your cheap visions

INTELLECTUAL SELF-MUTILATION

All their care in me mentioned briefly in a move
Selfish bourgeois as intellectual self-mutilation

Generosity of shared evil
Some denied the possibilities
And the icecold waters spread without intention then
Fattish colourless seemed eternal

Gloriless emotions strangled me
Pulse with mercy gave me light to see
Individual only as a consequence
From bleeding of brotherhood

I seek never seen
I seek never been
Pretentious as soul
Pretentious as honesty

From the journey that killed useless hate
I was born again to share the strength
And for those who try to wash their hands in suffering
I will be there soon but not already

I do not regret what I fought for
Only all the weapons I fought with
I refuse to feel the pain from all my former friends
Those who lived by form and then denied it

Nature
Something has begun to open

Beauty cuts thought

Martin Hall: Vocals, keyboards, piano, guitar, tapes, horns, percussion, marimba
Michael Karshøj: Drums, backing vocals, percussion
Morten Versner: Bass, violin

Design: Martin Hall
Photo: Ken Rivad

Already during the recording of For Ballet Mécanique was falling apart. Martin Hall’s psychological instability as well as the general state of affairs within the band made it very difficult for the members to work together, resulting in the termination of the band shortly after finishing the album in the summer of 1982. At the time of the release of For the group had reduced their name to Ballet M.

The break-up was announced at a concert in October – without any previous warning to neither followers, record company or booking agency. A press announcement written by Martin Hall was sent to a number of selected newspaper journalists on the same day as the final gig (the line-up at the concert was to be identical to that of the later Under For ensemble). You can hear the taped statement of the break-up announcement on the special edition of The Icecold Waters of the Egocentric Calculation released in relation to the album’s 25th anniversary in 2006.

The reasons for the split was also fuelled by Martin Hall’s growing dissatisfaction with being contracted to the Danish branch of the multinational label CBS. Originally the group had signed a contract with the independent label Better Day Records, a label which had been sold to the Danish branch of CBS (now Sony Music) shortly after signing the band. Both the live declaration and the issued press notice addresses this matter very clearly. The statement made headlines in the newspapers and surrounded Hall with even more controversy than before.