READ ONLY MEMORY

BANDCAMP

READ ONLY MEMORY

READ ONLY MEMORY
LP/CD
APRIL 1991
MIND AND MEDIA (MM2000)

Read Only Memory er et album lavet af Martin Hall og Aud Wilken. Projektet tog sit navn fra datakonceptet ROM, eftersom der i helt konkret forstand ikke var nogen adgang til gruppen: Duoen gav hverken interviews eller koncerter.

Nogle få år senere gav Aud Wilken i øvrigt Danmark sin første top 5-placering i 40 år ved det Internationale Melodi Grand Prix i 1995.

1. Sacrifice (5:28)
2. Coil of Love (3:08)
3. White Fever (3:37)
4. Sublimation (3:16)
5. Dividing Line (0:30)
6. Colour of the Moon (3:54)
7. Compulsion (7:13)
8. Sacrifice (Reprise) (3:49)

SACRIFICE

In the heart of the city
In the heart of the night
There’s a rhythm of reason
There’s a rhythm inside

Love is a sacrifice
It’s like a sacrifice

In the cries and the whispers
In the call of the night
Everything has its reason
And everything has its price

COIL OF LOVE

You
You’re on my mind
I looked and I found
I know you’re the one

You
You’re on my mind
My heart has gone blind
It only knows you

Now I’m my own person
And that’s so much that it’s a pleasure to share it
If the world was all empty
Then I don’t think I could bear it
It’s not that I wanna own you
It’s just that I wanna de-alone you
It’s not that I wanna hold you too tight

You
You’re on my mind
I looked and I found
I know you’re the one

Now I can remember
How my early days would be all insane
Going wild, to the limit
To get this feeling again

WHITE FEVER

There’s only one pain left in the mirror
There’s only one word left on the wall
There’s only one good reason for living
There’s only thing left to recall

It keeps me burning on
Like a fever
It keeps me burning on
Like a fire inside

Now here’s a song for the brain and the heartache
And here’s a song for the love on the way
We’re born alone in a world of tomorrow
We’re born alone but we ain’t gonna stay

It keeps me burning on
Like a fever
It keeps me burning on
Like a fire inside

It’s burning on

I see a face in the mirror, a face that I call me
I see the tracks in my face of the 20th century
I’ve got a pain deep inside, a pain that isn’t new
I got a scar in my heart of the things I’ve been through

Now there’s a bad moon rising, it’s rising on the sky
I got the angel of anger walking by my side
I’ve found a way to survive, a way to spend my time
‘Cause I’ve heard about the future and I’m gonna make it mine

COLOUR OF THE MOON

And I’m taking
And Im faking
And I’m waiting for my soul to awaken
Sudden taking
That’s why I’m faking
And I’m waiting for my thoughts to awaken

So don’t you wonder why?
I’m changing the ways now
And wonder why
I’m cleaning my heart know
And wonder why
I’m taking a step now
And wonder why

Honest like a core
Honest like a tune
Honest like the colour of the moon
‘Cause it stays, yea it stays
Clear as every truth
Clear as every leaf
Clean as any longing of belief
‘Cause it stays, yea it stays

So don’t you wonder why?
I’m cleaning my heart now
And wonder why
I’m taking a step now
And wonder why
I’m well on the way now
And wonder why
I’m healing my heart now
I wonder why

I wonder why
I wonder when
I’m gonna be clean again

COMPULSION

Tell the tale
Tell it one more time
Under my skin

Read Only Memory er så den foreløbige kulmination, og den må gøre tvivlere troende. Her er der virkelig tale om en plade af karat, som vi slet ikke er vant til – jeg vil ikke sige herhjemme, for vi er i bund og grund ikke vant til særlig meget.”
Levende Billeder (maj 1991)

Read Only Memory er væsentlig mere udadvendt end det kommercielle selvmord, som The Rainbow Theatre lignede. Vi får oplagte airplay-numre som det funkede ”Sacrifice” og det Eurythmics-agtige ”White Fever” … på en stilsikker og afdæmpet facon, der er helt unik på den danske scene.”
Gaffa – Henrik Føhns (april 1991)

“Multi-manden Martin – mediet og varebetegnelsen – Hall er … uhyre velgennemtænkt. Uanset hvad han har lavet – musik, bøger eller billeder – så har hans karakteristika altid været intelligens. Hans interesse er ikke så meget musikken som mediet … Hans musik er en filosofi.”
Record News – Kaj Gosvig (april 1991)

“Hvis Martin Hall nogensinde skulle lide den tort at få et radiohit, bliver det med hans funky ”Sacrifice”. Midt i musikken dirrer Aud Wilken’s stemme som en drøm – fjern og alligevel uafviseligt vedkommende.”
( * * * * )
Ekstra Bladet – Anders Krag (14. april 1991)

“I Read Only Memory-inkarnationen lægger Martin Hall en del af sin selvtilstrækkelighed bag sig, letter på glasklokken og ud flyder det med funky, knitrende sensuel house i åbningssangen “Sacrifice”, der let kunne gøre Read Only Memory obligatorisk på de bonede dansegulve … Read Only Memoryhører med sit døsig-dovne, uneurotiske væsen til blandt det bedste fra Martin Halls lydlaboratorium.”
Berlingske Tidende – Lars B. Jørgensen (20. april 1991)

“Martin Hall er en overraskelsernes mand, der altid har tænkt i store musikalske baner, langt fra flad, dansk traditionalisme. Med Read Only Memory har han skabt en spændende helhed. Dette skyldes ikke mindst samarbejdet med den tyske Aud Wilken, som er en fremragende og følelsesfuld sangerinde … Read Only Memory er samtidig en af Halls mest umiddelbare produktioner. Det er interessant at opleve, hvorledes Martin Hall – uden at sælge ud af sine musikalske opfattelser – kan kombinere det umiddelbare, næsten hitliste-orienterede med sine krogede lyd-associationer.”
Jyllands-Posten (30. april 1991)

Aud Wilken: Vokal
Martin Hall: Kor, instrumenter

Design: John L. Christensen
Foto: Martin Hall

Read Only Memory var baseret på Martin Halls produktion og Aud Wilkens vokaler og var fortsættelsen af det samarbejde, som de i 1989 indledte under indspilningen af nummeret “Brainwash” til The Hall of Mirrors-båndet. Duoen har også udgivet singlen “All the Way Down”.

Ud over Read Only Memory-samarbejdet har Wilken som både lead- og korsangerinde medvirket på adskillige Hall-udgivelser. Hun sang eksempelvis flere numre på Imperfect-albummet fra 1990, ligesom hun bidrog til de to Irma Victoria-plader The Rainbow Theatre (1990) og Phantasmagoria (1994).


MUSEUM MIDT PÅ DAGEN

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MUSEUM MIDT PÅ DAGEN

ANTOLOGI
MARTS 1991
HANS REITZELS FORLAG (ISBN 87-412-3201-1)

Museum midt på dagen er en antologi redigeret af Johan Rosdahl og Peter Thielst. Bogens undertitel redegør for projektets karakter: ”80’er-digtere skriver erindringer i utide”.

Udgivelsens omfang udgør 176 sider, og Martin Halls bidrag til bogen er novellen “Vidne”.

Antologiens samlede bidragsydere og titler er som følger:

F.P. Jac: ”Billedet flimrer over”.
Nina Malinovski: ”Øen”.
Maj-Britt Willumsen: ”En lyserød kolos med vinger”.
Pia Tafdrup: ”Søvnen i en rosenbusk”.
Klavs Bondebjerg: ”Dåb i flertal”.
Connie Bork: ”Landskaber”.
Martin Hall: ”Vidne”.
Jens Asbjørn Seehuusen: ”Fragmenter; Jeg”.
Morti Vizki: ”Hypnose”.
Thomas Boberg: ”Drømmeren”.
Jens-Martin Eriksen: ”Den underste by”.
Pia Juul: ”Da jeg var et bål”.
Lars Bukdahl: ”Børnehavens mørke”.
Karen Marie Edelfeldt: ”Så listelig på Jorden”.


THE RAINBOW THEATRE

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THE RAINBOW THEATRE

IRMA VICTORIA
LP/CD
NOVEMBER 1990
MIND AND MEDIA (MM1000)

The Rainbow Theatre er den danske “diva” Irma Victorias debutalbum. Sangerinden var 67 år gammel, da pladen udkom.

I begyndelsen af 1991 forbløffede Irma Victoria den danske musikpresse og pladeselskabsindustri ved at blive nomineret til en Grammy i kategorien “årets sangerinde”. Derved kom hun til at konkurrere om statuetten i selskab med højt profilerede stjerner som multiplatin-sælgende Hanne Boel og Annisette fra den legendariske danske rockgruppe Savage Rose.

1. Life Is But a Dream (3:03)
2. The Avoi-Dance (4:01)
3. Rock Bottom (2:01)
4. Animal Culture (0:14)
5. The Abyss, the Void and the Beyond (3:04)
6. Pomp and Pathos (2:27)
7. European Need (2:59)
8. A Prayer for the World (4:24)
9. The Veil (2:55)
10. 2nd Drama Experience (0:44)
11. The Vision (3:00)
12. Honky-Tonk Feeling (3:14)
13. Cabaret of Silence (3:37)
14. Fight It (Part 1) (1:59)
15. Fight It (Part 2) (2:21)
16. The Monument (1:22)
17. Let Go (4:47)
18. Angels and Devils (1:37)
19. The Vortex (1:07)
20. Shine the Light on Me (3:33)

“Lanceret som århundredets danske LP begår multikunstneren Martin Hall musikhistoriens mest gennemførte kommercielle selvmord. Pladen med den tidligere revysangerinde Irma Victoria som frontfigur er den mest ekstreme danske udgivelse, der nogensinde har set dagens lys.”
Gaffa – Per Reinholdt Nielsen (november 1990)

“En fremstilling med Halls tydelige signatur. Det overraskende er Irma Victorias tilstedeværelse. Hun – og ikke Martin Hall – synger sig nemlig gennem de 19 scener. Og på særdeles uortodoks vis … Selvom det ikke er traditionel skønsang, kan det godt være gribende, og det er ”The Vision”, ”Shine the Light on Me” og navnlig ”Cabaret of Silence” indlysende eksempler på. Indhyllet i Halls bløde klaverdråber messer hun fjernt som en anden Nico, og således fungerer det umage par optimalt. Det gør det nu også på ”Fight It”, pladens eksploderende og medrivende perle.”
Record News – Søren Sveistrup (november 1990)

“Er The Rainbow Theatre ikke århundredets danske plade, så er den klart en af de mærkeligste, en dansk rockkunstner nogensinde har fostret.”
Politiken – Anders Rou Jensen (13. november 1990)

“Denne plade er en hård nød at knække, og med lethed den største danske pladegåde i det forløbne år. Det er også en af de mærkeligste, en dansk popkunstner har udgivet nogensinde … Uanset hvad, er det en fornøjelse at have med en plade at gøre, der i den grad vrænger af konventionerne. The Rainbow Theatre er én af den slags plader, der vil blive lidt af en myte.”
Ringkøbing Amts Dagblad (12. januar 1991)

“Irma Victoria er en sær sangerinde på en sær plade. Hun er også den Grammy-nominering, der kom bag på alle. Ikke mindst hende selv.”
Ekstra Bladet – Anders Krag (17. februar 1991)

Aud Wilken: Kor
Irma Victoria: Vokal
Martin Hall: Kor, instrumenter
Ole A. Laursen: Kor
Peter Westh: Kor

Design: John L. Christensen
Foto: Familiefoto

I sine unge dage havde hun sunget i en lokal kabaretforestilling i Kolding, men den slags aktiviteter blev snart stoppet af en karriere i Forsvaret. Ikke desto mindre genoptog en aldrende Irma Victoria sanggesjæften mange dekader senere, da hun medvirkede på Martin Hall-kassettebåndet The Hall of Mirrors, der udkom i september 1989.

Hendes bidrag på nummeret “Memorial” blev en uforglemmelig oplevelse for mange lyttere, og opmuntret af succesen deltog Irma efterfølgende i indspilningerne til 7″-ep’en Palladium, som blev sendt på gaden i efteråret 1990. Et par måneder senere var hendes debutalbum The Rainbow Theatre at finde i pladebutikkerne.

I begyndelsen af 1991 forbløffede Irma Victoria den danske musikpresse og pladeselskabsindustri ved at blive nomineret til en Grammy i kategorien “årets sangerinde”. Derved kom hun til at konkurrere om statuetten i selskab med højt profilerede stjerner som multiplatin-sælgende Hanne Boel og Annisette fra den legendariske danske rockgruppe Savage Rose. Selvom Irma Victoria (selvfølgelig) ikke vandt trofæet, formåede hun at chokere branchen og samtidig vinde sig en solid fanskare på både den danske og den europæiske undergrundsscene i kraft af hendes vokale dristighed.

Da Irma Victoria døde i år 2000, 77 år gammel, udtrykte flere internationale kunstnere deres sorg over hendes død. Blandt navne som Jean Pierre Turmel fra det franske avantgarde-label Sordide Sentimental og Martyn Jacques fra det berømte engelske kabaretband The Tiger Lillies kom den givetvis mest indædte hyldest af hendes talent fra Douglas P., sanger og frontfigur i den britisk-australske neofolk gruppe Death in June:

“Her work was fantastic. May her soul live forever.”


FOR LÆNGE SIDEN LIGE FØR

BANDCAMP

FOR LÆNGE SIDEN LIGE FØR

ANTOLOGI
SEPTEMBER 1990
DANSKLÆRERFORENINGEN (ISBN 87-7704-106-2)

For længe siden lige før er en antologi, der dækker en række værker udgivet i perioden mellem 1980 og 1990. Bogens redaktører er Marianne Lindgren og Marianne Østergaard. På bagsiden beskrives udgivelsen med følgende ord: “En antologi om firsernes litterære og kulturelle landskaber.”

Blandt bogens bidragsydere finder man bl.a. Bo Green Jensen, Henrik S. Holck, Inger Christensen, Juliane Preisler, Karen Marie Edelfeldt, Klaus Høeck, Klavs Bondebjerg, Lars H.U.G., Michael Strunge, Morti Vizki, Niels Frank, Pia Juul, Pia Tafdrup, Søren Ulrik Thomsen, Thorkild Bjørnvig og Martin Hall.

Bogens omfang er 288 sider. Illustereret.


PALLADIUM

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PALLADIUM

MARTIN HALL
7″ EP
SEPTEMBER 1990
MIND AND MEDIA (PALLADIUM 1-2)

Palladium består af en række indspilninger foretaget kort efter udgivelsen af Martin Halls album Imperfect. Begge titler deler arbejdsmetode med The Hall of Mirrors-kasettebåndet fra 1989, idet de benytter sig af en lind strøm af gæstevokalister og radioteateragtige indslag.

Ep’en blev trykt i et begrænset oplag på 500 eksemplarer, og omslaget er prydet af et familiefoto af en fem eller seksårig Martin Hall i en skoleuniform.

1. Palladium (1) (2:36)
2. Emotional Engineering (feat. Aud Wilken) (2:13)
3. End of the Line (3:50)
4. Composition (0:57)
5. Imitation (feat. Aud Wilken) (3:54)
6. Palladium (2) (feat. Irma Victoria) (3:26)

PALLADIUM (1)

Never thought I’d ever be myself
Thought I was within my prison-cell
‘Cause the window gave the view
That all to know was what I knew

Sharing weaknesses with so-called friends
In a game that’s called “it never ends”
Had to leave it all behind

In this Palladium

And I know you know it all
Behind mirrors, behind walls
In your Palladium

EMOTIONAL ENGINEERING

Hysteria moves inside me
Hysteria moves around

I need emotional engineering
I need emotional tuning inside

The luxury of pleasure’s inside me
The luxury of pleasure’s around

END OF THE LINE

The theatre of mind
The theatre of reason
Is haunted all the time
By the angels of anger

You can “do what thou wilt” in a self-love devotion
Feel intense in the pool of perverted emotion

At the edge of the knife
At the edge of the knife that divides
At the end of the line
The only measure is reason

IMITATION

Imitation
Stimulation

PALLADIUM

And in the night
The rain is falling down
As white on white
A flame is burning
As dust to dust
The faces disappear
A heaven lost
A shadow falling

In this Palladium

The crowds outside
They hunger for a dream
This time of night
Desires rising
A shadow cast
It falls in black and white
What can I do but to surrender?

Aud Wilken: Vokal
Irma Victoria: Vokal
Martin Hall: Vokal, keyboards, guitar

Design: John L. Christensen
Foto: Familiefoto


DREAMWORLD

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DREAMWORLD

AND THEN AGAIN
LP
JUNI 1990
SNOG ROCK RECORDS (SNOG 1)

And Then Again var et kortvarigt gruppeprojekt bygget op omkring Martin Halls guitarriffs og Henrik Mölls recitationer af sci-fi/B-film-inspirerede tekster. Hall og Möll havde tidligere samarbejdet i SS-Say, ligesom sidstnævnte også var instruktør på Halls 1990-videoudgivelse Audio-Visual. Möll stiftede i øvrigt senere den succesfulde Klub Mantra.

Gruppens rytmesektion bestod af bassist Tolle Tolstoy (ex-Before) og trommeslager Thomas Langballe (ex-Darling Sect).

1. Sanatorium (3:45)
2. Denial of Pain (3:11)
3. Dreamworld Satan (3:51)
4. Psychoid (3:33)
5. Stamina (4:17)
6. Nightbreed (3:26)
7. End (3:37)

SANATORIUM

The sanatorium calls me
The sanatorium of truth

Sanatorium
Calling

DENIAL OF PAIN

Give me denial of pain

DREAMWORLD SATAN

Maybe I could
But I won’t
Maybe I should
But I don’t
‘Cause I hate it

It’s the dreamworld Satan

PSYCHOID

Psychoid
Schizoid
Chromozoid
A-void

STAMINA

Anima
What you got
Stamina
What you need

NIGHTBREED

Inter-illusion
Look at yourself
Hate and confusion
A ticket to hell

Nightbreed

Henrik Möll: Vokal, båndmateriale
Lars Bo “Tolle” Tolstoy Jacobsen: Bas
Martin Hall: Guitar, keyboards
Thomas Langballe: Trommer

Design: Flemming Nielsen

Rockudgaven af And Then Again gav fire koncerter i Danmark i efteråret 1989 (Odense, Århus, Roskilde og København), en turné hvorfra alle pladens indspilninger stammer.

Året blev afsluttet med en sidste And Then Again-koncert i klubben U-matic i København – denne gang var gruppen dog reduceret til en elektronisk duo bestående af Hall og Möll. Op til (og undervejs i) koncerten gæsteoptrådte Peter Leander med en performance baseret på tibetanske klokker, ligesom Aud Wilken trådte til som korsangerinde til sidst i sættet.


IMPERFECT

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IMPERFECT

MARTIN HALL
LP/CD
MAJ 1990
VIRGIN RECORDS (260798)

Imperfect-udgivelsen repræsenterer i nogen grad en fortsættelse af den konceptuelle idé bag The Hall of Mirrors-båndet fra 1989, idet Martin Hall på begge titler arbejder med andre lead-vokalister end blot sig selv.

Imperfect indhylles melodierne i collageagtige lydlandskaber, ligesom brugen af speaks og samples er et tilbagevendende indslag I musikken. Med recitationer og teatralske lydeffekter blander albummet promo-singlenumre som “Prime Material” og “Between the Two” med audio-tableauer læst op af den hollandske kunstner Stephen Muires.

1. Introduction (0:37)
2. System (3:55)
3. Interval 1 (0:29)
4. Prime Material (3:24)
5. Interval 2 (0:54)
6. Between the Two (3:47)
7. Another Chapter (3:52)
8. Red Room (4:14)
9. Masquerade (6:12)
10. Dies Irae (9:01)
11. Nocturne in Blue (3:46)
12. Segment (4:21)

INTRODUCTION

“Imperfect” is a Mind and Media recording originally entitled “Imperfect Music for an Imperfect World”. It is a soundtrack for 20th century reality and constitutes a theatre of reflection wherein each may enact their own part.

SYSTEM

City blood
The desires and the needs
Never last
‘Cause I’ll bite the hands that feeds
Pressure burns
Like a fire of demand
Dust to dust
In a now-here of command

I need a system
In the satori of the night
I need a system
In the exposure of the light

Rhythm beats
In my brain and in my blood
Tears of dust
But the pressures never stop
Fever burns
In the mania of the night
Turning point
In the circles of the light

I need a system
In the satori of the night
I need a system
In the exposure of the light

I can’t predict the future
I can’t forget the past
But at the point of no return
Only the either-or will last

PRIME MATERIAL

The alchemy of our time lies in the term “making things matter”. In a world where most people know the price of everything, but the value of nothing, this wisdom remains priceless – priceless, because it cannot be bought for money, but at the same time doesn’t cost anything. The “Prime Material” is possibility.

Modern life
So-called welfare
It lives inside you like a dream in the night
A sophisticated nightmare
It’s gonna blind you with its sweetest delight

Stimulus governs
Stimulus rules
It governs the trials
It governs the views

Prime material
Transformation of waste
Age of ice
Age of fire
And it’s been later than you think for a while
Living myth
The survivors
An inner freedom’s gonna start with denial

The self-pity ends where reason begins
The theatre stage is rice paper thin
Prime material
Transformation of waste

You’ll know yourself by the resistance
It either breaks you or it makes you stronger

BETWEEN THE TWO

Nothing rests, everything moves. Movement is symmetry, rhythm is void – that is, vacant in itself, beyond the elements which compose it. This is different to emptiness – this is plasma.

The serpent fire keeps burning in my blood
The driving forces, my defiance and my love
The river of time has washed my heart and soul
The inner fires are under my control
But it’s taken time
It’s taken so long

Love is a reason
Changing as it burns
Love is a moment
A now of no return
Beyond emotion
Closer all the time
A true surrender
In my heart and in my mind

All we see and touch is a scenery to pass
Within it all, we’re the first and we’re the last
Between the two
A changing reason
Between the two
The never ceasing

ANOTHER CHAPTER

Understanding is taking the consequence; not knowing all about it.

Ashes to ashes
And dust to dust
A fantasy world of omni-science
Heavens and ambitions
In showrooms of the mind
In another chapter of forgotten time

Faces disappearing in memory and mind
But you, you know it all in your identity design
Things are what they are, no matter what you feel
Endeavour is the key, not the mastermind ideal
And if you don’t agree
Well then you don’t agree

So come on little playtime Hitler
Forget your intellectual parades
There are no final solutions, only final denials
No need for vain display
I’ve seen your religion and I’ve seen your inner border
And my spit is more sacred than all your holy water
‘Cause it’s of flesh and blood

RED ROOM

Id-entity condensed, fix-fix-fix and a 3-numbered rhyme. Ignorance is no excuse. Ignorance is a self-chosen attitude.

Thing
Door
Free Power
Dog’s blood rising

MASQUERADE

Drama or Dharma, the dis-play continues. At the end of the line the only measure is reason.

As a witness to the shadows
Fingers search for time
While these patterns of deception
Guide our hearts and minds
I guess it’s all rite
I guess it’s ritual
But you pervert it with your lies
A modern symphony of end results is what’s looking through your eyes

The tragicomic shifts from person A to B
While you pomp and circumstance it with identity
Give us some erasure baby
Show us what you’re really like
In between the pressures rising from the crushed delight
So come on baby
I can’t wait for your yes and your no

Almost there
But semi-sensuals never touch
Almost there
Where far too much is not enough

So pick a word and sing a song
But do it now, because it won’t be long
Before we have to say goodbye
In this scenario of passing thoughts
You sing your self-reflection blues
But malfunction Malkuth baby
I know the tune

So give us drama baby
Give us all you never were
While you crawl around in mud
Begging for a choice
A bit of but will soothe the pain
A bit of something else
Although it’s much too late to ask
You can always try

So come on baby
I can’t wait
I want to rip you inside out

So welcome to the circus of hate
And welcome to the mind masquerade
Where semi-sensuals never touch
Where far too much is not enough

In the masquerade
Where lovers die by lovers’ touch
In the mind parade
Where far too much is not enough

NOCTURNE IN BLUE

”Nocturne in Blue” is written in the shadow of “Stardust”, a Reader’s Digest album release from 1963. The song has been recorded through a radio monitor to imitate the sound of this recording.

And as the stardust falls
Nocturnally yours
A moonlight serenade
Burning in blue

Wildfires burning on the hills not far away
Angels and devils on their yesterdays
Imagination or the kingdom of the fool
It’s all moving closer under blind men’s rule

But as the stardust falls …

SEGMENT

As one side is shown
The other is hidden
As one thing is known
Another is veiled

My love
All things are passing
In this world of moments in time
My love
I don’t know you
All I know is what I believe

“Med Imperfect er det definitivt ikke længere manererne, men materialet, der sættes i centrum, og det med en ydmyghed og en nerve af lyrisk sensitivitet, som er ualmindelig indtagende. Flotte og modne kompositioner som den stemningsakkumulerende minimal-hymne ”Between the Two” med Aud Wilkens nydende, følsomme sang; den højdramatiske ”Masquerade” med Halls egen stemme for fuld, kontrolleret udblæsning og ”Dies Irae”, et sugende flot uddrag af Halls komposition Requiem fra 1989, er i deres indbyrdes rækkefølge og sammenhæng noget af det mest levende og udadrettede musik Hall nogensinde har leveret.”
Information – Lars Villemoes (13. juni 1990)

“Frodig og modig … Et stærkt og kraftfuldt udspil fra den ellers ind imellem noget anæmiske prædikant, der pludselig også har fået en nyvunden råstyrke i sine tekster. Ordene kommer ikke længere kun dalende ovenfra og ned, men farer til tider lige i masken på én.”
Det Fri Aktuelt – Kim Skotte (25. maj 1990)

“Tvetydigt udspil med en klar og følsom styrke: Martin Hall leverer provokerende og begavet musik på pladen Imperfect … Gå bare videre, Martin. 90’erne er begyndt. Det er naturligvis alle de andre, der ikke har fået synkroniseret urene, musikken og bevidstheden.”
Politiken – Anders Rou Jensen (22. maj 1990)

“Martin Hall er en usædvanlig personlighed i dansk musik. Usædvanlig ambitiøs – og usædvanlig talentfuld … Ingen har hans internationale format lige her og nu.”
( 8/10 )
Record News – Kaj Gosvig (juni 1990)

“Velvidende at det er en meget teatralsk og følelsesladet optakt, har Martin Hall med utrolig simple midler skabt et produkt, hvis rækkevidde skal anskues i et usædvanligt globalt perspektiv. Imperfect er Martin Hal’s hidtil bedste og mest iøjnefaldende produktion. Han er fortsat eksperimenterende i sin søgen efter uopdagede musikalske grænser, men det provokerende og sygelige islæt har han lagt fra sig. Numre som ”Another Chapter” og ”Prime Material” er opsigtsvækkende og iørefaldende musik fra Danmarks nok bedste rock-ambassadør, der i høj grad fortjener international bevågenhed.”
Puls (maj 1990)

“Det er igen lykkedes Hall at genopstå i en helt ny form – og den er som sædvanlig meget usædvanlig.”
Fyens Stiftstidende (juni 1990)

“Den hidtil mest spændende Martin Hall-LP … Siden sit comeback for et par år siden, og med den nye plade, er han den suverænt mest spændende eksperimenterende pop-kunstner herhjemme.”
Ringkøbing Amts Dagblad (juli 1990)

“Ambitionerne er tårnhøje, og Martin Hall indfrier dem med sin udanske, storladne og dramatiske iscenesættelse af ord og musik … udført med stor konsekvens og format, og med en overensstemmelse mellem form og indhold, der aftvinger beundring.”
Folkebladet Sydjylland (maj 1990)

“Selv om hans hang til perfektionisme og selvhøjtidelighed er i højsædet på de tolv numre, er der for første gang et spirituelt løft og en følsomhed, han ikke før har ladet komme til orde i sin imponerende musik … Pladen er Martin Halls bedste og mest tilfredsstillende udspil til dato.”
Fredericia Dagblad (juni 1990)

Aud Wilken: Vokal
Henrik Möll: Vokal
Martin Hall: Vokal, keyboards, guitar
Stephen Muires: Oplæser

Design: Birgitte Wester
Foto: Henrik Möll

Albummet indeholder også et uddrag fra Halls Requiem, “Dies Irae”, der er indspillet live i Taksigelseskirken den 17. december 1989 – et orgelnummer dediceret den på det tidspunkt netop afdøde co-producer på Presence, Flemming Nygaard.

Imperfect blev rost til skyerne i pressen, men pladen opnåede ikke – logisk nok, materialet taget i betragtning – samme brede popularitet som dens forgænger, den hitlisteplacerede Presence. Promotion-singlen “Prime Material” opnåede dog en del airplay i løbet af sommeren 1990.

Sideløbende med udgivelsen udsendte Virgin Records VHS-kassetten Audio-Visual med en række nyere Hall-videoer (“Beat of the Drum” og “Real Thing”) såvel som en serie mere abstrakte visuelle værker lavet under den sammenhængende titel The Point of No Return.


AUDIO-VISUAL

BANDCAMP

AUDIO-VISUAL

MARTIN HALL
VHS
APRIL 1990
VIRGIN RECORDS (MHVHS1)

Audio-Visual er en Martin Hall-videoudgivelse (VHS) lavet i samarbejde med Riot & Rota, et produktionsselskab ejet af Henrik Möll. Sidstnævnte har bl.a. fungeret som visuel designer på D-Day (Club Roskilde) samt grundlagt Klub Mantra.

Martin Hall og Henrik Möll har tidligere arbejdet sammen i musikgrupper som SS-Say og And Then Again.

VHS-udgivelsen indeholder videoer til Martin Hall-singlerne “Beat of the Drum” og “Real Thing” såvel som en serie mere abstrakte visuelle værker lavet under den sammenhængende titel The Point of No Return.

Alle sekvenser er filmet i Riot & Rota og Feltwave i perioden 1988–1989.

1. Beat of the Drum (4:54)
2. Real Thing (5:37)
3. Theme (4:34)
4. Point Within Circle (4:00)
5. Counterpoint (1:24)
6. Dome (1:30)
7. 8 (6:26)
8. Erosion (4:33)

REAL THING

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

BEAT OF THE DRUM

Now one day I woke up to some rules of life
That a serious heart needs a light mind to survive
That if you only hope you won’t get very far
‘Cause dreams call for action

No matter what you want the way is to begin
‘Cause knowing all about it is not the living thing
And those who sit and ask for great things all the time
Well I hope they’ve sorted out the many small things on the line

A focus inside out
The still of the centre
You must live by demand
But also surrender

As the beat of the drum beats the ghosts on the run
So the beat of my heart keeps me wondering
Now it’s been said this world is a stage
Well then if that is true
It’s an unwritten play
That makes being a becoming

It’s so easy seen when it’s someone else
But are you any better when you’re by yourself
‘Cause in this hall of mirrors you’re in a counterpoint
Where it takes one to recognize one

Now there are those who say that life is hard and then you die
Well petty leads to pity if you do not wonder why
‘Cause the way to solve a problem is to get a bigger one
So to those who cry for freedom
Well there’s working to be done

THEME

Regain your human rights
Surviving
The countdown
Face the fact

Born to die

Cut down to black and white
Love under will

Flemming Nygaard: Keyboards
Lotte Grundlev: Kor
Martin Hall: Vokal, keyboards, guitar
Tina Schæfer: Kor

Design: Birgitte Wester
Foto: Henrik Möll


UNTITLED

BANDCAMP

UNTITLED

PETER BONDE
DB-7″ EP
OKTOBER 1989
GALLERI SPECTA (ISBN 87-89138-22-8)

Untitled er en dobbelt-syvtommersingle udgivet i forbindelse med maleren og musikeren Peter Bondes udstilling Blinde Vinkler på Galleri Specta. Udstillingen varede fra den 7. til den 28. oktober 1989.

Til indspilningen af dobbeltsinglen samlede Peter Bonde musikerne Martin Hall, Henrik Möll (SS-Say, Dualistic World Code), Thomas Ortved (Sort Sol) og Per Tuno Jacobsen a.k.a. Per Buhl Acs (No Knox, Cyklon-Anticyklon) til at skrive og indspille den med. Pladen blev indspillet og mixet på én dag.

1. Be Critic (2:38)
2. Blind Spot (3:20)
3. Vacuum (6:37)
4. Mask (0:12)
5. Self-Ignited (0:38)
6. Projection (0:39)
7. Manus (1:00)
8. Copy Everyone (0:45)
9. Corridor (1:48)
10. Protest (2:05)
11. Blind (3:04)

Peter Bonde: Bas, vokal
Martin Hall: Guitar, flygel, keyboards, instrumenter
Henrik Möll: Båndmateriale m.m.
Thomas Ortved: Trommer
Per Tuno Jacobsen: Bas, instrumenter

Design: Peter Bonde
Foto: Simon Lautrop/Planet Photo


THE MARTIN HALL DOCUMENT (FRAGMENTS 1981-85)

BANDCAMP

THE MARTIN HALL DOCUMENT (FRAGMENTS 1981-85)

MARTIN HALL
CD
SEPTEMBER 1989
VIRGIN RECORDS (MHCD1)

The Martin Hall Document (Fragments 1981-85) er en compilation-cd udgivet af Virgin Records i kølvandet på Presence, Halls succesrige 1988-album. Den består af et udvalg af numre, der strækker sig fra tidligt Ballet Mécanique-materiale til hele enkeltplade-udgaven af Cutting Through-albummet. Som optakt til udgivelsen udkom der også en 12″-ep med et nyt radio edit af sangen “Crush”.

1. Leathern (5:03)
2. Among (4:41)
3. Imagine Focus (5:12)
4. Free-Force Structure (6:41)
5. Network (3:56)
6. Resonance (5:55)
7. Warfare (4:36)
8. Showdown (7:50)
9. Crush (5:14)
10. Cut Off (6:03)
11. Deep Inside Me (10:42)
12. Synthesis (8:28)

LEATHERN

Edges of speaking, outlived of hatred
Could I forgive at all?
Or could sigh be further than I reached always?

Light died, -ly pregnant
Up, killed in your words
Sheet-minded loving was respect as given thought
Of hairy swinelike

Hours of nameless
Of this penetration
Could I still cry for sad?
Tell friend and leech apart?
The fall of the fallen

Unnamed or misused
Lethal hate given
Word castles built in vain
Salute nugacity
Could I feel guilty?

The leathern tenderness
Did you cry lustful?
I can now nevermore give what I wanted to
To feel so leathern

Cry of the stone tears
Kiss of the unsaid
Without these arms to stretch (died in this early grave)
Like passion for unseen (buried before dying)
I seek the guiltful

To feel so leathern
Emotional
Leprous

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

IMAGINE FOCUS

Just a touch of lost
Burning as always
As it was, as it is
And eventually
Just in trust, nothing more
So suddenly
From beginning to end

While this centreless present reflects itself
In inverted moves of an obsessional stage
In a stream of light from unreachable marks
Something long ago in everlasting terms

In a crossfade of untitled reasons
What it turned out to be
And occasionally
Everything in my hands
So totally
In the heat of the touch

Like the way we were
Beyond love under will
Suddenly away in these only words
By mistakes again into changing links
In this compromise of dependence then

Stage by stage, in exposure
Still so timeless in this life release
Nearness hidden in casual moves
Watch the changes and recall

Touch through another focus
Mark perfection twice
With or without purpose
Still tons against tons
Carefully mistaken in retrospective fear
Restrain it all while I imagine focus

FREE-FORCE STRUCTURE

Forever hidden in the profile
The either-or behind the both-and
Transcend and ascend in the moment that frees
All loving fucked up in tension

Without shadow and without motion
A word like heart
A word like fire
I believe with my body
Believe with my soul
Believe in the eyes before me

Approach and regain
Life repressed to myth
Changing once again
Words sealed with a kiss
Cancel all the pain in these fantasies of realities
Let the fragments shine
Feel me deep within
Let the nearness bind
Feel me skin to skin
Let your flesh and mind fuse to the same thing
Rising from decline

Get up
Reach out
Confront
Break through

Re-set reality
Programme your love

All must pass but presence remains
The basic concepts, the further lies
Of the rituals built on your ism of truth
In this chain reaction set-out

We’re born alone but still I need you
So please don’t hide in self-hate and compromises
Between a desire to be free
And passion made of confinement

NETWORK

Through the rupture to the surface
With the tissue of days laying soft over skin
As white on white
In this reverberation of love
The warmth comes in waves
Guided by nerve
Just like the air covering me

As the light reflects itself
In this change of scenery
A reunion takes its place
Transforming namelessly
Into crystal and cell
Into heaven and hell
Into all we’ve ever seen
Into all we’ve ever been

From word to matter
Silhouettes ensouled by the loss
In a vortex of skin
To the centre of the bindings
While you simulate love
The transcendence remains your trauma
As you think in 2D
Think in 3D

In this network
Words reinforced in their turn-back from the walls
And absorbing all your nearness
I breathe in every particle of you

And in memory of you
I’ll connect these worlds apart
I will find all that I need
In the mirror of your eyes
And be breathless by love

RESONANCE

Weakening over weakening
A fire that burns so brightly
Only a shadow cast by yourself
So soft and fading
Wind over body
Shaking each nerve
In curves of freedom
In the hardest care
A baptism in desire and in merciless grace

And in this fusion
Sister shadows compressed to the core
Difference on difference in every framing I make
In display on display
And again
Afterwards
In the beauty of all death
An ultimate reality
Double-lined from phase to phase

From the mother-wound to the scabelon
From one to zero in a circle of ten
Burning cities melt into sunset
The blue light
The white beds
The roaring shapes of love
From stone to skin
Forcing all life
Trapped in this outline
For you alone
This time for all we know

Like a shadow
I feel you near
In all these nights without you
Flickering
From dust to contour
Always there
From the centre to the line
Hermetically closed inside me
For you alone
This time for all we know

Shining through time
Sacred but still so raw
And all the love
Moving so motionless
And even now
As it always will be

In each overload
Affection running tenderly wild
Losing shadow in every move I make
In a flow of warmth
Like blood spreading in water

All alone
Surrounded by time
From displacement to displacement
And in the shadowplay of memory
Closing my eyes

And into the abyss of your love
Trapped inside the heavens of your touch
Felt like this a hundred times before
Still I only need it more and more
I will drink the salt stains from your skin
Kiss you clean from all the violence
Drugs, repression, fantasy and fear
All I need is just to feel you near

WARFARE

In this media of mental translation
In this handicap of alienation
I need more than your model of motion
Than aesthetics of broken hearts

Here we are again
Feeling just the same
In these separate hells
Every word’s been said
Every lie’s been fed
To define ourselves

While your balance is kept intellectual
You’re emotionally ineffectual
A hysteria so perfectly tragic
So unreachable near

I’ve just had enough of neurotic love
Of this culturecide
I don’t need your shit
It just makes me sick
Look into my eyes

‘Cause this is the face
This is the race

SHOWDOWN

As everything changes me
Exploding in start on start
It shines on so hard through you
A crystal of flesh and blood

And caught in the blue of night
In the meshes of your love
A freedom turned upside down
To this point of no return

In your face
In your eyes
In the savagery of how we love
How we die
A fever is burning
Releasing my spirit

In these European schemes
Imprisoned in mind of stone
A system so centralized
Conceptual humanity

The “Arbeit Macht Frei” parole
In rock’n’roll terms like these
You know what it’s all about
But that doesn’t change the need

Through obsession and love
Through the days and the years
And still burning inside
There’s no turning back now
The circle is broken

Feel the showdown

CRUSH

As you fill me again
I have no further questions
Condemned to be free
As I reach out for you again

Nothing is new
But something has grown
Bigger than both of us
Stronger than memory
And much stronger than defeat

I’m gonna crush the worlds we used to know
A seed is sown
I’m gonna let it grow
I’m quite aware what I’ll be going through
There’s no way back
It all depends on you

My destiny
I’ve seen it in your eyes
A love so deep
A stream that purifies
And in your arms
The nature of all death
Is nothing but a touch of timelessness

I’m gonna crush you with my love
I’m gonna be crushed up in love

CUT OFF

Living the change as night closes in
Freezing my moves in each flicker of light
We’re lying so close
Your breath burns my skin
Still feeling alone though you’re right by my side

Nothing lost
Nothing gained
So it seems
Still we’re much closer than ever
Like a child in the night
In its dreams
In its return to forever

A dream came true
A nightmare too
And we’re just two out of millions
I hold you tight
As if the night was an angel of death come to take you away

And it feels so unreal
Like there’s magic in the air
And your face in the haze
It’s reflected everywhere
And it burns as it turns
Like a sun that blinds my eyes
Sharpening everything
Through your whispers
Through your cries

We’ve seen it all
The heavens and hells
Questioned each move in the name of the game
Played every role escaping ourselves
Ending concluding we all feel the same

As we were
As we are
We will be
Emotional “Führer der Menschheit”
Time is set
The twentieth century
And everyone knows what it feels like

It seems to be point 93
So feverish a reflection
The children of rejected love
All alone in the night
Fighting shadows of need

In the wind
Dust rising
Forming figures in the air
Night and day blown away
By a memory so bare
Bridges burned
Lives have turned
Slowly growing inside out
Mirrored in origin
In the limits of all doubt

The eyes of a child
A pulse running wild
Releasing this vacuum
A balance so tense
In thought and in sense
Can’t make it alone this time
In this mystery
Of every degree
From here to eternity
So tender and raw
The flame of the core
The hardest surrendering

DEEP INSIDE ME

Like re-running each way
Every aspect of love
Every night and day placed so precisely
Every sacrifice that freed us from our patterns
Guiding us face-to-face to this consequence so essential

And the tender pain that comes with freedom
Connects me to the presence we share
Love’s like a shadowplay
Imagined through survival
We’re here all by ourselves
But nevermore lonely

Nevermore lonely

Watching the lines being carefully drawn now
I couldn’t make it if I were without you
Knowing the ages of every tomorrow
In every turn ever made just a notion

Child on child
Sustain my love
The final triumph
The thirst deep inside and the surface
From crowd to crowd
In these streams of emotions
Watching it all gather to action

And every time we connect with the basis
In the holy name of the transfer
I let you grow deep inside me
With the dignity of my life

I let you grow deep inside me

SYNTHESIS

To my love
Wherever you may be
I’m with you
United in spirit
My life lies in your hands

All power ever been
All power yet to come
Is here now
This instant
Around us
Inside us

“Alvoren i hans søgen har været uomtvistelig. Et varemærke. Eller et adelsmærke om man vil. Der har hele tiden været noget manisk i hans søgen efter renhed og perfektion, som har forlenet det forlæste sprog og musikkens rensede udtryk med en desperation, som har gjort selvhøjtideligheden til at bære. Som man kan høre på især de ældste numre præsenteret på på Document CD’en og de fem numre fra 1986’s Cutting Through, hvorfra man i øvrigt må sige at have skummet fløden korrekt.”
Det Fri Aktuelt – Kim Skotte (11. september 1989)

“Martin Hall udsendte sidste år den storstilede LP Presence, men samtidig med lanceringen af live-projektet And Then Again udgiver multikunstnerens pladeselskab nu den luksuriøst udstyrede opsamlings-CD The Martin Hall Document, der byder på optagelser med Ballet Mécanique, Under For, The Martin Hall Concept og solisten under eget navn. Et imponerende værk …”
Politiken – Anders Rou Jensen (september 1989)

“En simpel gennemgang af Halls Greatest Hits (som CD’en faktisk er) vil yde ham velfortjent ros. Den storskrydende digter, sanger og musiker har faktisk siden 81 i Ballet Mécanique og frem til solo-afskeden Cutting Through fra 86 populært sagt siddet i sin egen private loge og skabt musik af anseelig kvalitet … man bør eje en plade med ham. Det vil være det mindste, man kan gøre som en ærbødig anerkendelse af hans mod og enegang.”
Aarhus Stiftstidende – Mads Kastrup (september 1989)

The Martin Hall Document er brudstykker af hans karriere fra den første Ballet Mécanique LP til dobbelt-LP’en Cutting Through. Fra dyster eksperimenterende rock til power-produceret, dansabel euro-rock. Storladent og selvhøjtideligt, men også indædt og ærligt. Hall er ét af de største talenter, dansk rock har fået. Fragments viser hans udvikling …”
MM – Henrik Føhns (oktober 1989)

Berit Spælling: Harpe
Flemming Nygaard: Cello
Janine Neble: Kor
Martin Hall: Vokal, instrumenter
Michael Karshøj: Trommer
Morten Versner: Bas, violin
Nicolay Krogh: Bas
Per Hendrichsen: Treatments, guitar
Stine Hammarlund: Cello
Søren Frank: Saxofon
Søren Jacobsen: Guitar
Thomas Langballe: Trommer

Design: Birgitte Wester
Foto: Robin Skjoldborg

Cutting Through-albummet blev ved samme anledning genudgivet som en enkelt-lp på vinyl med titlen Cutting Through (The Re-Release). Den nye singleudgave af “Crush” blev udsendt i form af en 12″-ep ved navn Counterpoint, em udgivelse der også indeholdt Halls samtidige musik til en tv-film med titlen The Point of No Return.

Document-cd’ens tidsangivelser refererer til datoerne for de originale indspilninger som referencepunkt, ikke udgivelsesdatoerne for originalpladerne. Dette forklarer angivelsen af perioden – 1981 til 1985 – selvom Cutting Through-albummet blev udsendt i februar 1986.

1. “Leathern” er indspillet med Ballet Mécanique i april 1981
2. “Among” er indspillet med Ballet Mécanique i maj 1982
3. “Imagine” Focus” er indspillet med Under For i januar 1984
4. “Free-Force Structure” er indspillet med Under For i august 1984
5. “Network” er indspillet i januar 1985
6. “Resonance” er indspillet i januar 1985
7. “Warfare” er indspillet i juni 1985
8. “Showdown” er indspillet i august 1985
9. “Crush” er indspillet i august 1985
10. “Cut Off” er indspillet i august 1985
11. “Deep Inside Me” er indspillet i september 1985
12. “Synthesis” er indspillet i september 1985