Month: June 2006
THE LAST ROMANTIC
THE LAST ROMANTIC
MARTIN HALL
TWO-VOLUME NOVEL
JUNE 2006
GYLDENDAL (ISBN 87-02-04955-4)
At the end of June 2006 Gyldendal, the biggest Danish publishing house, released Martin Hall’s epic two-volume novel The Last Romantic in its first paperback edition. Originally People’s Press had released the hardback novel in August 2005.
Gyldendal’s paperback version of the book became The Danish Booksellers Association’s ”book of the month” throughout July and August 2006 thereby securing the title its status as a regular bestseller. As a hardback novel the book had already sold several editions.
The Last Romantic has been translated into German and Lithuanian. It remains Martin Hall’s most read book and continues to cause controversy due to its roman à clef status.
The paperback version presented the book with a new cover design based on a photograph taken by Robin Skjoldborg. You can read more about the original version of the book here:
Genre: Novel
Pages: 705
Design: Kenneth Schultz
Photo: Robin Skjoldborg
“It was the summer of 1980. I was 18 years old, 1,82 tall and about 73 kg heavy. When Ronald Reagan was elected President of the United States in November, I was down to about 65. Some might say it was due to all the amphetamine I took, but it was just as much an attitude thing."
”One of the best descriptions of Danish cultural life (or lack of the same) in the last 25 years.”
( * * * * * )
Citadel (the Danish equivalent to i-D)
”A magnificent roguish and excessively rich fantasy … Gripping and amusing, intelligent and, I dare say: edifying.”
Politiken (the Danish equivalent to The Guardian)
”An intellectual feat of strength.”
( * * * * * )
Ekstra Bladet (the Danish equivalent to The Sun)
”Sex, drugs and rock’n’roll mixed with high-flown existential philosophy and a skewering critical angle to modern culture.”
Berlingske Tidende (the Danish equivalent to The Times)
”The best book I’ve read about ”the sons of no generation” as Hall calls them.”
( * * * * * )
Nordjyske Stiftstidende
”Seldomly gripping portrait of the eighties and nineties.”
( * * * * )
Femina
The following passage is taken from the publishers’ foreword to the original edition of the book:
“Throughout human and art history, the romantic struggle is a continuous motif. In the words of Sartre, this is nostalgia for the future – the desire to live life to its fullest, knowing that this will never be realized, and a state of melancholy for the same reason. In Martin Hall’s monumental novel, a gigantic epoch that stretches over 25 years from 1980 to 2005, the storyteller is a young author who matures in the course of the story: From the decadent punk and underground art scenes of the 80’s through the glittering excesses of the 90’s to the level-headedness of the mature man, the question remains; how do you keep your romantic ideals when the world around you doesn’t respond?
The Last Romantic is an extravagant tale about the children of the 80’s, the “sons of no generation” as the author himself has described the iconolaters of this age in a song. It is a novel about zeitgeist and daring, about speed freaks and dandies, dealers, rock’n’roll animals and S/M-parties, all written from the perspective of the particular temper of the times – a complete novel about white nights, the search for spirituality, casual sex, delirious love affairs, crass comedy and philosophy, all gathered in the experiences of a generation, who so far hasn’t had their literary testament written.
More than anything, The Last Romantic is the great novel about becoming a man – at all times.“
”One of the best descriptions of Danish cultural life (or lack of the same) in the last 25 years.”
( * * * * * )
Citadel (the Danish equivalent to i-D)”A magnificent roguish and excessively rich fantasy … Gripping and amusing, intelligent and, I dare say: edifying.”
Politiken (the Danish equivalent to The Guardian)”An intellectual feat of strength.”
( * * * * * )
Ekstra Bladet (the Danish equivalent to The Sun)”Sex, drugs and rock’n’roll mixed with high-flown existential philosophy and a skewering critical angle to modern culture.”
Berlingske Tidende (the Danish equivalent to The Times)”The best book I’ve read about ”the sons of no generation” as Hall calls them.”
( * * * * * )
Nordjyske Stiftstidende”Seldomly gripping portrait of the eighties and nineties.”
( * * * * )
Femina
HINDSGAVL SLOT 180605
HINDSGAVL SLOT 180605
MARTIN HALL
CD
JUNE 2006
PANOPTIKON (OPTIK 07)
Exactly one year after Martin Hall’s concert at the Danish castle Hindsgavl Slot on June 18, 2005, Panoptikon released The Danish National Radio’s recordings from the event – i.e. the ten tracks featured in the broadcaster’s live transmission.
The album contains songs such as ”Pantomime”, a song Hall originally wrote for the Danish singer Lise Westzynthius in 2003, as well as one of his greatest hits ever, the encore ”Beat of the Drum”.
1. She’s Eternal (6:00)
2. Plaza Flesh (2:31)
3. Pantomime (2:29)
4. Another Heart Laid Bare (4:34)
5. Images in Water (8:03)
6. Doing the Continental (2:37)
7. Verschwendung (3:11)
8. To Be Continued (5:33)
9. Just a Feeling (4:46)
10. Beat of the Drum (4:54)
SHE’S ETERNAL
I never wanted her to see
The world inside me
The world was turning round and round
Like something running out of time
She whispered “listen to the wind” and her breath burned my skin
I didn’t understand but it made me feel so still
There’s a tale of the night, there’s an unspoken word
And the story that she told couldn’t be explained in words
‘Cause she
She’s eternal
With her the world dies
And she
She’s eternal
With her the world dies
Let it die
A stone that falls into the sea
It falls inside me
These winterlands, they never change
They’re covered in this quiet grey
Voices calling in the night from the corners of my mind
From the desolated worlds I was trying to leave behind
Never thought I’d be returning to the place it all began
To the tainted heart of longing, till she took me by the hand
PLAZA FLESH
Show me your true desires
Show me your plaza flesh
Pictures of people dying
Seem to have no effect no more
I don’t really give as much as a toss anymore
I just want to hide away, never beg anymore
I don’t really count the days or the hours anymore
‘Cause she’s gone, gone, gone, gone, gone
‘Cause she’s gone, gone, gone
Come now, inject the daylight
Come here, each little girl
At first, I just want to kiss you
But then I want it all
I want excess
Your plaza flesh
PANTOMIME
Feeling like Berlin 1929
So many feelings all caught up inside
Falling like cities seen through lovers’ eyes
Shaking with fever as they say goodbye
Each time you look
Somebody hides
All of the world
Up in the clouds
Feeling so stupid in this pantomime
All that I need is one pair of starry eyes
ANOTHER HEART LAID BARE
Another heart laid bare on the doorstep to my exile
Another pantomime to disbelieve
I see your bended head, always humble in the daylight
Playing the servant’s role to never see
Of all the images that you left for my keeping
The one I like the most is the world outside
I never thought I would but the distance seems so perfect
I can’t deny the fact that I’m pleasantly surprised
Another victim cries, pointing fingers at the heavens
Declaring me the crime of centuries
The traces on my skin, they keep shining in the nighttime
A fingerprint on every memory
IMAGES IN WATER
The sound of the room
The sound of your breathing
See the night rain that falls
Hear it run down the walls
There’s a scent in the air
There’s a trace in the water
And you’re stretched like the sky
On these carnival nights
That you carry inside
And the image you see
Such a weight on your eyelids
It never dried on your eyes
Never silenced the cries
Like a needle you find
That injects light inside you
See the ribbons of rain
Draw the lines of a face
The thinnest of air
Was all that you needed
Now the glittering stars
Shine a light far too hard
On the tip of your tongue
There’s a word never spoken
Like a vanishing gaze
Choreographed games
That you try to rename
And the image you see
Such a weight on your eyelids
It never dried on your eyes
Never silenced the cries
Like a needle you find
That injects light inside you
See the ribbons of rain
Draw the lines of a face
The scenes of a night cut in marble
The sound of the rain’s getting harder
A hand mirror line turning flesh for a while
You’re so tired now
DOING THE CONTINENTAL
Now really
Close doesn’t count
Not at all
It’s just your vanity making its call
You’re such a promising light
At least for a while
When I’m bored
So many little Napoleons fail
They’re never getting the point of the game
They’re trying too hard to please
It’s such a relief
When they’re gone
The laughter in the rain
We’ll take a turn again
When I’ve regained my breath
I’ve seen a lot of dead people on drugs
Hanging around in cafés like they’re not
Inhaling nicotine candy
And quoting that Andy cliché
In a world full of sad girls with great looks
I’ll be your Martini Girl
I’ll be late for a thousand appointments
But still I’m your girl
I’m flirtatious
Outrageous
Contagious
A three minute love affair
I’m so gracious
So spacious
Delicious
I’m all you can bear
So have a bite of my sweet lover’s heart
I’m irresistible right from the start
I’ll tell you when to start chewing
And when to be queuing to see me leave
VERSCHWENDUNG
Verschwendung ist der Name des Spiels
Eine Tugend
Eine Ehrensache
Meine Seele ist ein Hotel
Meine Liebe eine Einrichtung
Meine Liebe
Meine Liebe
Ich bin ein Matador
Ein Toreador
Ein mutiger Kujon
Ein alter Hund
Eine Wiederkunft aus meiner Kindheit
Ein Schauspieler in einer unfreiwillingen Erinnerung
Keiner stellt die Frage
Keiner weckt mich zu Leben
Keiner stellt die Frage
Keiner weckt mich zu Leben
Zu Leben
Zu Leben
TO BE CONTINUED
My-my
Here’s a drummer
All melodramatic
I wonder who invited him in
But I’m amused as always
By the glamorous stupidity
It’s the puff and the posh of the way that you are
Sugar coating any word
When it all begins to hurt
A little too Babylonian
Now you’re breaking into tears
Though you know I can’t be near
Such an effortless act
It’s shining through your skin
A skin so paper thin
A living memory
It’s just a breath away
All drawn in pale and grey
So tense and self-aware
I can’t breathe in the absence of beauty
Come sustain my arrogance
With a sigh that never ends
A little falling from the sky
Ain’t gonna make the day worthwhile
Not exactly unpredictable
I love the feeling
The nervous shivering
A skin show of dreams
Olympian ideals undefeated
JUST A FEELING
Silver lining inside me
You’re adapting my every word
Such an eloquent silence
Feeling hurt?
Still you’re moving so lightly
Like you’re hanging within the air
Seems it’s your way of saying
Couldn’t care
It’s just a feeling
Another feeling on the sky
It’s just a feeling
Another feeling coming down
The silver lining
You’ll see it run into the air
For just a moment
Another line that disappears
Guess it’s all second chances
Getting used to the sights and sounds
With the greatest indifference
Running down
All aesthetic behaviour
Still I’m watching your every move
Give and take of the daylight
For the view
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
Birgit Løkke: Drums, percussion
Gry Vester-Andersen: Cello
Ida Bach Jensen: Double bass
Johnny Stage: Guitar, backing vocals, farfisa, sitar
Mads Strandgaard: Piano
Martin Hall: Vocals
Thomas Li: Treatments
Design: Kenneth Schultz
Photo: Erik Hansen-Hansen
The cd was released in a limited and numbered edition of 681 copies (18.6 read backwards) and thereby obviously a collector’s item from day one. The release was made in collaboration with The Danish National Radio.
Recorded live at Hindsgavl Castle on June 18, 2005, and mixed the following week at DR by Anders Dohn and Johnny Stage (assisted by Jacob Langkilde).