EXTENDED PLAY
EXTENDED PLAY
MARTIN HALL
CD EP
MARCH 1996
VIRGIN RECORDS (8416162)
Extended Play features the second single from Martin Hall’s 1996 album Random Hold, the track “Another Heart Laid Bare”. The release also features several session recordings left out from the final track list of the album.
1. Another Heart Laid Bare (4:34)
2. Pleasurama (3:43)
3. Catching the Dust (5:46)
4. Layers in Between (4:05)
5. Another Heart in Transit (0:58)
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
PLEASURAMA
The sweetest words
They always fall from lovers’ lips
Make you believe everything that you’ve heard
The whole wide world
It seems like it’s hanging from the sky
Still you turn your blindest eye
See you robbing every mirror
For the images you see
I thought you knew my pleasurama
I thought you knew my everything
Nocturnal moods
The melodramas
Pulling all your cheap nostalgia
Out of anything you see
A frame of mind
Can turn the world all upside down
Make you believe everything that you’ve heard
Of all of my heart
I wish I could wish you all the best
But my tolerance’s too sore
Got a little something for you
It’s a good and better bye/buy
CATCHING THE DUST
The eyes on the ceiling
The eyes on the walls
There’s always a riddle unsolved
A question to store
Candles burning in the night to remind you
That no matter where you’re hiding
It will find you
Get inside of you
All of this time
Watching the lines
Slowly run out into the blue
Catching the dust
Staying untouched
Hiding the world within your hand
All of this time
Just catching the dust
Hiding the world
The longest of stories
The thinnest of air
The something you always wanted
Untouchable near
THE LAYERS IN BETWEEN
At the end of your finger
Everything turns to gold
Take a piece of forever
Make it all that you know
Second nature getting clearer
Turning flesh and blood
Tearing pages out of nowhere
All the things you can’t get rid of
The layers in between
The keep away the feeling
The world is turning everything
Turning the blue skies golden
Keep away any shadow
With the palm of your hand
Turning air into distance
Turning days into chance
Second nature getting clearer
Turning flesh and blood
In between the lines
Running out of empty answers
It’s the solitude you feed on
The layers in between
The keep away the feeling
The world is turning everything
Turning the blue skies golden
So the feeling comes
And the feeling goes
Underneath the open sky
Tell the story once
Tell the story twice
But you can’t remember why
Henrik Marstal: Cello
Iben Teilmann: Viola
Martin Hall: Vocals, drums, bass, guitar, tape material
Ole Hansen: Keyboards, piano, trumpet, french horn
Sara Wallevik: Violin
Signe Kjærsgaard: Bass
Thomas Li: Networks, treatments, logic, percussion
Design: Birgitte Wester/Camilla Søfeldt
Photo: Robin Skjoldborg
The track “Pleasurama” entered The Danish Broadcasting Corporation’s P3 airplay chart (Danish National Radio) during the first week of March while the video made for “Another Heart Laid Bare” premiered at ZTV, a new Danish music televison programme at the time.
You can read more about the Random Hold album and the story behind it here:
RANDOM HOLD
RANDOM HOLD
MARTIN HALL
CD
FEBRUARY 1996
VIRGIN RECORDS (8414032)
At its original release in 1996 Random Hold was instantly regarded as Martin Hall’s best work ever by an unanimous Scandinavian press. In 1997 the album was released in Germany, Austria and Switzerland where it also received a massive amount of breathtaking reviews.
Since then it has been included on the list over the 50 most important releases in Danish rock music in the illustrious Danish rock encyclopedia Politikens Rockleksikon and the album still gains growing attention from music connoisseurs all over the world.
1. Cradlemoon (5:44)
2. Performance (5:12)
3. Another Heart Laid Bare (4:54)
4. Interim (1:47)
5. Cue (3:24)
6. She’s Eternal (6:00)
7. Golden Day Longing (4:37)
8. Skinline (11:03)
CRADLEMOON
The fire and the water keep mixing in my blood
The sons and the daughters seemed to give it all up
They got too tired of the waiting
Too tired to believe
In the promises that nobody keeps
I’ve seen a generation coming
I’ve seen a generation go
And the more I see, the less I know
I want to go to sleep
I want to drown in the deep of the cradlemoon
I want to touch the sky
I want to lie down and die
In the cradlemoon of the night
So I followed the shadows by the trail of the waste
And it led me into the heart, to the heart of these days
I never wanted to remember
Never wanted to believe
But you don’t ask why when the thunderheart beats
All I wanted was a reason
What I got was so much more
Couldn’t turn my back on the things that I saw
I want to go to sleep
I want to drown in the deep of the cradlemoon
I want to touch the sky
I want to lie down and die
In the cradlemoon of the night
In a world full of stories
There’s a time in the night
When the sky seems to break by the blink of the eye
PERFORMANCE
Fields of living fire
You’ll see me reaching into the air
The shadow of a survivor
I turn around but there’s no one there
I’ve been looking for reason
Some poisons taste like the sweetest wine
But all I ever believed in
Was all the things that I couldn’t find
The fires burn, erasing all the traces
And I spread the ashes all across the sky
Watching it all fall like rain through empty spaces
To the darkest corners of my heart and mind
Hear the cries and the whispers
The touch-and-go of another night
The afterglow of desire
Shines with the flame of a lesser light
A line of nameless faces
Fading away in a sea of time
Another time and place is
The last belief of performing mind
The fires burn, erasing all the traces
And I spread the ashes all across the sky
Watching it all fall like rain through empty spaces
To the darkest corners of my heart and mind
In a room without a view
There’s a story without end
Every time an answer shows
Then another hides away
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
CUE
The cities of light, the mirrors beneath the stars
In all of my life I’ve followed my untamed heart
It burns like a fever in the sleepless nights
Behind closed doors and behind closed eyes
The sea of the sky keeps shining a world of gold
The sweeter the song, the sadder the tale that’s told
Like a secret that I’ll never know
There’s a feeling that will follow me anywhere I go
I’ll walk on waters
I’ll quiet the storms
With you as my reason
With you as my calm
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
GOLDEN DAY LONGING
Sweet
Golden day longing
I feel it inside
Each breath that I take
High
High as the empty
It falls on my skin
To cover the burns
Turning silver
See the writing that runs down the wall
Book of reason
I don’t need it anymore
Sweet
Golden day longing
No words can explain
The feelings I have
SKINLINE
Days are burning like the rainbow
In a corner of the world
Your forever is a nevermore
And it turns the sky and the earth
The moon and the stars
The skin and the scars
Keeping your eyes on closing doors
Counting the shadows on the walls
Pieces of eight still fill your mind
Burning your skinline
Break the silence into stories
Tell them like a children’s tale
Always staying at a distance
As you bleed the light of the day
You’re lying awake
You lie there and wait
“Hertzlich willkommen. Mit Martin Hall’s Random Hold liegt das erste Produkt vor, das Public Propaganda als Label auf den Markt schmeissen… und was für eines! Martin Hall, eine der wichtigsten Persönlichkeiten in Dänemarks Musik- und Kunstscene, verbindet electronisches und klassische Sounds zu einer perfekten Untermalung seiner düsteren Gesange, die einen sofort in ihren Bann ziehen. Das ganze klingt ausserdem extrem ruhig und atmosphärisch, dabei aber nicht immer kuschelweich, sondern oft auch nachdenklich machend. Mal wirken die Songs als solche, mal experimentiert Martin Hall mit Stimme und Klängen. Verdammt entspannende und starke 43 minuten, die uns Public Propaganda da ins Nest legen. Unbedingt reinhören. ”
( 5/5 )
Bodystyler (December 1997)
“Die perfekte Musik …”
Gothic (December 1997)
“Einfach eine grossartige CD!!!”
Dark Mind (November 1997)
“Musik, die einfach schön ist … Denn Kunst kommt von Können. Und das ist Kunst in Reinkultur! Atmosphärische Klänge, wie sie die heutige schnellebige Zeit dringend nötig hat, um einen Ruhepunkt zu finden.”
Orkus (November 1997)
“Random Hold ist ein bewegendes, ein ausgereiftes Kunstwerk. Gut, dass endlich die Musik unserer Nachbarn im Norden mehr und mehr in unser Bewusstsein rückt …”
Notes (November 1997)
“Hall’s Musik so ganz anders ist.”
( 8/10 )
Neurostyle (December 1997)
“Der Däne Martin Hall blickt mit seinen 34 Jahren bereits auf stattliche 31 Veröffentlichungen zurück. Einem breiten Publikum ist er hierzulande allerdings noch nicht bekannt. Random Hold könnte das ändern. Hall schafft ein unspektakuläres, zurückhaltendes Album voller Emotionen. Er versichtet auf klanggewaltige Arrangements, entfaltet sich lieber im Detail. Stilprägend wirkt dabei die Kombination elektronischer Musik und klassischer Instrumentierung, die gleichberechtigt nebeneinander stehen und die gefühlvollen Texte unterstreichen. Zeitlos schön und ubedingt hörenswert.”
T5 (November 1997)
“Da haben wir ja ein richtiges Multitalent.”
( 9/10 )
Feedback (December 1997)
“Musik für den Herbst. Musik für Schwärmer, Romantiker, für die melankolischen Stunden allein, für Stunden zu zweit. Musik wie für mich komponiert.”
Astan (November 1997)
“Bleibt zu hoffen, dass Martin Hall mit diesem atmosphärisches aussergewönlichen Album auch hierzulande auf offene Ohren stösst.”
Entry (December 1997)
“Dänemarks Vorzeige Multimedia-Künstler vor Durchbruch in Deutschland.”
Zillo (November 1997)
Henrik Marstal: Cello
Iben Teilmann: Viola
Martin Hall: Vocals, drums, bass, guitar, tape material
Ole Hansen: Keyboards, piano, trumpet, french horn
Sara Wallevik: Violin
Signe Kjærsgaard: Bass
Thomas Li: Networks, treatments, logic, percussion
Design: Birgitte Wester/Camilla Søfeldt
Photo: Robin Skjoldborg
After the release of his successful 1993 album A Touch of Excellence Martin Hall went into a longer period of isolation. Although having reached an important level of recognition with this album, Hall was disencouraged with the artistic state of affairs. After a few selected performances – a midnight concert in a Copenhagen church in December 1994 and a radio hall performance with the classical string quartet Den Danske Kvartet in April 1995 – he received two major awards in the spring of 1995: The Honoury Award of DJBFA (The Danish Association of Composers) and the prestigious three year grant from The National Fund for the Endowment of The Arts.
Finally having the means of his own to record his next solo album, Martin Hall turned down a contract offer from Sony Music and began working on the Random Hold release on his own account. Assisted by co-producer Thomas Li recordings were made on various locations in the countryside during the summer of 1995 (an abandoned villa in the suburbs of Copenhagen and an art school in the countryside) , a process that enabled Hall to create a much more personal sounding album than the predecessor.
The first single taken from the Random Hold record is the track “Cradlemoon”, by many still considered his signature song. A month after the release of the album the ep Extended Play was made available, a title featuring several session recordings left out from the final track list of the album:
1. “Another Heart Laid Bare” (4.34)
2. “Pleasurama” (3.43)
3. “Catching the Dust” (5.46)
4. “Layers in Between” (4.05)
5. “Another Heart in Transit” (0.58)
In 1997 Random Hold was released in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and in February 2009 the album was re-released in a special cd-edition featuring several bonus recordings from the original sessions. In 2017 it finally appeared in its first vinyl edition, this time remastered by the album’s original co-producer, Thomas Li. You can read more about these versions of the album here:
“The grandiose and beautiful, dusty album Random Hold from 1996. It is the hermetic Hall’s most flawless pop work ever.”
( * * * * * )
Politiken (the Danish equivalent to The Guardian)“Martin Hall has rarely appeared more precise, serene and focused than on his latest release.”
Berlingske Tidende (the Danish equivalent to The Times)”A damned good release from Martin Hall.”
Information (the Danish equivalent to The Independent)“Martin Hall’s best record so far. A little miracle.”
( * * * * * )
Nat & Dag (the Danish equivalent to The Face)“Martin Hall’s peak as an artist.”
Zoo Magazine (the Danish equivalent to Q Magazine at the time)“Random Hold is Martin Hall’s most beautiful and flawless record up until this point.”
Det Fri Aktuelt (major Danish newspaper at the time)”An uncompromising and naked expression … intimate and attentive deliveries.”
( * * * * * )
Undertoner (Danish site for independent music)“Beautiful music … art at its purest.”
Orkus (major German music magazine)“The perfect music!”
Gothic (major German music magazine)
CRADLEMOON
CRADLEMOON
MARTIN HALL
CD SINGLE
JANUARY 1996
VIRGIN RECORDS (724389333626)
Cradlemoon is the first single released from Martin Hall’s 1996 album Random Hold. The song is widely regarded as Hall’s signature song and has been included on several European indie compilation records.
1. Cradlemoon (Radio Edit) (4:19)
2. Cradlemoon (Full Lengh Version) (5:44)
CRADLEMOON
The fire and the water keep mixing in my blood
The sons and the daughters seemed to give it all up
They got too tired of the waiting
Too tired to believe
In the promises that nobody keeps
I’ve seen a generation coming
I’ve seen a generation go
And the more I see, the less I know
I want to go to sleep
I want to drown in the deep of the cradlemoon
I want to touch the sky
I want to lie down and die
In the cradlemoon of the night
So I followed the shadows by the trail of the waste
And it led me into the heart, to the heart of these days
I never wanted to remember
Never wanted to believe
But you don’t ask why when the thunderheart beats
All I wanted was a reason
What I got was so much more
Couldn’t turn my back on the things that I saw
I want to go to sleep
I want to drown in the deep of the cradlemoon
I want to touch the sky
I want to lie down and die
In the cradlemoon of the night
In a world full of stories
There’s a time in the night
When the sky seems to break by the blink of the eye
Henrik Marstal: Cello
Iben Teilmann: Viola
Martin Hall: Vocals, drums, bass, guitar, tape material
Ole Hansen: Keyboards, piano, trumpet, french horn
Sara Wallevik: Violin
Signe Kjærsgaard: Bass
Thomas Li: Networks, treatments, logic, percussion
Design: Birgitte Wester/Camilla Søfeldt
Photo: Robin Skjoldborg
Assisted by co-producer Thomas Li Random Hold was recorded in an abandoned art school in the countryside in the summer of 1995. To get the full story of the album release, please see the following links:
- Random Hold – original edition and related singles (1996).
- Random Hold – remastered vinyl edition (2017).
HIP … EN HYLDEST TIL STEPPEULVENE
HIP … EN HYLDEST TIL STEPPEULVENE
VARIOUS ARTISTS
CD
OCTOBER 1995
EXLIBRIS (EXLCD 30053)
Hip is a tribute cd made in honour of the Danish hippie band Steppeulvene, a band that back in 1967 released the original, now legendary album Hip.
The 1995 version of the record features a line of young Danish bands such as How Do I, Murmur, Rhonda Harris and Souvenirs as well as the 72-year-old performer Irma Victoria with whom Martin Hall had recently recorded the critically acclaimed album Phantasmagoria.
1. 0-0-0 (How Do I) (6:10)
2. Til Nashet (Murmur) (5:20)
3. Itsi-bitsi (Irma Victoria) (4:50)
4. Til Nashet (Swoon) (4:49)
5. Dunhammeraften (Peter Belli) (4:47)
6. Du skal ud, hvor du ikke kan bunde (Rhonda Harris) (3:21)
7. Flip (Double Muffled Dolphin) (5:50)
8. 0-0-0 (Souvenirs) (3:18)
9. Kvinde kom ud (The Arnø Family Combo) (5:17)
10. Jensen (Death Tothe) (6:52)
11. Lykkens pamfil (Soma Hammarlund) (10:37)
How Do I: 0-0-0
Murmur: Til Nashet
Irma Victoria: “Itsi-bitsi”
Swoon: “Til Nashet”
Peter Belli: “Dunhammeraften”
Rhonda Harris: “Du skal ud, hvor du ikke kan bunde”
Double Muffled “Dolphin: Flip”
Souvenirs: “0-0-0”
The Arnø Family Combo: “Kvinde kom ud”
Death Tothe: “Jensen”
Soma Allpass Hammarlund: “Lykkens pamfil”
Design: Jens Kruse
Photo: Per Morten Abrahamsen
The Hip tribute cd caused a fair amount of media controversy at the time of its release. Several of the older critics found the new recordings slightly irrelevant, if not outspokenly disrespectful, Irma Victoria’s version of Steppeulvene’s “Itsi-bitsi” in particular.
Although her contribution many places was highlighted as one of the most innovative versions of the original songs on the album, several of the senior reviewers addressed Irma Victoria and Martin Hall’s rendering with great hostility – none more so than Weekendavisen, the Danish equivalent to The Observer, which condemned Hall for his provocative move and the song in general for being “hatefully distorted and foul-mouthed false”.
PHANTASMAGORIA – THE SECOND COMING
PHANTASMAGORIA – THE SECOND COMING
IRMA VICTORIA & THE HATEBOX EXPERIENCE
CD
OCTOBER 1994
MIND AND MEDIA (MM3000)
Phantasmagoria – The Second Coming was the follow-up to Irma Victoria’s Grammy nominated debut album The Rainbow Theatre from 1990.
Being issued in October 1994, Irma Victoria was 72 years old at the time of the album release. She had just received The Medal for Meritorious Service, a distinction given for forty years of loyal service in the Danish Department of Defence handed to her personally by The Queen of Denmark, Margrethe II.
1. Everything Is an Illusion (3:26)
2. The Voices of the Dead (1:25)
3. Moon over Golgatha (1:06)
4. The Gospel According to Anti-Christ (1:01)
5. Heart of Darkness (3:17)
6. The Iron Ring of Ignorance (1:03)
7. Silent Rage (1:59)
8. The Beauty of Emptiness (4:40)
9. Metamorphosis (1:57)
10. The Devil in the Flesh (0:44)
11. September Song (0:45)
12. Where Nothing Is Sacred (2:01)
13. A Touch of Evil (2:42)
14. Forget Me Not 1:48)
15. The 49 Days of Truthfulness 1:09)
16. Once There Was a Rose 1:04)
17. Nothingness 0:55)
18. Circus of Bottomless Stupidity (1:18)
19. Eternalized in a Godless World (1:58)
20. The Endless Sea (0:49)
21. Paradise Lost in the Shadow Of Satan (0:52)
22. There Is No Hope (0:27)
23. River of Night (1:22)
24. The Sun Is Shining (1:24)
25. Bittersweet the Pain (1:28)
26. The Voice of Truth (0:15)
27. All the World Is a Stage (0:41)
28. The Promised Land (0:33)
29. Gargoyles and Weltschmerz (0:53)
30. The World Is on Fire Forever (5:48)
31. Like Tears in the Rain (0:21)
32. The Last Dream (3:24)
INTRODUCING PHANTASMAGORIA
“… where dogs and ravens mate, the frozen fields of the naked eye, arising I. Victoria, born in Splendour, Degraded, Arisen, in Wisdom Slumber; She, from Jericho to Armageddon, bereft of fever, Mournful She, Wasteland Witness, the Seeress, Sea, and Sea after Sea of Sand, such Oblivion. Her visions cruel and brittle, the mystic’s mission, in Irma’s dream, beyond, beyond, in solid silence.”
Laureate in Lily Fields, Ken Rivad (1994)
Aud Wilken: Backing vocals
Christian Skeel: Synthesizers
Henrik Marstal: Bass
Irma Victoria: Vocals
Jens Brygmann: Drums
Lars Top-Galia: Guitar
Martin Hall: Instruments
Ole Hansen: Horns
Thomas Li: Keyboards
Torben Engberg: Organ
Design: Jens Kruse
Photo: Robin Skjoldborg
The release of Phantasmagoria was surrounded by quite a lot of media coverage due to the singer’s age and earlier Grammy nomination as well as Martin Hall’s recent achievement with his hugely popular album A Touch of Excellence. Among the promotion stunts involved in the launch of the record, Carlsberg financed a poster campaign for the album in Copenhagen, the capitol of Denmark. Phantasmagoria even managed to produce a minor airplay scoop with the track “Everything Is an Illusion”.
The album was subsequently released on import basis in England, France and Spain and has in time achieved a cult-like status in several European countries and artistic communities.
When Irma Victoria died in 2000, 77 years old, several international artists expressed their grief with her passing. Among names such as Jean Pierre Turmel from the French avant-garde label French Sordide Sentimental and Martyn Jacques from the renowned English cabaret band The Tiger Lillies, the most fierce appraisal of her talent probably came from Douglas P., singer and front figure in the British neofolk group Death in June, who wrote the following in the cover notes for the posthumously released compilation album Memorial – Finest Moments and Famous Last Words:
“Her work was fantastic. May her soul live forever.”
A TOUCH OF EXCELLENCE
A TOUCH OF EXCELLENCE
MARTIN HALL
LP/CD
OCTOBER 1993
PLADECOMPAGNIET (PCCD8059)
With the release of A Touch of Excellence Martin Hall enjoyed a massive second comeback in his career. After a period of rather obscure projects and collaborations, the single “Strange Delight” became a big radio hit and the album turned into a commercial success.
The second single “Angel of the Night” and the promo track “Rhythm of the Rota” received a fair amount of airplay as well.
1. Sweet Pain (3:54)
2. Rhythm of the Rota (5:26)
3. Strange Delight (4:27)
4. Angel of the Night (5:36)
5. Higher Reason (6:09)
6. Here Comes the Rain (4:59)
7. If Just for a Moment (4:50)
8. Changing Season (4:58)
9. Restless Spirit (4:04)
10. 3rd Music (0:51)
11. Seemingly Endless 3:43)
Aud Wilken: Backing vocals
Christian Skeel: Keyboards
Dan Stielow: Backing vocals
Fini Høstrup: Rhodes
Flemming Muus: Bass
Flemming Schiller: Guitar
Gbatokai Dakinah Jr.: Bass
Henrik Marstal: Bass
Henrik Tvede: Guitar
Hilmar Hassig: Keyboards
Jens Albrectsen: Piano
Jens Auhagen: Bass
Jens Brygmann: Drums
Jesper Ahrenburg: Percussion
Jimmy Jørgensen: Backing vocals
Jon Bruland: Bass
Jonas Johansen: Drums
Jørgen Bo Hansen: Synthesized guitar
Kenneth Agerholm: Trombone
Kenneth S. Nannberg: Keyboards, rhodes, organ
Kim Menzer: Didgeridoo
Lars Top-Galia: Guitar
Louise Engell: Backing vocals
Martin Hall: Vocals, drums, keyboards, guitar, percussion
Martin Lind: Guitar
Martin Zangenberg: Slide guitar
Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen: Double bass
Ole Hansen: Keyboards
Per Trolle: Piano
Peter Grønbæk: Keyboards
Peter Leander: Bass
Peter Solak: Guitar
Philippa Bulgin: Backing vocals
Sanne Gottlieb: Backing vocals
Soma Hammarlund: Cello
Søren Jacobsen: Guitar
Thomas Engell: Drums, piano
Thomas Li: Keyboards
Thomas Negrijn: Backing vocals
Thomas Ortved: Drums
Thomas Solak: Piano
Thor Backhausen: Keyboards
Thorsten S. Høeg: Saxophone
Tina Schæfer: Backing vocals
Torben Engberg: Rhodes, organ
Design: Birgitte Wester
Photo: Robin Skjoldborg
Since his highly popular Presence album from 1988 Martin Hall had released a series of fairly ambigious works, weird cassette tapes and Irma Victoria recordings – stuff that didn’t go down very well with the larger public. “Strange Delight” and A Touch of Excellence changed all that.
Collaborating with five co-producers and nearly 50 Danish top musicians – including the internationally renowned jazz-bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen as well as several members of the Danish punk pioneers Sort Sol – it took Hall three years to complete A Touch of Excellence. As already stated the single “Strange Delight” became a huge radio hit that secured the album due attention.
Apart from the success with the record Martin Hall performed his first concerts as a solo artist for more than seven years during this period, taking him on his first Denmark tours ever – a minor club tour in the autumn of 1993 and the extensive Pandemonium tour in March and April 1994. He would later recall how much he disliked touring his native country, making sure he never repeated the experience.
STRANGE DELIGHT
STRANGE DELIGHT
MARTIN HALL
CD SINGLE
SEPTEMBER 1993
PLADECOMPAGNIET (PCCD4059)
“Strange Delight” is a song taken from Martin Hall’s 1993 album A Touch of Excellence. The single became a massive radio hit and provided him with a second comeback in his career after a period of rather obscure projects and collaborations.
The song is co-produced with Hilmer Hassig, guitarist and founding member of the Danish band Love Shop.
1. Strange Delight (4:27)
Aud Wilken: Backing vocals
Flemming Muus: Bass
Hilmar Hassig: Keyboards
Martin Hall: Vocals, drums, keyboards
Søren Jacobsen: Guitar
Design: Birgitte Wester
Since his highly popular Presence album from 1988 Martin Hall had released a series of fairly ambigious works, weird cassette tapes and Irma Victoria recordings – stuff that didn’t go down very well with the larger public. “Strange Delight” and A Touch of Excellence changed all that.
Collaborating with five co-producers and nearly 50 Danish top musicians including the internationally renowned jazz-bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen as well as several members of the Danish punk pioneers Sort Sol, it took Hall three years to complete A Touch of Excellence, and as already stated the single “Strange Delight” became a huge radio hit securing the album its due attention.
Apart from the success with the record Martin Hall performed his first concerts as a solo artist for more than seven years during this period, taking him on his first Denmark tours ever – a minor club tour in the autumn of 1993 and the extensive Pandemonium tour in March and April 1994. He would later recall how much he disliked touring his native country, making sure he never repeated the experience.
ALL THE WAY DOWN
ALL THE WAY DOWN
THE WEDDING PRESENT/READ ONLY MEMORY
7″ SINGLE
JULY 1993
GUIDING LIGHT RECORDS (JEWEL 9)
This release is a double feature 7” single that was included in the Danish music magazine Adventure #9.
Side 1 of the release features a live recording of the English band The Wedding Present’s track “Blonde”, side 2 the otherwise unreleased Read Only Memory recording “All the Way Down”.
Side 1: Blonde (4:38)
Side 2: All the Way Down (3:32)
Aud Wilken: Vocals
Martin Hall: Instruments
The Wedding Present: Band
Design: Heike Arndt
SWEET MYSTERY
SWEET MYSTERY
NTT
CD SINGLE
JUNE 1993
ADDICTION (AD01)
NTT was a short-term collaboration between Martin Hall and the former Blast singer Tina Schäfer who’d sung backing vocals on the two Hall albums Presence (1988) and A Touch Of Excellence (1993).
The single was recorded using a minor arsenal of old synthesizers and moogs. The first 50 copies were released with a VHS video with videos made by Henrik Möll for the songs.
1. Sweet Mystery (4.28)
2. Mirror Of Imagination (5.37)
3. Sweet Diversion (4.01)
Martin Hall: Instruments, tapes
Tina Schäfer: Vocals
Design: John L. Christensen
Tina Schäfer and Martin Hall during a Hall concert in Stakladen in 1986
A MARTIN HALL INDEX
A MARTIN HALL INDEX
MARTIN HALL
MC
SEPTEMBER 1991
MIND AND MEDIA
A Martin Hall Index is a music cassette released on mail order basis. It was only made available in 100 copies and remains very rare.
The contents feature demos and other available recordings made in the period.
The opening song “New Force Rising”, however, is a song recorded in the run-up for the recording of the Presence album released in 1988. It was considered a single at some point, but never made it to the album.
“Untitled (Autumn 1985)” is a selection recorded just before Hall’s temporary retreat from the music business in early 1986.
Mind and Media was a company ran by Martin Hall and John L. Christensen in the period 1989–1994. Christensen designed the cassettes and handled the mail order service of the business.
1. New Force Rising (5:36)
2. Untitled (4:07)
3. Stigma (4:53)
4. 20th Century Love Theme (7:14)
5. Child Of Europe (7:10)
6. Dividing Line (6:24)
7. Untitled (Autumn 1985) (6:57)
8. Melt Away (4:36)
Martin Hall: Vocals, instruments
Design: John L. Christensen