HALLMARK 1-4
MARTIN HALL
7″ EP
APRIL 1997
THE PLANET (MOON03)
Hallmark 1–4 is an independent release that has nothing to do with Testcards 1989-1995 although the records were released simultaneously.
This 7″ single was issued by the underground label The Planet in a limited edition of 100 copies and contains a rare Dialogue recording (Martin Hall’s electronic 1980 duo with Per Hendrichsen) featuring Morten Versner from Ballet Mécanique on violin.
1. Untouchable (5:02)2. Give Me a Reason (4:31)3. Tears and Morphine (4:08)4. The Missing War (6:04)
UNTOUCHABLE
From blood into ashes
A word in the night
I heard someone whisper that I’d passed the line
The scream of my heartbeat
It’s burning in cold anger by the things I hear
Blood into ashes
And in the night the rain keeps on falling
And in the streets the silence keeps calling
In the untouchable of each moment
In the untouchable of the silence
And in the night the rain keeps on falling
And in the streets the silence keeps calling
I’ve heard enough statements like “everything’s relative”
Go jump from a rooftop, there goes your philosophy
‘Cause the map they’ve made isn’t the landscape
Although nicely drawn
Over and over
Falling all over again
In the untouchable of each moment
In the untouchable of the silence
And in the night the rain keeps on falling
And in the streets the silence keeps calling
Tears of dust
Colours of the night
Words of chains
Memories of lies
Gonna break on through
Fantasies
Poisons taste like wine
In a dream
In a dream of time
The untouchable
Gonna reach the untouchable
GIVE ME A REASON
So give me, give me a reason
And give me, give me a dream
Now here’s a song for the broken hearts
It’s dedicated to pain
Another time and another place
But the story’s the same
I always read every bottom line
‘Cause everything’s got a price
A pretty face doesn’t last that long
I want to know what’s behind
So give me, give me a reason
And give me, give me a dream
The hallelujah of broken souls
Another promise to keep
I’ve had enough of the heart of blues
Time goes and rust never sleeps
TEARS AND MORPHINE
Like tears in the rain
They are fading away
No eye shall absorb the tear it cries
Each tear is a stream that purifies
Irma Victoria: Vocals
Martin Hall: Vocals, instruments
Morten Versner: Violin
Ole Hansen: Trumpet
Per Hendrichsen: Synthesizers
Tina Schæfer: Vocals
Design: Lars Julsgård Thomsen
The record presents four different aspects of Hall’s musical workings: The solo track “Untouchable” from 1989 followed by a NTT outtake from their 1993 sessions (“Give Me a Reason” featuring Tina Schæfer), then a re-recording from 1994 of Irma Victoria and the Hatebox Experience’s “Tears in The Rain” and finally “The Missing War” with Dialogue.