BANDCAMP

FOR

BALLET M
LP
SEPTEMBER 1982
CBS (25032)

Ballet Mécanique skrev dansk musikhistorie med debutalbummet The Icecold Waters of the Egocentric Calculation. Gruppen blandede rock, avantgarde og lyrik på en hidtil uhørt måde og benyttede bl.a. dansere og film ved sine koncerter.

Bandets andet og sidste album For udkom i efteråret 1982, hvorefter Martin Hall og trommeslageren Michael Karshøj fortsatte under navnet 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

“Ballet Mécanique slipper i dag deres nye, forrygende flotte LP løs … For en gangs skyld kan man tillade sig at hente den internationale målestok frem, når talen er om en dansk plade.”
( * * * * * )
Ekstra Bladet – Poul Borum (24. september 1982)

“Martin Hall er vokset som en sanger, der tør være storladen, disharmonisk og overspændt og som i kliniske gengældelsesangreb uddriver dæmoner, man fornemmer han virkelig har levet med. Det er skrækvisioner præget af idealers ubrudte tilsmudsning, utopiers fald og hyldester til den kunstneriske strengheds indbyggede løfte om et større og rigere liv … kompromisløs kvalitet som også vil kunne høres om 10 år.”
Information – Lars Villemoes (3. november 1982)

“Martin Hall er et geni, et naturtalent af multimegationale dimensioner; der er simpelthen ingen, der når ham til kinaskoene herhjemme, og få i udlandet … Husk hvor du læste det først.”
Sidegaden – Jesper Reisinger (oktober 1982)

“For mig at se betyder For et langt skridt frem for trioen. Den er nok vanskeligere end den første, men den er også vildere og efter min mening bedre … potentialet er stort, arbejdet målbevidst, resultatet imponerende.”
MM – Anne-Lise Malmros (november 1982)

Martin Hall: Vokal, keyboards, flygel, guitar, båndmateriale, horn, percussion, marimba
Michael Karshøj: Trommer, kor, percussion
Morten Versner: Bas, violin

Design: Martin Hall
Foto: Ken Rivad

Allerede under indspilningen af For var Ballet Mécanique ved at falde fra hinanden. Martin Halls psykologiske uligevægt såvel som den generelle tilstand medlemmerne indbyrdes gjorde samarbejdet meget vanskeligt, hvilket resulterede i gruppens opløsning kort tid efter færdiggørelsen af albummet i sommeren 1982. På det tidspunkt havde bandet valgt at forkorte navnet til Ballet M.

Opløsningen af gruppen blev bekendtgjort ved gruppens sidste koncert i København den 15. oktober samme år, vel at mærke uden noget forudgående varsel til hverken tilhængere, pladeselskab eller bookingbureau. Samme dag som den sidste koncert sendte Hall en pressemeddelelse ud til en række udvalgte journalister, hvor han oplyste om beslutningen og forklarede grundene bag den (gruppens besætning til koncerten samme aften var det senere Under For). Man kan finde det indspillede statement på specialudgaven af The Icecold Waters of the Egocentric Calculation, der blev udgivet som dobbelt-cd i forbindelse med albummets 25-årsjubilæum i 2006.

Opløsningen af Ballet Mécanique var yderligere forstærket af Halls tiltagende utilfredshed over at være kontraktbundet til den danske afdeling af det multinationale selskab CBS. Gruppen havde oprindeligt skrevet kontrakt med det uafhængige pladeselskab Better Day Records, der dog kort efter indgåelsen af aftalen blev opkøbt af CBS (nu Sony Music). Både koncertdeklarationen og pressemeddelelsen understregede dette dilemma.

Bekendtgørelsen skabte overskrifter i aviserne og var dermed kun med til at gøre Hall til et endnu mere kontroversielt navn på den danske musikscene, end han allerede var.