BANDCAMP

PRESENCE

MARTIN HALL
LP/CD/MC
SEPTEMBER 1988
VIRGIN RECORDS (259309)

Presence var Martin Halls meget succesrige comeback-album efter to et halvt års retræte fra musikindustrien. Pladen er en Fairlight-produktion og co-produceret af Flemming Nygaard.

Presence blev modtaget med et regulært mediehype og indeholdt bl.a. hitsinglen “Beat of the Drum”, et nummer der endte med at blive årets mest spillede danske single på The Voice i 1988. Medregner man internationale kunstnere blev nummeret ironisk nok kun overgået af John Farnhams verdensomspændende hit “The Voice”.

1. Real Thing (5:37)
2. Beat of the Drum (4:54)
3. Penetration (4:31)
4. Intermezzo (6:00)
5. Magnum Opus (9:17)
6. Presence (12:20)

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

While all things must pass, a presence remains
A fire will burn, purify – never change
It’s seen in the sky, it’s felt deep inside
As there’s so much more to this than meets the eye
It’s something within, it’s something without
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

In this forum of time and of place
There’s a rainbow arising after the rain
As the sun melts the snow
The ice and the fire

Mountain streams overflow
Run down from the higher
And the water, it glitters like diamond
As pure as the light

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

PENETRATION

The cooler the game, the more it will run hot
The sharper the knife, the deeper it will cut
The more you hold on to, the more you will lose
The more you let go, the more you constitute

It’s so easy to criticize someone else
But if you’re superior why don’t you help
‘Cause knowing the truth in your head is a lie
If you aren’t in practice of it in your life

Solar plexus charge
Guided by the heart
As the silence rules
Before the storm

You’d better know what you’re into
You’d better know how to get out
What’s easy said’s always harder done
So rather small tries than big shouts

Cut down to black and white
Put all your views aside
And face the main thing
We’re in the same thing
There’s too much luxury
Too much hypocrisy
From penetration to revelation

Surviving the 20th century drain
Requires control of emotions and brain
So don’t have a drama but try to make sense
Of what’s going on in this world consequence

The rules of the game are as solid as rock
There are millions out there living in culture shock
Now one thing’s to see it, another to change
To know where you’re going, not just fight against

INTERMEZZO

Changeless
Beyond the point of return
Nameless
Written to whom it may concern

Fineness
Cast like a shadow of life
Timeless
Moment by moment, always now

The nearer the source, the purer the stream
The stronger the will, the more real is the dream
The truer the flame, the brighter it burns
The harder the fall, the stronger the return

For all as for none, for you as for me
You may feel alone but you never will be
All life is a wave that rises and falls
A part of the great sea in which it dissolves

All things
Rise in the light of the sun
Being
Meanings are many, reasons one
For years
Searching but too close to see
We’re here
And this is where we’re meant to be

The nearer the source, the purer the stream
The stronger the will, the more real is the dream
The truer the flame, the brighter it burns
The harder the fall, the stronger the return

For all as for none, for you as for me
You may feel alone but you never will be
All life is a wave that rises and falls
A part of the great sea in which it dissolves

And born under stars, in eternity
In all that has been, all that is, all to be
A feeling within still to be fulfilled
Of something inside that can never be killed

MAGNUM OPUS

River of life, salt of the Earth
We are the children of unseen worlds
In this arena the strongest survives
But only intact if they stay true to life
And touched by a sparkle, a cool fire burns
The flame is a guest but it has to return
To its kingdom
Its arising
To its source

The mystery lives in crystal and cell
Untouchable real as the heartbeat itself
The immanent life, an eminent line
A journey more directional than defined
A resonance ringing, a midnight sun burns
What’s said by the words is what silence confirms
The media of senses, of heart and of mind
In worlds of the moment, the past left behind
It leaves me all breathless, it feels so complete
The heavens so still and the Earth so concrete
And it calls me
In a whisper
In a scream

Like a shadow that’s cast from above
In this kingdom of flesh and of blood
A superior allowance rules
The Magnum Opus of life

Calling for some, knowing you’re there
Hiding away in own worlds, unaware
Living in darkness, living without
The beauty of life, of demand inside out

Now stop the self-torture of doubt and of fear
The fact that you are says you’re meant to be here
To feel weak costs nothing, to rise above does
A future is calling for each one of us
And if you don’t want it, then die on your own
I’m gonna proceed even if I’m alone
‘Cause I want it
More than ever
For us all

Reasons known, reasons still to be found
Where there’s will, there are ways, none without
A superior allowance rules
The Magnum Opus of life

And it calls me
In a whisper
And it calls me
In a scream

When all is said and when all is done
A moment alone will come to everyone
To make you consider, to make you see clear
What you have caused in the time you’ve been here
It’s beginning
So may each find what each seeks

PRESENCE

A diamond is shining but it’s empty in its inside
A crystallization providing a home for the light
Purified by the flame, only core remains
In the face of mass ignorance you can’t change the world
But you’re responsible at least for your own

The sound of children crying
The words of leaders lying
In this nightmare theatre of shock insensitivity
So everyone loves the talking
But when it comes to the working
I see an empty stage and everyone returned to fantasy

Now I’m not getting heavy, I’m just pointing out some facts
If a gun was put against your head, I think you would react
There’s an instinct to survive, a will to live
And don’t you think there’s a reason for such technology
Or do you take it all for nothing in your self-view luxury
‘Cause if you do, well really
Who do you think you are?

The rising sun drives back the darkness
The morning light exposes Earth
And here I stand within the realms of all to come

A tension inside
A feeling arising
Like a charge in the sky
The pressure before it bursts
The lightness when it has been released
A shadow is cast from clouds slowly passing
While summer rain’s falling
The sky opens up

And as I walk upon the face of Earth
Deep in my heart, a stillness undisturbed
In open fields, the wind carries the words
Within, without – a flame burns on this Earth

I’ve got the spirit, I’ve got the feeling
And I’ll be true to what I believe in
An inner greatness is my conviction
And it’s the sparkle of my resistance
I feel the promise within the longing
I’ve gone from being into becoming
And in this journey of my existence
My only statement is my persistence

From circle to spiral
From charge to release
From feeling to knowing
From the inside into the outside
A life is what it becomes as it goes through this world
Its appearance is its allowance, its kingdom the Earth
It’s a matter of seeing what it’s in the middle of
It’s a question of below before a question of above

A cool flame burning inside, it’s embodied in flesh
A radiation of divinity
I feel a fullness inside, I see the richness of life
I see the wounds slowly heal and it’s amazing to me
I see a newborn child, I see integrity
The small intensity in the enormity
I see a single flame give birth to thousand lights
I see the principle in its simplicity

A tension inside
A feeling arising
Like a charge in the sky
The pressure before it bursts
The lightness when it has been released
A shadow is cast from clouds slowly passing
While summer rain’s falling
The sky opens up

And as I walk upon the face of Earth
Deep in my heart, a stillness undisturbed
In open fields, the wind carries the words
Within, without – a flame burns on this Earth

I’ve got the spirit, I’ve got the feeling
And I’ll be true to what I believe in
An inner greatness is my conviction
And it’s the sparkle of my resistance
I feel the promise within the longing
I’ve gone from being into becoming
And in this journey of my existence
My only statement is my persistence

In the river of life, in the light of each day
Purified by the stream, purified by the flame
Inescapable
And unchangeable
From the fountain of life, from above to below
As the river runs down so the cup overflows
And you are what you are
All that you may become

“Flot comeback-LP. Martin Hall lyder for første gang rørende og bevægende. Hør blot selve den lange titelsang – en af de STØRSTE danske rocksange, der nogensinde er undfanget … Martin Halls bedste, mest tilfredsstillende udspil til dato – som bestemt er uden sidestykke i danske rockhistorie.”
Politiken – Anders Rou Jensen (6. september 1988)

“Pompøs og helstøbt Martin Hall.”
( * * * * * )
B.T. – Susanne Johansen (1. september 1988)

“Først og fremmest Hall’s hidtil bedste plade … Grænserne mellem rock, ballader og klassisk musik overskrides, og små glimt af afrikansk og østerlandsk musik leger med i en genialt tænkt musik.”
Gaffa – Per Reinholdt Nielsen (september 1988)

“Det er hverken kitsch eller kunst, men begge dele på én gang, dybt som floden, højt som bjerget … det mest livgivende danske pop i lang tid.”
Levende Billeder – Niels Frid (september 1988)

“Det er et glædeligt genhør med en stemme, der ikke længere skriger, men som nok har viljen til at råbe. Stemmen er udtryksfuld og kompositionerne nærmer sig de ørehængere, som verden ustandselig sukker efter…. Musikalsk er han en god oplevelse, og han har gjort sig den umage at afslutte numrene ordentligt. Altså ingen udfadninger. Hurra!”
( * * * * )
MM – Katrine Ring (september 1988)

“… en plade, der ikke lyder som noget andet dansk”
Chili – Martin Kongstad (oktober 1988)

“Det er en gennemført smuk plade, hvor især balladen ”Intermezzo” har en melodi, der går lige i hjertet. Produktionsmæssigt ligger den fuldt ud på linie med den store internationale poplyd, men fungerer på egne præmisser uden skelen til tidens strømninger. En luksus, man bør unde sine ører.”
Jam (oktober 1988)

“Vi har bevæget os ind på den sofistikerede etage af rockens Empire State Building.”
Kick Magazine (oktober 1988)

“Helstøbt udspil fra rock-myte.”
Aalborg Stiftstidende (september 1988)

“Tilbage står det uomtvistelige faktum, at musikken på Presence er det mest imponerende og internationalt storslåede fra dansk rock nogensinde … enestående flot er det.”
Horsens Folkeblad (september 1988)

“Både tekst og musik er simpelt hen tæt på det fremragende … Her er en mand, der går fuldt og helt ind for sit værk og ikke blot følger strømmen.”
Skive Folkeblad (oktober 1988)

“Nu vender han tilbage som en magtfuld sanger, der er mere poppet og mindre avantgardistisk end før. Musikken er iørefaldende og spændende arrangeret med en udansk, international appel – typisk for Hall, der altid har arbejdet ud fra et meget højt bevidstheds- og ambitionsniveau …”
Kolding Folkeblad (august 1988)

“Det er lykkedes pladeselskabet Virgin at lokke den nu 25-årige multimediekunstner ind i et lydstudie igen. Og resultatet, den smagfulde Presence, er absolut noget af et kup … En ualmindelig flot lydende plade.”
Ringkøbing Amts Dagblad (september 1988)

“Martin Hall – en dansk rockmusiker af internationalt format.”
Randers Amtsavis (september 1988)

“This multi-talented singer/songwriter has a considerable history in his native Denmark. This is his first release for two years, and proves that he has immense potential and is an artist of considerable class … This is promising stuff.”
Music and Media (september 1988)

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

Design: Birgitte Wester
Foto: Robin Skjoldborg

Presence modtog strålende anmeldelser i alle større aviser og blade. Det blev ligeledes det første Hall-album, der gik ind på den officielle top 20-salgsliste. Kort fortalt er pladen et krystallinsk popalbum, der byder på lige dele iørefaldende sange, grandiose arrangementer og episke tekster. Albummet blev efterfølgende udgivet i resten af Skandinavien, hvor det også modtog en række flotte anmeldelser.

Som allerede nævnt blev pladens første single “Beat of the Drum” et massivt hit I Danmark, ligesom sangen også modtog en del international bevågenhed. Albummets anden single “Real Thing” blev et mindre radiohit i begyndelsen af 1989.

Produktionsmæssigt benytter Presence sig af en Fairlight CMI music computer. Albummet blev co-produceret af Flemming Nygaard, tidligere medlem af det sene Under For samt musiker på Halls foregående plade, Cutting Through.

Nygaard var både klassisk trænet cellist og en fremragende tekniker og alt i alt af uvurderlig hjælp for Hall under indspilningen af Presence. Da Nygaard meget tragisk døde i sensommeren 1989, dedicerede Hall sit Requiem til ham, en orgelkoncert han opførte i Taksigelseskirken i december samme år.