CAMILLE (OST)
CAMILLE
MARTIN HALL
CD
JANUARY 2002
MNW (MNWCD374)
Martin Hall’s soundtrack to Gladsaxe Teater’s major 2002 launch, the theatrical production of Alexandre Dumas fils’ The Lady of the Camellias, received a line of overwhelming reviews at the time of its release. All newspapers and magazines unanimously gave the album top ratings and called it Hall’s perhaps best album ever.
The album itself is a very quiet, mostly instrumental piece of work.
1. Camille (3:52)
2. Replicator (2:44)
3. 48/40 (2:53)
4. Slow Code (2:57)
5. A Darkness Of Our Making (3:10)
6. Demimonde (3:43)
7. Gloria (2:14)
8. Frostpowder (3:00)
9. Lucid (3:18)
10. Clinical Detachment (2:14)
11. Trivia (2:55)
12. The Music Room (2:02)
13. Texture (2:06)
14. Late August (4:54)
48/40
48 hours of no sleep
40 days turning inside me
Lit inside of me
48 hours of all need
40 days frozen inside me
Sentimental to the core
Take it all and then some more
Always more
All these imitated dreams
Never know just what they mean
DEMIMONDE
Hey baby
Let’s go out tonight
I don’t wanna feel this way
Hey baby
Let’s go feel all right
Wear that smile on your face
Forget all your troubles
Forget them tonight
GLORIA
In gloria Dei Patris
In gloria Dei Patris
Gloria in excelsis Deo
Deus Dominus, et illuxit nobis
Omnes
Omnes
Deus
Hosanna in excelsis
Miserere nobis
Sempiternam
Sempiternam
TRIVIA
Strepere
Bagola
Gemito erotico
Fertile
Grazia
Fragola memoria
La vanità in segreto vivrà
Molcera
Nàusea
Fertile memoria
Morbido
Limpido
Strepero, silenzio
La vanità in segreto vivrà
LATE AUGUST
When the sky falls down
We’ll be turning every shadow on the ground
Close your eyes and feel the strain
Let me hold you
While we’re waiting for the rain
Falling
Falling inside me
A feeling that’s fading
A feeling in gold
Hiding
Deep inside me
A summer that’s turning
It’s turning away
Cry like a yearning
That’s burning
Far away
Cool the pressure
Inside us
From the day
”Crystalline beauty … Sublime listening.”
Information (the Danish equivalent to The Independent)
“Some of the most spellbounding and immediately accessible music Hall has produced.”
Politiken (the Danish equivalent to The Guardian)
“Hall is one of the most visionary and uncompromising artists in this country. A grand and strong listening experience.”
( * * * * * )
Jyllands-Posten (Denmark’s biggest newspaper)
“Decadent, beautiful and mean.”
Berlingske Tidende (the Danish equivalent to The Times)
“A candidate to the very best album of the year. So good it hurts, so aching that it feels good.”
( * * * * * )
Nat & Dag (the Danish equivalent to The Face)
”One of Martin Hall’s most successful works of recent date.”
( * * * * )
Gaffa (Denmark’s biggest music magazine)
“An elegant and cultivated album.”
Ekstra Bladet (the Danish equivalent to The Sun)
“Grandiose and generous music.”
B.T. (the Danish equivalent to The Mirror)
“Album des Monats: Camille funktioniert auch ohne Bilder; Camille projiziert neue.”
(9/10)
Grenzwellen
Andrea Pellegrini: Mezzo-soprano
Katja Andersson: Vocals
Konsort: Choir
Martin Hall: Piano and electronics
The Vista Dome Ensemble: Orchestra
Design: Kenneth Schultz
Photo: Casper Sejersen
Camille has taken its title from the film version of the story from 1936 in which Greta Garbo stars in the leading role as Marguerite Gautier.
Among the soloists on the album is Danish-Italian mezzo-soprano Andrea Pellegrini who performs three arias out of the record’s all in all 14 compositions. Camille was recorded in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Hamburg, Germany, with the orchestra The Vista Dome Ensemble and the choir Konsort. The end title “Late August” is performed by Saccharin vocalist Katja Andersson.
The leading parts of the theatre performance was played by Danish film star Stine Stengade and then intending upcomer Thure Lindhardt. Alexandre Dumas fils’ original manuscript was rewritten and directed for the stage by Flemming Enevold. The set design was made by Louise Beck of Operanord and all costumes were designed by the internationally acclaimed Danish designer Joergen Simonsen.
The play premiered at January 20, 2002 and ran until April 21.
METROPOLITAN SUITE
METROPOLITAN SUITE
MARTIN HALL/CHRISTIAN SKEEL
CD
MARCH 2001
MNW (MNWCD361)
Metropolitan Suite is a classically orchestrated work made in collaboration with visual artist Christian Skeel. The album was Martin Hall’s first release as a singer since his gold record achievement with Boel & Hall in 2000.
The album features 25 musical fin de siècle vignettes. Electrical instruments were banned on the recordings, a method of working that secured the album its fine air of Viennese exclusivity.
1. My Argentine Rose (1:52)
2. Opium and Sugar (1:10)
3. Stating the Obvious (1:17)
4. Plaza Flesh (2:31)
5. A Vulgar Display (1:42)
6. She’s My Goodbye Europe (0:58)
7. Unzipping the Abstract (1:11)
8. The Moon’s a Balloon (1:24)
9. The Mephisto Effect (1:36)
10. An American Tragedy (1:04)
11. Walking on Eggshells (1:59)
12. Natives of the Gutter (1:10)
13. Animal Emotion (2:04)
14. The Circus Comes to Town 2:18)
15. Young, Vain and Beautiful 1:52)
16. Pieces of Venice (1:23)
17. In Chambers (1:13)
18. Subject to Injury (0:51)
19. Pink and Fuzzy (1:03)
20. Eichstadt (2:23)
21. A Lonely Impulse of Delight (0:44)
22. Pristine (1:27)
23. Greed (2:10)
24. A Résume Highlight (0:35)
25. Tomorrow Belongs to Me (1:14)
MY ARGENTINE ROSE
She’s a cool breeze of discontent
She’s like a story that never ends
She’s my Argentine rose
She’s such a delicate rose
See the twenties within her eyes
Eternal stardust that never dies
She’s my Argentine rose
She’s such a delicate rose
She’s my melancholic maybe
Come and save me
Come and set me free
OPIUM AND SUGAR
Don’t flatter yourself
You died a long time ago
Opium and sugar helped me along
Now my heart is closed
To your bourgeois repertoire
So
I know your face
But no
I can’t relate
To the things that you say
STATING THE OBVIOUS
Hey
I don’t know what to do
I’ve
Fallen in love with you
Would you mind if I stated the obvious?
Would you mind if I did it again?
Would you mind if the sky fell apart?
Left us caught in the thunder and rain
Hey
I don’t know what to do
I’m
So in love with you
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
A VULGAR DISPLAY
I don’t know where to start
Never ever seen such a vulgar display
Losing mind, losing heart
Never ever want to fall in love again
No new sights to be seen
Sailing on the ocean of arrogant dreams
Chasing nightmares away
Trading any reason for lost yesterdays
Don’t spread your stars
Around this perfect moon
Don’t spread these stars
Around this perfect moon
SHE’S MY GOODBYE EUROPE
She’s my goodbye Europe
She’s my goodbye to the world
She’s my goodbye Berlin
She’s a goodbye to a thousand girls
UNZIPPING THE ABSTRACT
I believe in sincerity
I believe in it all
I believe in the good life
I believe in encores
I believe in forevermore
More and more
I’m unzipping the A-B-S-T-R-A-C-T
The libido-re-mi-fa-sol
THE MOON’S A BALLOON
The moon’s a balloon
That hangs in the room
The moon’s a balloon
All broken and blue
Where will it be tomorrow?
Where will it be by then?
Where will it be tomorrow?
Where will it end?
Where will it all end?
THE MEPHISTO EFFECT
Now that you’re losing yourself
Now that you’re so far away
I want you to leave me
To never believe me
Now that your porcelain skin
Is cracking apart from within
I want you to love me
Forever think of me
Licking your sugartrace skin
Stirring up one final scene
To ensure and correct
The Mephisto effect
AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY
Your mouth’s so open your brain spills out
You’re everything I can do without
But I love you
For a moment
Of despair
When Johnny comes marching home tonight
He’ll find his beloved in tears of delight
She’s wearing that beautiful smile again
Cause I loved her
And I left her
To him
WALKING ON EGGSHELLS
Walking on eggshells
Finding my way to you
Midnight in Dresden
It’s such a depressing view
From Café du Monde the music still flows
All the way back to Rwanda dust roads
But where are you now?
Where are you?
I can’t seem to find myself
I can’t seem to find nobody else
NATIVES OF THE GUTTER
Never thought that I’d lose you again
To the thunder of the open day
Never two of a kind, me and you
Natives of every gutter we choose
ANIMAL EMOTION
I want to reach out and grab any pink cloud
I want to shoot them all down
I want to put you inside of that pink cloud
I want to push you around
Gonna show you animal emotion
Gonna show you automatic motion
Gonna raise a little locomotion now
I want to show you invisible cities
I want to waste images
I want to ride into sunsets on horseback
I want the world in a kiss
THE CIRCUS COMES TO TOWN
The circus comes to town
Ballerinas and clowns
Nothing new but the pain they provide for us all
I don’t give second thoughts
To the waves of applause
Pop a valium and chill
Art for art’s sake and the thrill
When they all end up crying and sad
I feel so glad
I feel so gay and marvellous
I feel refreshed for all of us
I feel like I am someone else
Someone better than myself
But then I’m not
What about me?
What about you?
What about us?
What are we going to do?
YOUNG, VAIN AND BEAUTIFUL
Young, vain and beautiful
For you I’d change it all
Your oral services
See you
Nowhere
But where my heart is
All blue
For you
For me too
PIECES OF VENICE
Hey-hey
Get a sailor and a priest
Hey-hey
Tame the world beneath my feet
Pieces of Venice
Pieces of Venice
All cool and mellow
I told you I’d love you
I’d love you
I’d love you
Is it Paris in the spring?
Hidden underneath your skin
Is it just another dream?
Hidden nowhere even near you?
Hey-hey
Be a soldier for a day
Hey-hey
Keep the enemy away
So alcoholic
So diabolic
So metastatic
IN CHAMBERS
We’re in chambers
Just like you wanted
We’re alone now
Until the end
Can I ask you that single question?
Can I ask you not to pretend?
SUBJECT TO INJURY
She’s so subject to injury
She’s so frail
Poor impulse control
They just don’t care how old she is
PINK AND FUZZY
Pink and fuzzy
Carved out of make-believe
Dreaming of good times
Working in coal mines
Breaking my heart
Pink and fuzzy
Not that you need to be
I’ll pay you off
A LONELY IMPULSE OF DELIGHT
A lonely impulse of delight
Raising Cain down the borderline
I don’t know, I don’t know
Words of the virus and words of the host
I get so tired without even trying
PRISTINE
I can’t forget
The words you said
Your voice, so loud
Your talk, so foul
Maybe the sea will hush my heart
Maybe the sea will wash away the stars
Within your eyes
Pristine
The mother of bad things
Pristine
Conveyor of nothing
Pristine
I never believed you
Pristine
Pristine
The day will come
My will be done
Forevermore
GREED
Famous last words
A playlist encore
Lips red as blood
Give me some more
Bad gene behaviour
Seems like my saviour
Hunting and shooting
Your tinseltown beauty
Love me for me
Love me for my greed
With pockets full of stars
Forgetting who you are
Your imitated gods
Were never quite enough
And these mighty dresses
A photographic session
With jazz age believers
The skyscraping feelings
Where have they gone?
TOMORROW BELONGS TO ME
Thunder on the sky
I wish it’d last forever
Caught within the night
You don’t know what it means to me
Set ablaze any sails
Aragon, Mandalay
Now I know that tomorrow is mine
Yesterday’s far away
Nothing left of today
But I know that tomorrow belongs to me
“A sublime work … a high-flown European cycle of songs.”
Politiken (the Danish equivalent to The Guardian)
“Martin Hall’s voice is more many-facetted and well-balanced than ever … a stirring and beautifully delivered project.”
Information (the Danish equivalent to The Independent)
“In the history books Metropolitan Suite will easily override a whole section of Danish Music Awards.”
Geiger (the Danish equivalent to Wire Magazine)
“Exciting and visionary.”
( * * * * * )
Jyllands-Posten (Denmark’s biggest daily newspaper)
Christian Skeel: Piano
Martin Hall: Vocals
The Vista Dome Ensemble: Orchestra
Design: Kenneth Schultz
Photo: Casper Sejersen
Less than a year after Martin Hall’s gold selling collaboration with Danish platinum act Hanne Boel Hall and Skeel released the album Metropolitan Suite, a labour of love that had taken the two gents three years to finish.
With titles such as “Walking on Eggshells”, “Unzipping the Abstract” and “Plaza Flesh” the audience was given a fair warning – this was not a work of intending radio hits, rather a joyous voyage of exploration into the literary realms of vaudeville, chamber music and cabaret-styled intellectualism.
Quoting Hall from an interview made at the time of the release, Metropolitan Suite was his idea of “the perfect follow-up album to the Boel & Hall success”. Despite critical acclaim the record was obviously destined to remain a niche release, so although Metropolitan Suite was an artistic highpoint, it remained a commercial disaster costing Hall’s new label MNW a fair amount of money.
The album featured the single “My Argentine Rose” (catalogue number MNWCDS 300), a release that included an instrumental bonus track called ”Pantomime Bloodline”.
AVENUES OF OBLIVION
AVENUES OF OBLIVION
BALLET MÉCANIQUE
7″
MAY 1980
BETTER DAY RECORDS (BET3)
After making their live debut at the historical Concert of the Moment in November 1979, Identity – changing their name to Ballet Mécanique in January 1980 – was signed by the independent record company Better Day Records.
Shortly after signing the contract the label was sold to CBS (now Sony Music) on which the group’s debut album, The Icecold Waters of the Egocentric Calculation, was released in September 1981.
1. Avenues of Oblivion (3:45)
2. The Screen (3:17)
AVENUES OF OBLIVION
Electric music is ripping the air
Streets lit up by electricity
Coins of death call through the haze
Disparating conditions of minds
The avenues of oblivion touch your mind
Its sick fingers seek your energy
Shades of submission printed in the air
The corps of the silent army slowly move
Arms of death crawl the highs
Dancers of destruction scream
The preludes of tomorrow
Another rebellious transmission
The avenues of oblivion
The dancers of destruction
THE SCREEN
Outside, escapism in neon
The cancer city pulsates
Transmissions flimmer in the dark
Eyes of terror in bodies of carelessness
The echo of electricity shines in the room
Dullness slowly invades with triumph
Bloodshot eyes trying to forget
Mindless people hiding from reality
The screen, happy neon nights
Terrified people seek support
Empty smiles promising happiness
The subculture’s subjection
Martin Hall: Vocals, piano, guitar
Michael Karshøj: Drums
Morten Versner: Bass, violin
Design: Martin Hall
The “Avenues of Oblivion” single shows the early stage of a band in development, caught somewhere in between their punk inspiration and avant-garde rock ambitions. Martin Hall was 16 years old when the band recorded the single.
Today the single is a highly treasured collector’s item. Due to its high value the Danish National Radio keeps their version of the vinyl release in a special strongbox for particularly rare records.
Recorded and mixed at Werner Studio, spring 1980.