Breaking Glass

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Binding: Audio CD EAN: 0731455135626 Format: Soundtrack Label: Spectrum Manufacturer: Spectrum Number Of Discs: 1 Publisher: Spectrum Release Date: 1995-08-07 Studio: Spectrum
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Editorial Reviews: Hazel O'Connor's rebellious punk-styled singer is a talented timebomb ready to explode angrily at a cruel world. One night on stage she sees an audience member stabbed ("Calls the Tune"). Unable to get their face out of her mind, she slowly dissolves into a mental breakdown. The movie and album are both one-of-a-kind classics. Since O'Connor was involved so deeply with the production, the success belongs largely to her. If her acting doesn't get to you, then the songs surely will. Each makes a statement of one kind or another--most with a political slant reflecting her on-screen counterpart's bottled-up frustration. "Big Brother" points an accusing finger at Society. "Eighth Day" worries that the machine will shortly rule us. "Blackman" derides stereotyping and Class. "Who Needs It" says no thank you to nuclear energy. The music is often energetic, yet it's still her touching ballad "Will You" that lives longest in the memory. --Paul Tonks
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Dated but still fantastic Comment: I'm giving this CD 5 stars as it is an excellent time capsule, apart from Will You there probably isn't another song in here that would be a hit today but is an excellent example of poppy punk/new wave music from 1980. I remember seeing the film in the mid 80's and buying the album the very next day, loved it and still do today. For 3 pounds you can't go wrong (the sax solo on Will You is worth that on its own) It's a shame that there is no current DVD of the film as it creates a good feel for the environment in which this album was written. There is an angst in the more punky songs like Big Brother and Blackman which for me make these stand out tracks and the change of tempo in Who Needs It still excites me 20 years on as the song winds itself up into a crescendo for the second half. I only know the first three Hazel O'Connor albums and although I like the others but this is a stand out, I highly recommend it to anyone even if it has dated. Customer Rating: Summary: 80's through and through Comment: Top grounbreaking album from the era of extravagance. Hazel is on top form in what is possibly her best album. You can forgive the quirky production and immature lyrics because this album is top drawer early electro pop. The drums and sax transform a basic synth album into a great cult album that sounds as fresh today as the day it was recorded. Teenagers of the day loved Hazel and Phil Daniels portrayals in the film. We only wish the film would come available on DVD. Customer Rating: Summary: Will You? Comment: Weeeeeell, I listened to this a lot as a fiery teenager, and i bought it again for the sax solo in the middle of 'Will You.' Now, as a 35, sorry 36 year old, i found it stressful and noisy and frankly a amateurish. The sax solo still makes me weak at the knees. But the rest of the album (exception possibly eighth day) should really be left where it was. Customer Rating: Summary: An outstounding crossover between punk and modern romance Comment: The grounbreaking soundtrack to the rewriting of the classical working class band makes good music fairytail ( complete with sour ending). The central dynamic relationship between O'Connor's character and that of the manager played by Phil Daniels (with an obvious reference to the character played by the same actor in the truly musical classic Quaraphenia) displays the quintessential dichotomy between musical integrity and commercial success. O'Connor's songs display a post-punk political awareness which is set against the anti Thatcherite climate of the ealry eighties. However, this growing sense of unease about the post-industrial future of Britain is set against the manager's desire to follow a proto-Thatcherite capitalist dream. The harsh anxiety of most of the songs is tempered by the love song 'Will You'; however even this nod at classical 'pop' music is characteristically downbeat, describing as it does the doomed start of a merely sexual relationship, mirroring the one played out by the two protaganists of the film;. This album encapsulates the zeitgeist of the early eighties when the country was undergoing the first stages of The Thatcher enema and the music switched from the raw edged vibrancy of the Pistols to the emasculated postouring of Spandau Ballet. The bathetic decline of the band described in the film and the album is a perfect arc of how popular music was to descend from the dizzy heights of the late seventies into the early eighties; a flame not rekindled until rap music reared it's ugly head. More Reviews