''Breaking Glass'' is the debut album by the English singer

Hazel O'Connor Hazel Thereasa O'Connor (born 16 May 1954) is a British singer-songwriter and actress. She became famous in the early 1980s with hit singles " Eighth Day", " D-Days" and " Will You?" She also starred in the 1980 film '' Breaking Glass''. Caree ...

. It is the soundtrack album to the film '' Breaking Glass'', featuring songs written and performed by O'Connor who also stars in the film. It was released in 1980 by

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

. The album reached number 5 in the

UK Album Charts The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

, remaining on the chart for 38 weeks and was certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry. Two of the musicians in her band, Bob Carter and Andy Duncan, were members of

Linx Linx or LINX may refer to: * Linx Cargo Care Group, Australian logistics company * Linx (railway company), a now defunct Norwegian-Swedish railway company * Linx (software house), a Brazilian business management software company * LINX (IPC), an ...

Singles

A total of five singles were released from the album, with the second single " Eighth Day", released in August 1980, becoming O'Connor's most successful, peaking at number 5 on the UK Singles Chart. " Will You?", released in May 1981 was also a Top-Ten hit. By the time the final single, "Calls the Tune" was released in January 1982, O'Connor had released a further two albums, ''

Sons and Lovers ''Sons and Lovers'' is a 1913 novel by the English writer D. H. Lawrence. It traces emotional conflicts through the protagonist, Paul Morel, and his suffocating relationships with a demanding mother and two very different lovers, which exert c ...

'' and ''

Cover Plus ''Cover Plus'' is the third album by English singer Hazel O'Connor, released in August 1981 by Albion Records. The album charted at number 32 on the UK Albums Chart. It was reissued on CD with bonus tracks on 17 November 2017 by Cherry Red Recor ...

''. Despite this, the single managed to chart at number 60 in the UK.

Reception

Reviewing the album for ''

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the ''NME'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in ''Re ...

'', Simon Ludgate wrote "See the film before you buy this soundtrack and it'll make far more sense. The thing is, see, that on its own this is larger than life. Melodramatic, even." "The tracks are not in the order they crop up in the film and some work on their own, without the added visual stimulus, and some don't. Hazel has a peculiar singing technique which involves gulping air in a lot and opening your mouth as wide as possible. At least it's original... I like it." "The film has some scary overtones which are still here on this album and neither are recommended for the faint-hearted." Reviewing for ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand fo ...

'', Red Starr described it as an "utterly uninteresting and thoroughly unconvincing soundtrack album. Whatever Ms. O'Connor's true talents, they certainly do not include songwriting (here a relentless series of embarrassing obvious lyrical cliches with no real gift for melody) or singing (bad

Lene Lovich Lene Lovich (; born Lili-Marlene Premilovich; March 30, 1949) is an English-American singer, songwriter and musician. She first gained attention in 1979 with the release of her hit single "Lucky Number", which peaked at number 3 on the UK Single ...

impersonations being of distinctly limited appeal)."

Tour

When O'Connor toured the UK to promote the album, she selected as her opening act a then-unknown group called

Duran Duran Duran Duran () are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer and bassist Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor (bass guitarist), John Taylor. With the addition of drummer Roger ...

which gave them the exposure to secure a recording contract with

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

. At the time, Duran Duran were so broke that one of their managers had to sell their flat to buy them a support slot on O'Connor's tour. They also could only afford one hotel room, so they took it in turns, whilst the other members slept outside in a van. Due to the differing music styles and fans between O'Connor and Duran Duran, O'Connor said that

Simon Le Bon Simon John Charles Le Bon (born 27 October 1958) is a British singer. He is best known as the lead vocalist and lyricist of the new wave band Duran Duran and its offshoot Arcadia. Le Bon has received three Ivor Novello Awards from the British ...

faced "abuse and people spitting on him every night". However, she also said "we could see they were going to do well" in the future.

Track listing

Charts

Personnel

Musicians *

– lead vocals, keyboards *

Tony Visconti Anthony Edward Visconti (born April 24, 1944) is an American record producer, musician and singer. Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of performers. His first hit single was T. Rex's " Ride a White Swan" in 1970, the first of man ...

– vocals, keyboards *Bob Carter – guitars, keyboards, vocals *Wesley Magoogan – saxophones * Rick "Pinky" Ford – bass *Andy Duncan – drums, percussion Technical *Tony Visconti – producer, arrangement, engineer *Kit Woolven – engineer *Gordon Fordyce – engineer *Chuck Beeson – art direction and design *George Whitear – photography *Recorded and mixed at

Good Earth Studios Dean Street Studios is a commercial recording studio located at 59 Dean Street, Soho, London, England. History The premises are first known to have been used as a film studio in 1950s, which then became Zodiac Studios. The studio was bought by p ...

, London

References

{{Authority control 1980 debut albums Albums arranged by Tony Visconti Albums produced by Tony Visconti A&M Records soundtracks New wave albums by English artists