Tuesday 5 August 2014

Hazel O'Connor - Hanging Around 7"

I've always had a soft spot for Hazel O'Connor ever since this guy turned up at the squats in Brixton looking for Punk extras for a film called 'Breaking Glass'. None of us had heard of it, but for £10 cash in hand a load of us turned up at the 'Hope and Anchor in Islington. For anyone who fancied a career in films it was one of the most boring days I can remember. They filmed the scene over and over again (it must of been 20 cuts) of Hazel O'Connor singing 'Give me an inch'' (with all of us jumping up and down. The only exciting thing that actually happened was a punch up started between the skins and the punks, and the film crew recorded it for a couple of minutes and then shouted that if it didn't stop everyone would be thrown out with no money. When we went to see the film there was about 60 seconds of us and the only bit they really showed was the actual real fight. All the beer was just coloured water, but one thing that did happen was that in the end I ended up really liking 'Give Me An Inch' and then bought a couple more of her singles including this one.

This was her eighth single and is a pretty faithful cover of the Stranglers 'Hanging Around'. This version is a little shorter than the one on her third album 'Cover Plus' and the Greatest hits. The two tracks on the b-side were also unreleased on any of her albums and if you like Hazel O'Connor your like both of them (even 'Not For You' sang in German).

Band: Hazel O'Connor
Label: Albion
Year: 1981
Tracks:
1. Hanging Around
2. Hold On
3. Not For You (German Version)

Ripped from glorious scratched vinyl

If you like this then you can still get the extended version of Hanging Around, plus more here:
Cover Plus
or a good sample of her singles here:
Singular Collection: The Best of Hazel O'Connor
or her best album the soundtrack to Breaking Glass here
Breaking Glass
Or see the film here:
Breaking Glass [DVD] [1980]

5 comments:

Longy said...

I remember laughing when I heard Ms O'Conner was attempting to cover this great Stranglers song but in all fairness she did a pretty good job of it. Haven't heard it for a few years so thanks Gary.

Punkzer0 said...

Cheers Longy, did you know she was going out with Hugh Cornwall at the time. Maybe a little influence.

Longy said...

I had no idea mate. I wondered why her voice seemed a little gravelled : -)

Sarah said...

I like it very much!
thanks Gary

Punkzer0 said...

Thanks Sarah, you've got good taste.