CAN'T STAND MY PRODUCER

One of those funny ironies in Dutch punk history is that Arjan of Frites Modern - first called Duphar, after Philips' chemical division - later worked for Polygram, Philips' music division. Someone told me he once got to meet Jon Bon Jovi, who in the course of the conversation turned out to be a big fan of punk rock, especially of the early English variety! My guess is his older cousin turned him onto it; Mr. Tony Bongiovi was a successful record producer who, in the 2 weeks that punk seemed to be the "next big thing", produced a couple of Ramones records, as well as the Rezillos' classic Can't Stand The Rezillos LP. How in hell a Scottish punk group got inside a slick American studio is something other internet resources (like punk77.co.uk) can explain in great detail; fact is, the Rezillos were so disappointed with the results it was one of the reasons they broke up soon after. "Our producer thought punk was all about playing as fast as possible, so he made us play every song way too fast", was one of their complaints. Well, the speed coupled with the slick production is one of the reasons Can't Stand... still sounds ahead of its time. But compare the LP version of "I Can't Stand My Baby" with the original self-produced version on their debut 45, and it's clear they originally had a much more garagey style. I like both versions, but I can see their point...
The Rezillos' swan song (not counting spin-offs the Revillos, who formed about 3 seconds after the Rezillos split up), the brilliant 1978 "Destination Venus"/"Mystery Action" single, managed to strike the perfect balance between tight, speedy and garagey. It was produced by Martin Rushent, who would 3 years later work with (ex-Rezillos, then Human League) guitarist Jo Callis again when producing the League's zillion-selling Dare! album. Now what would I come across searching Soulseek for "Destination Venus" but an off-the-cuff live cover version by none other than Phil Oakey & cohorts (in the process inventing the Sigue Sigue Sputnik sound 4 years early!).