''Can't Stand the Rezillos'' is the debut studio album by

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

-based

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

band

the Rezillos The Rezillos are a punk/ new wave band formed in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1976. Although emerging at the same time as other bands in the punk rock movement, the Rezillos did not share the nihilism or social commentary of their contemporaries, b ...

, released on

Sire Records Sire Records (formerly Sire Records Company) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Records. History Beginnings The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer ...

on 21 July 1978. The album has a more mainstream pop and rock and roll sound than the punk music of the time, and includes the UK top twenty hit "Top of the Pops", as well as several cover versions of 1960s songs: "

Glad All Over "Glad All Over" is a song written by Dave Clark and Mike Smith and recorded by The Dave Clark Five. Overview "Glad All Over" featured Smith leading unison group vocals, often in call and response style, a saxophone line used not for solo decor ...

" (originally a hit for

the Dave Clark Five The Dave Clark Five, also known as the DC5, were an English rock and roll band formed in 1958 in Tottenham, London. Drummer Dave Clark served as the group's leader, producer and co-songwriter. In January 1964 they had their first UK top ten sin ...

); "

Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight "Man of the World" is a song recorded by Fleetwood Mac in 1969, and composed by vocalist and lead guitarist Peter Green. After the group signed to Immediate Records that year, the label collapsed shortly after the single's release. As such, "Man ...

" (originally by

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. Fleetwood Mac were founded by guitarist Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Jeremy Spencer, before bassist John McVie joined the line-up for their epony ...

); and " I Like It", a

Gerry and the Pacemakers Gerry and the Pacemakers were a British beat group prominent in the 1960s Merseybeat scene. In common with the Beatles, they came from Liverpool, were managed by Brian Epstein, and were recorded by George Martin. Their early successes alongsid ...

hit. ''Can't Stand the Rezillos'' received positive reviews from the UK music magazines and reached number 16 on the

UK Albums Chart 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 ...

. The Rezillos split four months after the album's release, and the band did not make another studio album until their reformation in 2001 and the release of ''Zero'' in 2015, but ''Can't Stand the Rezillos'' has continued to receive critical acclaim since its release.

Recording

The band released their debut single "Can't Stand My Baby" in August 1977 on the independent Edinburgh-based record label Sensible Records. Towards the end of 1977 the band's energetic live shows were gaining the attention of the music press and several major record labels. The group eventually signed with New York-based

which at that point was regarded as the major label most sympathetic to the emerging punk and new wave music scene, having already signed the

Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United ...

and

Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.Talkin ...

. The band's second single, "(My Baby Does) Good Sculptures", which was originally also scheduled to be released on Sensible Records, was released in December on Sire instead. Sire suggested to the Rezillos that they record the album in New York City, to which the band readily agreed, eager to travel outside the UK. The album was recorded during February 1978 at producer

Tony Bongiovi Anthony C. Bongiovi (born September 7, 1947) is an American record producer and recording engineer. He is the cousin of musician Jon Bon Jovi. Career Bongiovi has produced records by Gloria Gaynor, Talking Heads, Aerosmith ('' Classics Live''), ...

's studio the Power Station (now renamed

Avatar Studios Power Station at BerkleeNYC, formerly known as Avatar Studios (1996–2017) and Power Station, is a recording studio at 441 West 53rd Street between Ninth and Tenth avenues in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood in Manhattan, New York City. The bui ...

), with Bongiovi and his assistant Lance Quinn originally scheduled to handle production duties. However, due to illness Bongiovi was unable to attend the majority of the recording sessions, and in his absence his engineer

Bob Clearmountain Bob Clearmountain (born January 15, 1953) is an American recording engineer, mixer and record producer. He has worked with many major acts, including Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, Toto, Bon Jovi and Bryan Adams, with whom he has a very ...

ended up overseeing most of the album: the band recognised Clearmountain's contribution to the record and pressed for his name to be included on the production credits.

Release

Although mixing for the album was completed in March, its release was delayed for several months while Sire waited for its distribution deal with

Phonogram Records Phonogram Incorporated was started in 1970 as a successor to Philips Phonographic Industries, a unit of the Grammophon-Philips Group (GPG), a joint venture of Philips N.V. of the Netherlands and Siemens A.G. of Germany. Phonogram was the nam ...

to run out and to be able to switch to

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

. The Rezillos were angry with the lengthy delay, feeling that they were losing momentum and twice having to cancel a planned tour, and bass player William Mysterious quit the band in frustration. ''Can't Stand the Rezillos'' was eventually released in July 1978. A third single, "Top of the Pops" was released to coincide with the album and became the band's biggest hit. The single was a re-recorded version of the album track, featuring new bass player Simon Templar. In 1993 the album was reissued on CD in a remastered and expanded version titled ''Can't Stand the Rezillos: The (Almost) Complete Rezillos''. This 28-track version comprised the original thirteen-track album, the group's November 1978 single "Destination Venus" and its

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

"Mystery Action", and the 1979 live album ''Mission Accomplished... But the Beat Goes On''. The final track of ''Mission Accomplished...'', a live version of "Destination Venus", had to be dropped due to time constraints on the CD.

Critical reception

The reviews from the UK music press upon the album's release were very favourable. The ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

''s

Paul Morley Paul Robert Morley is an English music journalist. He wrote for the ''New Musical Express'' from 1977 to 1983 and has since written for a wide range of publications as well as writing his own books. He was a co-founder of the record label ZTT Re ...

described the album as "13 quick cuts lustily shot through with cheap culture combinations ... The group's inventiveness does things with noise that are a little too clever for hippy-happy exhilaration; there's no chance of any calculated innocence here ... But it's all very clever: the parodied dissatisfaction of punk; the lashings of beat and controlled chaos; the frenzied passion of the production, and, above all else, lots of cosmic vibes, maan." Ian Birch of ''Melody Maker'' said, "There's no need for worried glances: the band have pulled the proverbial cat out of the bag. They have always been about wraparound, cartoon strip enjoyment and that's exactly what you get. Both sides seethe with great pop bluster which has been captured (as it should have been) in all its rough-edged immediacy." Nick Tester of ''

Sounds In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

'' stated that the album was "a definitive slice of the Scottish beat combo's past and present in full unabridged glory... No flabby excesses, the Rezillos stick 'wisely' to their ultra confident and rigid style, a format which sweeps through both sides with little hesitation or respite." The one reserved review came from ''

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 ...

'', where despite her enthusiasm for the Rezillos' live act, Sheila Prophet felt that on record "they retain all their crazed energy and off-the-wall humour, but it's pretty much just one joke, and that tends to wear thin after a while ... Really, the problem facing the Rezillos is the same one facing any group who choose humour and parody as their medium: what sounds amusing on first hearing can quickly degenerate into being simply a disposable novelty."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

enthused over the "hyperactive tempos, raging guitar, abbreviated pop melodies, goofy and slightly off-kilter lyrics that display a fascination with junk culture and '60s pop... the real key to this album is its simple, good-hearted joie de vivre; funny-punk was rarely executed with the degree of skill, finesse, and pure delirious glee as the Rezillos summoned up on ''Can't Stand the Rezillos''. It makes me smile more than any U.K. punk album ever made me, and it has the greatest

Dave Clark Five The Dave Clark Five, also known as the DC5, were an English rock and roll band formed in 1958 in Tottenham, London. Drummer Dave Clark served as the group's leader, producer and co-songwriter. In January 1964 they had their first UK top ten sin ...

cover ever committed to tape – what greater recommendation could you ask for? A triumph." ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference to ...

'' called the band "a blast of fresh air compared to the more serious bands of new wave's first charge" and praised the album as "an action-packed document of their pop/

camp Camp may refer to: Outdoor accommodation and recreation * Campsite or campground, a recreational outdoor sleeping and eating site * a temporary settlement for nomads * Camp, a term used in New England, Northern Ontario and New Brunswick to descri ...

approach".

Accolades

In 1994, ''

All Time Top 1000 Albums ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'' is a book by Colin Larkin, creator and editor of the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. The book was first published by Guinness Publishing in 1994. The list presented is the result of over 200,000 votes cast by the ...

'' named ''Can't Stand the Rezillos'' one of the 50 best punk albums of all time. The compilers stated that the Rezillos were "exuberant almost to the point of hysteria", creating "a body of work full of verve, style and humour", which this album "encapsulates to perfection". Punk aficionados acclaimed the album. In March 2003, ''

Mojo Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * ' ...

'' magazine ranked the LP in its list of the Top 50 Punk Albums.

Track listing

All tracks written and composed by John Callis except where indicated. Side one #"Flying Saucer Attack" – 2:47 #"No" – 2:22 #"

" (

Jeremy Spencer Jeremy Cedric Spencer (born 4 July 1948) is a British musician, best known for playing slide guitar and piano in the original line-up of the rock band Fleetwood Mac. A member since Fleetwood Mac's inception in July 1967, he remained with the ...

) – 1:53 #"Top of the Pops" – 2:55 #"2000 A.D." (Callis,

Mysterious Mysterious may refer to: * ''Mysterious'' (album), a 1988 album by Shizuka Kudō * "Mysterious" (song), a 2005 song by Jentina * "Mysterious", a song by Scorpions from the 1999 album '' Eye II Eye'' * Mysterious Walker Frederick Mitchell Walk ...

) – 2:58 #"It Gets Me" (Mysterious) – 2:11 #"Can't Stand My Baby" – 2:22 Side two #"

" ( Dave Clark, Mike Smith) – 2:07 #"(My Baby Does) Good Sculptures" – 3:10 #" I Like It" (

Mitch Murray Mitch Murray (born Lionel Michael Stitcher; 30 January 1940) is an English songwriter, record producer and author. He has won two Ivor Novello Awards, including the Jimmy Kennedy Award. Murray has written, or co-written, songs that have produ ...

) – 1:46 #"Getting Me Down" – 2:06 #"Cold Wars" – 2:54 #"Bad Guy Reaction" – 2:15

''Can't Stand The Rezillos: The (Almost) Complete Rezillos''

#"Flying Saucer Attack" – 2:50 #"No" – 2:22 #"Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight" (Jeremy Spencer) – 1:54 #"Top of the Pops" – 2:55 #"2000 A.D." (Callis, Mysterious) – 2:59 #"It Gets Me" (Mysterious) – 2:11 #"Can't Stand My Baby" – 2:23 #"Glad All Over" (Dave Clark, Mike Smith) – 2:07 #"(My Baby Does) Good Sculptures" – 3:11 #"I Like It" (Mitch Murray) – 1:46 #"Getting Me Down" – 2:07 #"Cold Wars" – 2:55 #"Bad Guy Reaction" – 2:16 #"Destination Venus" (non-album single, November 1978) – 3:35 #"Mystery Action" (B-side of "Destination Venus") – 2:46 Live tracks (originally from ''Mission Accomplished... But the Beat Goes On''):

"Top of the Pops" – 2:54
"Mystery Action" – 2:46
"Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight" (Jeremy Spencer) – 1:48
"Thunderbirds Are Go" – 2:31
"Cold Wars" – 2:56
"Teenbeat" – 3:08
"No" – 2:15
"
Land of a Thousand Dances "Land of a Thousand Dances" (or "Land of 1000 Dances") is a song written and first recorded by American rhythm and blues singer Chris Kenner in 1962. It later became a bigger hit in versions by Cannibal & the Headhunters and Wilson Pickett. A ve ...
" ( Chris Kenner,
Fats Domino Antoine Dominique Domino Jr. (February 26, 1928 – October 24, 2017), known as Fats Domino, was an American pianist, singer and songwriter. One of the pioneers of rock and roll music, Domino sold more than 65 million records. Born in New O ...
) – 2:14
" I Need You" (
Ray Davies Sir Raymond Douglas Davies ( ; born 21 June 1944) is an English musician. He was the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and main songwriter for the rock band the Kinks, which he led with his younger brother Dave on lead guitar and backing voca ...
) – 1:49
"Culture Shock" – 3:11
"Getting Me Down" – 2:01
"
Ballroom Blitz "The Ballroom Blitz" (often called "Ballroom Blitz") is a song by British glam rock band The Sweet, written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. The song reached number one in Canada, number two in the UK Singles Chart and the Australian Chart, and ...
" (
Mike Chapman Michael Donald Chapman (born 13 April 1947) is an Australian-American record producer and songwriter who was a major force in the British pop music industry in the 1970s. He created a string of hit singles for artists including The Sweet, Suzi ...
,
Nicky Chinn Nicholas Barry Chinn (born 16 May 1945) is an English-American songwriter and record producer. Together with Mike Chapman he had a long string of hit singles in the UK and US in the 1970s and early 1980s, including several international number- ...
) – 4:47
"(My Baby Does) Good Sculptures" – 3:20

*Note: on all versions of the album "I Like It" is incorrectly credited to Calvin Scott,

Clarence Carter Clarence George Carter (born January 14, 1936) is an American singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. His most successful songs include " Slip Away", "Back Door Santa" (both released 1968), " Patches" (1970) and "Strokin" (1986). Ear ...

and Felix Thomas.

Personnel

Jo Callis John William "Jo" Callis (born 2 May 1951) is an English musician and songwriter who played guitar with the Edinburgh based punk rock band The Rezillos (under the name Luke Warm), and post-punk band Boots for Dancing before joining The Human ...

– electric guitars *Mysterious (aka William Mysterious) – bass on tracks 1–13, saxophone on tracks 16–28 *Angel Paterson – drums *Fay Fife – vocals *Eugene Reynolds – vocals Additional personnel *Simon Templar – bass on tracks 14–28 *Gail Warning – backing vocals on tracks 16–28

Release history

References

{{Authority control 1978 debut albums The Rezillos albums Albums produced by Bob Clearmountain Sire Records albums