Cuby + Blizzards - Grolloo Blues

06-10-2021

Cuby & the Blizzards is a well-known blues band from Assen, which originated in 1964 around singer Harry Muskee and solo guitarist Eelco Gelling. In the original line-up, Hans Kinds (rhythm guitar), Willy Middel (bass) and Hans Waterman (the successor of drummer Dick Beekman) are also part of the band. The group receives an Edison for their first full-length record Desolation from 1966. The second LP, Greetings from Grollo from 1967, becomes a classic in Dutch pop history and includes the legendary Somebody Will Know Someday. Due to heartbreak, Muskee has gone to live in seclusion in a farm in Grolloo, near Assen. In the years that follow, Grolloo becomes a place of pilgrimage for many Dutch artists and artists. The village gains national fame and becomes a tourist attraction. Van der Vegt, La Faille and Deinum return and lead guitarist Erwin Java completes the formation. Eelco Gelling is therefore no longer there. He plays in his own bands, such as Blues Connection and the Eelco Gelling Band and only sporadically maintains (musical) contact with his former buddy Muskee. Under the management of the Foundation for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage Harry Muskee, which has since been established, the C+B Museum will be opened on 1 June 2011, which is located in Grolloo in the small farm on the Voorstreek where Harry Muskee lived between 1965 and 1971. . Nine days later, Muskee celebrates his 70th birthday there. A day later, Cuby + Blizzards close the first Greetings from Grolloo festival. It is the last performance of the illustrious group. Muskee is already ill and dies on September 26 from the effects of liver cancer, which made Cuby + Blizzards history definitively. September 26, a memorable day. The beautiful double album with recordings selected and adapted for "Grolloo Blues" by Cuby's own sound engineer Ed Roose is released. Ten years after the death of the Dutch blues singer Harry Muskee, on September 26, 2011, the Cuby + Blizzards Foundation presents the very last encore of this legendary blues band. If anyone has earned a leather blues medal with a solid gold trim, it's the former Cuby and the Blizzards sound engineer. Ed Roose. He is the main character in this great project. A better memorial cannot be imagined. A journey through various songs that Cuby played on stage. Ed Roose has been puzzling, has been mixing, has been working with musicians. Has found the right composition to come to this very honorable album. Ed Roose dug into his archives and came up with a memorable live album. One more time "Grolloo Blues" with Harry 'Cuby' Muskee, whom we miss but will never forget. National blues lovers cherish his oeuvre, which is now complete. In the CD version the party starts with 'Low Country Blues'. Harry's borne voice drags you through the story, as it were. 'I feel so bad' : I had never heard this song in this performance. Even with a horn section using a different arrangement than in the previously released vinyl version. 'Distant smile' sounds wonderful to me again. Partly because I still have the version on single. Grayed out and now in the archive. A song that will stay with you forever. And that also applies to the song 'The sky is crying'. A beautiful blues. And only as Harry Muskee could only do. I think this version is nicely edited. Added music and left out some parts. I miss the sparkling piano playing of earlier recordings here. 'Mean black snake' dressed in a John Lee Hooker jacket. Harry alone with acoustic guitar. Here Erwin Java plays a wonderful supporting role. The song lives on Harry's voice. I knew 'Brother boose' but never heard it before in this performance. It's all a bit exaggerated. Not without merit, but not as I knew it. 'Nobody in town' has been renovated a bit too much in my opinion. Wasn't necessary. Drums and bass float too much in this song. On to a classic 'Somebody will know someday'. This is where Harry Muskee's power comes into play. Crying, his voice leans to the music, A song he has performed a lot live on stage. The emotion at its peak. The sax part instead of a piano doesn't sound bad either. It complements the emotion perfectly. 'Stranger', nice and firm. Straightforward. Blues as blues is meant to be. Rough and fierce. Erwin Java's guitar sounds old-fashioned. And yes, of course, 'Windows of my eyes' should not be missing. A song that became a national hit. Even non-blues lovers could appreciate this song. A nice remix. 'Blues is a bad habbit' is a song where I personally miss Herman Brood's piano. Helmig van der Vegt plays it his way. And Erwin Java's guitar sneezes as if he can. And Harry makes a party of it. 'Too blind to see' is in my opinion a bit too edited. Especially when you know the original song. There is just no violin part behind it. And sometimes it goes a little less. I could say more about it, but despite that it's a cool song. To bring out another striking song is 'Five long years', Cuby at its best. Helmet on the hammond. Herman Dijnum on bass and Hans Laffaile on drums and of course Erwin Java on guitar. The song has been adapted to the times, because the original recording sounds much thinner. All in all, this is an album to be cherished. Captured a time frame. A will of Harry Muskee. An album that you should definitely have as a blues lover. And as Cuby sings it his way. This is an album like 'Once in a lifetime' !

1-1 Low Country Blues 3:12

1-2 I Feel So Bad 4:27

1-3 Distant Smile 5:08

1-4 The Sky Is Crying 4:20

1-5 Brother Booze 5:12

1-6 Mean Black Snake 2:18

1-7 Nobody In Town 4:34

1-8 Somebody Will Know Someday 6:35

1-9 Stranger 6:35

1-10 Window Of My Eyes 3:12

1-11 Deadlines 5:32

1-12 Blues Is A Bad Habit 3:14