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Format Details: Expanded Edition
Release Date: 27 November 2026
Label: Music On CD
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 0881061691983
Genres: Blues
Description
In the early 1960s, beat groups from the Dutch Randstad dominated the national charts. Yet far from the big cities, in the clubs of Drenthe, one band was already being billed as "Beatgroup Number One": Cuby + Blizzards. But frontman Harry Muskee never embraced that label. Raised on broadcasts from The Voice of America, he possessed a deeper understanding of the blues than most of his contemporaries. Muskee didn't want to sing 'songs,' as he called them, he wanted to sing the blues, raw and unfiltered, in the tradition of Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters.
Their debut single "Stumble & Fall" was recorded in the Bavohuis, a simple gym hall in Amsterdam, with Addy Kleingeld, known from De Vrolijke Mijnwerkers, as producer. But the debut album "Desolation" marked a turning point, recorded at the Phonogram Studios in Hilversum with renowned blues producer Tony Vos, it captured the band exactly as Muskee intended.
The resulting album became a jewel of Dutch music history. Never before had the Netherlands heard a blues singer who poured his emotions into a recording with such conviction and authenticity. Muskee even outshone his British peers. Eric Burdon (The Animals), Paul Jones (Manfred Mann), Mick Jagger (The Rolling Stones) and Van Morrison (Them).
At the Grand Gala du Disque, Muskee received an Edison Award for "Desolation," handed to him by cabaret artist Wim Sonneveld, whose lukewarm speech couldn't diminish the significance of the moment.
Sixty years later, the legacy of this groundbreaking album still resonates, an essential document of European blues and a defining moment in the story of Cuby + Blizzards.
This 60th anniversary edition of "Desolation" is now available in an expanded cd edition, including the original 1966 album plus 13 bonus tracks. including the songs: "Things I Remember", "Stumble & Fall", "L.S.D. (Got A Million Dollars)" and includes new liner notes by Dutch Blues authority Johan Derksen.
Tracklisting
House Of Love
Storm Corrosion
Wishbone Ash
Liza Minnelli
The Fleshtones
Simply Red
Within Temptation
Jon Anderson
Cuby + Blizzards
