CUBY + BLIZZARDS – Thursday Night b/w Wee Wee Baby ) Album Description:
HereÕs where the dam breaks. Not in Memphis, not in Chicago, but in the damp northern lowlands of the NetherlandsÑDrenthe, to be exact. The year was 1966. The British Invasion was already grinning its way across Europe, but Cuby + Blizzards werenÕt having any of that Beatlesque politeness. These cats came to bleed blues, not sell bubblegum. And this 7-inch slabÑ"Thursday Night" b/w "Wee Wee Baby"ÑwasnÕt just a single. It was a sneer. A howl. A damn *warning sign*.
Historical Context: Muddy Waters Meets Muddy Fields
Cuby + Blizzards were never content to play second fiddle to British R&B copycats. While Clapton was still dressing like a London dandy and cosplaying the Delta, Eelco Gelling and Harry Muskee were holed up in a farmhouse, mainlining John Lee Hooker and Howlin' Wolf straight into their veins. The postwar Dutch landscape, ravaged by reconstruction and boredom, was fertile ground for the bluesÑnot the Delta kind, but something icier, darker, more suffocating. That's what you hear on this single: *blues born from fog and wet wool*, not cotton fields.
The Music: Raw Grooves, Late-Night Screams
"Thursday Night" crawls out of the speakers with the slow menace of a train in the fog. MuskeeÕs vocals are raw, almost uncomfortably closeÑlike a man whispering confessions he shouldn't be making. EelcoÕs guitar tone is filthyÑnot distorted in a psychedelic way, but dirty, greasy, broken-amp stuff. The rhythm section? Just barely keeping it together, and thatÕs the point. It ainÕt supposed to swing, itÕs supposed to stagger.
Flip the thing over and you get "Wee Wee Baby", a rework of the Willie Dixon classic. But this ainÕt no respectful cover. This is full-on Dutch possession. Gelling rips into the riff like heÕs trying to strangle it, while Muskee turns DixonÕs macho brag into a lonely drunkÕs howl. ItÕs 2 a.m. in a smoke-choked bar where the jukebox is busted, and all youÕve got is a bottle and this band playing like theyÕve got nothing left to lose. No horns. No harmonies. Just the blues stripped down to its wet socks.
Production and Studio Vibes
These two tracks were recorded at the Philips studio in Hilversum, back when Dutch studios still smelled of reel-to-reel tape and cigarette ash. No fancy overdubs, no tricksÑjust tape rolling, amps humming, and sweat dripping off the ceiling. The producer? Jan Paul van Dijk, one of those behind-the-scenes types who knew enough to stay out of the way and let the band burn. You can hear it: thereÕs a grain, a grit, a sort of lo-fi honesty here that feels more real than most blues coming out of Europe at the time.
Controversy? You Bet
This wasnÕt music for Dutch radio. It was too dark, too swampy, too black. Cuby + Blizzards didnÕt just mimic American bluesÑthey embodied it in a way that unsettled the establishment. Dutch pop fans didnÕt know what to do with this level of emotional violence. And the press? They couldnÕt decide if Muskee was a genius or a drunk pretending to be one. This record didnÕt get banned, but it got ignoredÑwhich in 1960s Holland was worse. And the band couldnÕt care less. They were already halfway down the road to the next gig.
Differences with Other Releases
Later versions of "Thursday Night" showed up on anthologies with a cleaner mixÑbooooring. What made the original 7" so powerful was its muddy claustrophobia. The hiss of tape, the slap of room echo, the haunted silence between the notes. If you strip that away, youÕre not left with bluesÑyouÕre left with a museum exhibit. Even MuskeeÕs phrasing got tighter in live versions, but here itÕs all hesitation and danger. This is the take where he almost falls apart, and that's why it works.
Final Word
So yeah, this ainÕt your polished, tourist-friendly blues. This is down-in-the-basement, cracked-floorboards, rain-on-the-roof Dutch blues, howled through the fog by guys who knew the only thing more dangerous than heartbreak was pretending it didnÕt exist. ItÕs two songs. ItÕs seven minutes. And itÕs everything the blues was ever meant to be.
