The Cats
Band members Related acts
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line up 1 (1962-63) as The Mystic Four - Arnold Muhren -- bass - Jaap Schilder -- guitar, keyboards - Cee Veerman (RIP 2014) -- vocals, guitar - Piet Veerman -- vocals, guitar
line up 2 (1963-64) as The Blue Cats NEW - Cees Moyen -- drums, percussion - Arnold Muhren -- bass - Jaap Schilder -- guitar, keyboards - Cee Veerman (RIP 2014) -- vocals, guitar - Piet Veerman -- vocals, guitar
line up 3 (1964-66) NEW - Theo Klouwer (RIP 2001) -- drums, percussion (replaced Cees Mooyen) - Arnold Muhren -- bass - Jaap Schilder -- guitar, keyboards - Cee Veerman (RIP 2014) -- vocals, guitar - Piet Veerman -- vocals, guitar
line up 4 (1966-79) as The Cats - Theo Klouwer (RIP 2001) -- drums, percussion (replaced Cees Mooyen) - Arnold Muhren -- bass - Jaap Schilder -- guitar, keyboards - Cee Veerman (RIP 2014) -- vocals, guitar - Piet Veerman -- vocals, guitar
line up 5 (2006) - Arnold Muhren -- bass - Jaap Schilder -- guitar, keyboards - Cee Veerman (RIP 2014) -- vocals, guitar - Piet Veerman -- vocals, guitar
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- Electric Johnny & his Skyriders (Arnold Muhren and Cees Veerman) - Everly Kosters (Piet Veerman and Jaap Schilder) - Sputniks (Cees Veerman) - Cees Veerman (solo efforts) - Piet Veerman (solo efforts)
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Genre: pop Rating: 3 stars *** Title: 45 Lives Company: Rare Earth Catalog: RS521 Country/State: Volendam, Holland Grade (cover/record): NM/NM Comments: sealed copy Available: 1 Catalog ID: 1628 Price: $40.00
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By the late 1960s The Cats had become major stars in their native Holland and in Germany. They specialized in bright, heavily orchestrated pop tunes that were perfectly suited for European radio. Sire had actually signed the group to an American deal, releasing a series of their European singles to instant oblivion in the States:
- 1969's 'Lea' b/w 'I Gotta Know What's Going On' (Sire catalog number SE 4109) - 1969's 'Why' b/w 'Mandy My Dear' (Sire catalog number SE 4110) - 1969's 'Scarlet Ribbons' b/w 'Blue Horizons' (Sire catalog number SE 4114)
With that pedigree you had to wonder what Motown's Rare Earth subsidiary was thinking when they decided to sign the band to an American contract.
promotional photo
To the label's credit, Rare Earth doesn't seem to have invested much time or money in The Cats. Released in 1970, "45 Lives" was a compilation of previously released material. Heavy on 1968-70 era European singles, the hope seems to have been one of the songs would find some sort of cross-over success in the States. The fact Motown did nothing to promote the collection certainly didn't help the band's chances of America success. Judging by these twelve tracks, that was probably the least of their problems. The Cats were clearly capable song craftsmen, but you had to wonder about their source of inspiration. Heavy on ballads, the seemingly endless stream of heartbreak and despair eventually began to suffer from sounds-the-same disease. Even worse, judging by tunes like 'Without Your Love', 'Lea', and 'Somewhere Up There' The Cats seemingly took much of their inspiration from The Bee Gees. Piet Veerman even attempted to mimic Robin Gibb's quivering vocals on a couple of the tunes. Giving credit where due, there were some nice moments scattered across the album. The 1969 single 'Marian' was hopelessly shlocky, but still somehow endearing. It was released a couple of years too late to ride the toytown pop-psych train, but 'Magical Mystery Morning' was cute, in a clumsy fashion.
"45 Lives" track listing: 1.) Marian (Arnold Mühren) - 3:52 Total schlock and totally irresistible. I can actually remember hearing 'Marian' on Radio Caroline and being mesmerized by the band's heavy Dutch accents, the Hollies-styled harmonies, the cheesy lyrics, and the amazingly commercial melody. Rare Earth tapped the song as the US single::
- 1969's 'Marian' b/w 'Somewhere Up There' (Imperial catalog number 5C 006-24120) YouTube has a cute black and white promo clip for the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92hshjZOXDo rating: **** stars 2.)
Mandy My Dear (Jaap
Schilder 'Mandy My Dear' was a high commercial pop, tune but simply too MOR-ish for the band's own good. It might have gone over with European audiences, but simply didn't have a chance in the States. rating: ** stars 3.) Magical Mystery Morning (Arnold Mühren) - 2:27 A couple of years after other bands hand moved on to other genres, 'Magical Mystery Morning' found The Cats deciding to dip their collective toes into mid-'60s psychedelia. In spite of a droning Arnold Muhren bass line, labeling it lysergic was probably a stretch. You'll have to judge for yourself. The song was released as a single:
- 1970's 'Magical Mystery Morning' b/w 'I Walk Through the Fields' (Imperial catalog number 5C 006-24218) YouTube has a curious black and white promotional clip for the song. Not quite sure why the band were tied up and being led through a forest by a young girl: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7lr4W__ncY rating: **** stars 4.) Scarlet Ribbons (E. Danzig - J. Segal) - 3:17 Imagine The Bee Gees singing with Dutch accents and you'll get a feel for what the sappy ballad 'Scarlet Ribbons' sounded like. The fact it wasn't all that great didn't stop Imperial from tapping it as the lead-off Dutch single:
- 1969's 'Scarlet Ribbons' b/w 'Today' (Imperial catalog number 5C 006-24070) YouTube has a promotional clip for the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVfgrGrVxGs rating: *** stars 5.) Why (Arnold Mühren) - 4:01
I'm sure this'll come as a major surprise - 'Why' was a big, heavily orchestrated ballad that provided the band with another Dutch and German hit. This one saw the Veerman brothers sharing lead vocals. - 1969's 'Why' b/w 'Mandy My Dear' (Imperial catalog number IH 852) YouTube has a copy of the song's promotion film at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5efbHr5BBe8 Geez, that's just how I remember Belgian and Dutch beaches - overcast, drizzly, and depressing - kind of like the song itself. rating: *** stars 5.) Times Were When (Neil Grimshaw) - 2:08 Originally recorded by the Scottish band Studio Six, if you suffered from diabetes, then the ballad 'Times Were When' was going to be the type of overly sentimental and sugary sweet ballad that was life threatening to you. With Piet Veerman taking a rare stab at lead vocals, I guess you had to give the band credit for the skill needed to keep this piece of schlock together, but to my ears the version was even more painful than the stripped down original. This one was also released as a Dutch single:
- 1968's 'Times Were When' b/w 'I Like the Way' (Imperial catalog number IH 805)
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2) Okay, the acoustic ballad 'Lies' wasn't going to win any awards for originality, but it had an Everly Brothers-sort of charm. YouTube has what appears to be a late career concert performance of the tune at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlBhpDPY3gY rating: *** stars 2.) Without Your Love (Cees Veerman) - 2:46 With Cees Veerman on lead vocals, 'Without Your Love' offered up another shot of Bee Gees personal agony. Jaap Schilder's jazzy keyboard chords were probably the song's best attribute. rating: *** stars 3.) Lea (Arnold Mühren) - 3:42 Dedicated to a long time fan who died in a tragic car accident and another Bee Gee-ish ballad (right down to the waivery lead vocals). It proved a big Dutch hit, even though it sounded a lot like their earlier numbers. Yeah, I can just hear waves of Cat fans dumping kitty litter on me.
- 1968's 'Lea ' b/w 'I Gotta Know What's Going On' (Imperial catalog number IH 824) 4.) I Walk Through the Fields (Cees Veerman) - 3:54 Some of these tunes probably wouldn't have been half bad were it not for the hideous over-orchestration that all but drown out the melodies. Not sure the vaguely country-ish ballad 'I Walk Through the Fields' would have been one of those tunes, though the refrain was okay. rating: *** stars 5.) Somewhere Up There (Piet Veerman) - 4:12 Geez, the ballad 'Somewhere Up There' made it painfully clear these guys had been spending way too much time listing to Robin Gibb. Pass. rating: ** stars 6.) I've Always Tried To Understand (Arnold Mühren) - 2:50 Yeah, another ballad ... Jaap Schilder's opening keyboards have always reminded me of a Charlie Rich country tune. This one's stark arrangement only served to underscore the band's heavily accented vocals which will almost certainly irritate some folks. rating: ** stars
For anyone interested, there's a nice Cats fan site at: http://www.thecatsvolendam.tk/
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