The Cats


l-r: Arnold Mühren, Theo Klouwer, Cees Veerman, Jaap Schilder, Piet Veerman

Personnel:

Piet Veerman - Vocals, guitar (v,g, ex-Everly Kosters)
Cees Veerman - Vocals, guitar (v,g, ex-Sputniks and Electric Johnny & his Skyriders )
Jaap Schilder - Guitar, piano (g,p, ex-Everly Kosters )
Arnold Muhren - Bass (ex-Electric Johnny & his Skyriders)
Theo Klouwer - Drums (replaced Cees Mooyen in April 1964)

Slowly but surely, the Cats from Volendam turned themselves into one of Holland's top-selling musical acts. Their first record is now a real collectors item!  Already in 1962, the nucleus of the Cats was performing under the name of The Mystic Four.  In 1963, the name changed to The Blue Cats.  Together with some other bands, the Cats were responsible for making the "Palingsound" very popular in Holland for many years. ("eel-beat", "palingbiet" or "eel-sound" is a Dutch name invented by Dutch top DJ Joost den Draayer).  The popularity of the band, which had been releasing three hit singles per year since 1966, rapidly spread into Germany as well. This could be due to the way the Cats were concentrating more and more on writing melodic, sentimental songs.  The harmony vocals were simply outstanding!  It's those early songs, including "Times Were When", "Lea", "Why", "Scarlet Ribbons", "Marian" that had brought the band so many fans throughout Europe.  In 1975, Cees Veerman left the band temporarily, due to problems with his voice.  For a year, he was replaced by an ex-roadie, Piet Keizer.  One year prior to that, their album, "Love In Your Eyes", produced by Al Capps and recorded in the USA, failed to attract attention of the record buying public.  However, despite performing what was announced as their farewell gig in Purmerend on May 19th 1974, they continued to gig and record sporadically all the way up through the year 1977.  That same year, another album, "Like The Old Days" was released.  Both, Piet Veerman and Cees Veerman (no relation) recorded solo albums in 1976.  Jaap Schilder followed the suit in 1978.

The real split came in 1980, despite the success of their first single that year, "The End Of The Show", and the album with the same name, "The End Of The Show" (EMI, 1980).  After that, for a few years, the only 'commotion' heard from the Cats camp was Piet Veerman's solo work.  In 1983, the Cats worked together once again, producing the "Stars On 45" single, which became very successful in many countries.  In 1985, Piet Veerman decided to retire from the Cats for good, and two years later scored his first Number 1 hit single with "Sailin' Home".  In 1994, the Cats recorded their last album, called "Shine On", for Polydor.

See also the solo activities by both Veermans.


The Cats discography:

[24-12-1966]^14*15      WHAT A CRAZY LIFE cats
[15-04-1967]^26*6       VIVE L'AMOUR cats
[15-07-1967]^12*13      SURE HE'S A CAT cats
[28-10-1967]^27*5       WHAT'S THE WORLD COMING TO cats
[24-02-1968]^14*9       TURN AROUND AND START AGAIN cats
[22-06-1968]^2*18       TIMES WERE WHEN cats
[09-11-1968]^1*22       LEA cats
[15-03-1969]^1*13       WHY cats
[30-08-1969]^3*11       SCARLET RIBBONS cats
[13-12-1969]^1*16       MARIAN cats
[27-06-1970]^4*9        MAGICAL MYSTERY MORNING cats
[24-10-1970]^1*13       WHERE HAVE I BEEN WRONG cats
[06-03-1971]^11*5       DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME the cats
[31-07-1971]^3*14       ONE WAY WIND the cats
[06-05-1972]^2*18       LET'S DANCE the cats
[26-08-1972]^3*14       VAYA CON DIOS the cats
[18-11-1972]^3*11       THERE HAS BEEN A TIME the cats
[02-06-1973]^7*7        LET'S GO TOGETHER the cats
[29-09-1973]^6*7        MARIBAJA the cats
[12-01-1974]^3*8        ROCK 'N ROLL the cats
[06-04-1974]^1*15       BE MY DAY the cats
[23-11-1974]^6*8        COME SUNDAY the cats
[01-03-1975]^15*5       HARD TO BE FRIENDS the cats
[21-06-1975]^9*6        LIKE A SPANISH SONG the cats
[20-12-1975]^18*4       SILENT NIGHT the cats
[15-05-1976]^16*5       WE SHOULD BE TOGETHER the cats
[31-07-1976]^25*4       ROMANCE cats
[26-03-1977]^6*8        SAVE THE LAST DANCE FOR ME the cats
[24-09-1977]^18*5       CINDY the cats
[08-07-1978]^24*5       SHE WAS TOO YOUNG the cats
[29-03-1980]^5*10       THE END OF THE SHOW the cats
[22-01-1983]^11*8       LA DILIGENCE the cats
[10-09-1983]^20*5       STAY IN MY LIFE the cats
[07-01-1984]^15*5       LOVE IS A GOLDEN RING the cats
[28-04-1984]^37*3       LOVERS DON'T TALK the cats
[29-06-1985]^31*5       SHE'S SO IN LOVE the cats

1965 	Jukebox/Goodbye my love    			Almadisc A 53105
	Jukebox/Goodbye my love				Durlaphone M 53105
1966 	Ave Maria/A fool never learns	
	Ave Maria no morro/Jukebox      		Omega 35877
	Somewhere over the rainbow/I'm ashamed to tell  Durlaphone M 650811
	What a crazy life/Hopeless try  		Imperial IH 709
1967 	Vive l'amour/But tomorrow  			726
	Sure he's a cat/Without your love       	733
	What is the world coming to/How could I be so blind     
							759
1968 	Somewhere over the rainbow/I'm ashamed to tell  Omega 35890
	Turn around and start again/Remember the good times     
							Imperial IH 781
	Times were when/I like the way  		805
	Lea/I gotta know what's going on        	824
	LP Cats as cats can     			SALI 8002
1969 	Why/Mandy my dear  				IH 852
	Scarlet ribbons/Today   			5C 006-24070
	Marian/Somewhere up there       		24120
	LP Cats 					SALI 8017 
							& 5C 048-50650
1970 	Magical mystery morning/I walk through the fields  
							006-24218
	Where have I been wrong/The greatest thing      24248
	LP Colour us gold       			054-24078
	LP Portrait (Greatest hits)     		24166
	LP Take me with you     			24320
1971 	Don't waste your time/It's over now        	006-24290
	One way wind/Country woman      		24432
	LP Cats aglow   				056-24500
1972 	Let's dance/I've been in love before      	006-24614
	Why/Lea 					24625
	Vaya con Dios/Don't waste my time/Take me with you      
							24637
	There has been a time/How did you feel  	24670
	LP Times were when      			180-24570/71
	LP Katzenspiele 				062-24704
	LP Signed by the Cats   			056-24756
1973 	Let's go together/Linda    			006-24840
	Time machine/Maribaja   			5C-006-24855
	LP Best 					054-24903
	LP Home 					056-24950
1974 	Rock and roll/Come on girl 			006-24885
	Be my day/She's on her own      		25000
	Come Sunday/Come on girl        		25050
	LP Love in your eyes    			062-25100
	LP 10 jaar de Cats      			184-25121/22
	LP Op hun best  				052-25123
	LP Collector's classics 			Capri CP 537
1975 	Country woman/     				Imperial 5C 006-25075
	Like a Spanish song/Loving arms 		EMI 25305
	Silent night/The wise man       		25333
	LP Hard to be friends   			062-25175
	LP We wish you a merry Christmas        	064-25290
1976 	We should be together/Looking back over my yesterday       
							006-25396
	Romance/Nobody cares    			25513
	Sweet wine/Night of glory       		25542
	LP Homerun      				064-25435
1977 	Save the last dance for me/Riding train    	006-25490
	Cindy/Morning light     			25684
	Lucky star/Lorene       			25778
	LP Let's get together   			Delta DAG 160
1980	LP The End Of The Show				EMI

SOLO PROJECTS

VEERMAN, CEES

1976 	LP Another side of me      	EMI 5C 064-25447
	Sailor sail on/ 		006-25517

VEERMAN, PIET

1975 	Rollin' on a river/Town's fair  EMI 5C 006-25331
	LP Rollin' on a river   	064-25297
1976 	Living to love you/Yesterday    006-25354

[18-10-1975]^9*7        ROLLIN' ON A RIVER piet veerman
[14-03-1987]^1*15       SAILIN' HOME piet veerman
[20-06-1987]^7*7        WALKING TOGETHER piet veerman
[07-11-1987]^25*4       A NEW TOMORROW piet veerman
[10-09-1988]^24*6       WHENEVER YOU NEED ME piet veerman
[11-11-1989]^32*3       CRY OF FREEDOM piet veerman

Submitted by: Adri Verhoef (a3@a3.xs4all.nl-removespam)


Cats Addendum 1

They were very successful in Germany.  The Cats had three hits in the German Top10:
Be my day - Stayed 12 weeks, peaked up to #4
Let's dance - Stayed 15 weeks, peaked up to 3
One way wind - Stayed 12 weeks, peaked up to #4

They also released a record around 1972 containing German versions of their hits (and the original English language version of "What a crazy life") on EMI/Bovema Negram (MFP 1M048-24980).

In 1979, a double album "Supergold" containing all their major hits up to date was released on EMI/Bovema Negram (1C134-26327/28).

Submitted by: Christoph Lorenz (lorenzc@informatik.tu-muenchen.de)


Cats Addendum 2

My Cats collection

LPs:

     Die Goldkatzen aus den Niederlanden, 1C 048-24306, MFP (Music For Pleasure), 
     Germany
1970 Colour Us Gold, 5C 054-24078, Imperial/Bovema, Holland
1970 Take Me With You, 5C 054-24320, Imperial/Bovema, Holland
1970 45 Lives, RS 521, Rare Earth/Motown, USA
1972 Signed By The Cats, 5C 056-24756, Bovema, Holland
1972 Times Were When (reissue of "Cats as Cats Can"/"The Cats" - 2LP), 
     5C 180-24570/71, Bovema, Holland
1972 Katzen-Spiele, 5C 062-24704D (in German), Electrola, Germany
1973 Home, 5C 056-24950, Bovema, Holland
1974 Love In Your Eyes, F9449, Fantasy, USA
1975 Hard To Be Friends, 5C 062-25175, EMI/Bovema, Holland
1975 We Wish You A Merry Christmas, 5C 064-25290X, EMI/Bovema, Holland
1976 Homerun, 5C 064-25435, EMI/Bovema, Holland
1977 Like The Good Old Days, 1C 064-25821, EMI/Electrola, Germany
1979 Supergold 2LP, 1C 134-26327/28, EMI/Electrola, Germany
1983 Third Life, 831006, Boni, Holland
1984 Live 2LP, 841022, Boni, Holland
1985 Flyin' High, 285 0321, Boni, Holland

CDs:

1991 The Very Best Of, 01 5850 61, Diamond, Holland
     Forever, RM 596388, Rubinstein Media, Holland
1997 The Cats/Cats Aglow 2CD set (reissue), 7243 8 56783 2 5, EMI, Holland
2002 The Complete Collection 3CD+DVD box set, EMI/BR Music, 7243 5 40223 0 2
2003 Cats As Cats Can, EMI, 7243 58227727
2003 Cats, EMI 
2003 Colour Us Gold, EMI, 7243 58185324
2003 Take Me With You, EMI, 7243 58228120
2003 Aglow, EMI, 7243 58228229
2003 Katzen-spiele, EMI, 7243 58228328
2003 Signed By The Cats, EMI, 7243 58227222
2003 Home, EMI, 7243 58227321
2003 Love In Your Eyes, EMI, 7243 58185423
2003 Hard To Be Friends, EMI, 7243 58227420
2003 We Wish You A Merry Christmas, EMI, 7243 49736528
2003 Homerun, EMI, 7243 58227529
2003 Like The Old Days, EMI, 7243 58227628

If you look at the top photo on the cover of "Signed by the Cats" album, chances are, without knowing much about the band you're going to think the same thing I thought at first, "What a menacing bunch!  They must be in the business of heavy rock, cranking out Teutonic riffs, no lighter than their contemporaries, early 70s Black Sabbath and Deep Purple!"  In fact, nothing could be further from the truth!  However, those Veermans really did have a penchant for writing a catchy, memorable tune, especially mellow, melodic, superbly crafted ballads and easy going pop tunes ("Let's Dance" immediately comes to mind!); Arnold Mühren was no slouch either, as he's responsible for penning the immortal "One Way Wind", arguably one of the band's most memorable songs.

Thus, lovers of heavy rock will be somewhat appalled, leaving the Cats' recorded output to the ladies, but if you have a desire to hear lushly, yet tastefully orchestrated sentimental ballads and tunes a-la "rock lite" 70s style by one of Volendam's foremost pop sensations, then this group's for you.

Alex Gitlin
April 2001


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