The Blues Right Off - Our Bluesbag (Reissue) (1970/2009)

Italy have always been famoused for all the progressive bands. But this is something totaly different a blues rock album! imagine Canned Heat and early Ten Years After but with a little bit more fuzz on some songs.
Some information:
THE BLUES RIGHT OFF Claes Cornelius (vocals, guitar)Giancarlo Salvador (bass)Fuffi Panciera (drums)Paolo Zanella (flute, guitar)+ Ermanno Velludo (sound engineer)A very little known group from Venice, but their only album, released in a very limited pressing, is among the rarest of the italian 70's rock. Not really a progressive rock album, this is surely a progressive work, starting from its odd jute sack cover. It was also one of the first (or possibly THE first) LP's by an italian blues band, as the blues was considered in Italy as a music only reserved to foreign musicians during the 60's.The band's leader, guitarist Claes Cornelius, was in fact a foreigner, from Denmark, that had moved to Italy in the mid-60's and soon played an important role in the beat era and afterwards.He had founded with sound engineer Ermanno Velludo the Suono Recording Studio.The album, Our blues bag, contains seven tracks, all sung in english and in the best blues tradition, based on electric lead guitar solos and high-pitched voice. All the tracks are original.Some Canned Heat similarities can be heard in the vocal parts or the use of a flute (like in Rushing wind), but generally the group has a personal sound.The band had been formed at the end of the 60's, and after its demise Cornelius kept as a session player, moving to the USA for a year, and then, back in Venice, contributing to Venetian Power's The arid land. He moved back to Denmark in 1974 and has stayed in the music biz since then, as a producer and musician.