HOCUS POCUS: THE BEST OF FOCUS

This compilation was my first encounter with FOCUS. I saw a video of "Hocus Pocus" on TV (I don't know who smuggled it on a state TV), and like with magic, I obtained this compilation less than a week later.

The compilation starts GREAT. I was astonished with the self titled song, oh heavens, what is that?!? Furious rock, accordion, yodeling. I never experienced such a thing. The second track, "Anonymus" is great too, it just fitted my taste perfectly at the time. Third track "House Of The King" is gorgeous and incredibly catchy.

And after that, everything went downwards. This compilation is long, all the track are instrumental and, frankly, they're mostly boring.

There are hints here and there ("Sylvia"), but basically what is good here is beginning and the end of compilation (the end contains live version of "Hocus Pocus" which is even more furious).

I tried to convince myself the rest of it is good, that I just need more time to get into it. With such a brilliant song as the opening one this band must be great and it waits for me to be discovered! Well, no. I was fooling myself for a while, I listened this thing in it's entirety dozens and dozens of time and it remained mostly boring and...opposite of band's name.

As I said, this was my first contact with FOCUS - and so far it's the last, too. After this, I wasn't inclined to check the band any deeper. If this is a compilation, and compilations usually contain BEST OF material, and it's boring, just how the rest of the band's material must sound like?

The years passed, and those opening three track are no that appealing to me anymore. They seem a bit...useless. And the rest of the track remain boring. So, I'm not going to get any FOCUS any time soon.

Of course, this is maybe just a bad compilation, but however it deserves a low rating.