FOCUS

Maybe the band members had ran out of ideas? Maybe that's why the next album is in the genre of fusion muzak?

"Masters From The Vaults" is a compilation album of Focus. This is a compilation album that covers the first years of the band in the 70's, the years that belong to their golden era. "Masters From The Vaults" includes tracks from their first four studio albums, "Focus Plays Focus" aka "In And Out Of Focus", "Focus II" aka "Moving Waves", "Focus 3" and "Hamburger Concerto". So, it has tracks that belong to their best and most progressive phase. "Masters From The Vaults" has also two interesting tracks, "Sneezing Bull" and "Angel Wings" recorded after Akkerman have left Focus.

"Masters From The Vaults" was released in 2003 and has eleven tracks. "Hocus Pocus" is from "Moving Waves". This is a legendary track from the band with astonishing intensity and, at the same time, we may say that it has some beautiful insanity on it. It's a track that soon we heard it, soon we sing it, and that, in the end, we remain free from all tensions and stress after a day's work. This always was one of my favourite progressive tracks from them. "House Of The King" is from "In And Out Of Focus". This is a legendary track. It shows the compositional abilities of Jan Akkerman and the harmony between the flute of Thijs van Leer and the acoustic guitar of Jan Akkerman. Despite be short, it's exciting and it's very refreshing. It's a classic from Focus where we can see compositional mastery, creative experimentalism and instrumental virtuosity. "Focus (Instrumental)" is from "In And Out Of Focus". It's a revisiting of the peaceful opener track of that album "Focus (Vocal)". This track is the best and the most progressive on that album and it's another classic gem of the band. It's an astonishing track with about 10 minutes with great improvisations that moves constantly between guitar, keyboards and flute. This is Focus at their best and represents the progressivity and the quality of their music and how great they can be. "Hamburger Concerto" is from "Hamburger Concerto". It's divided into six parts. This is an epic suite with about 20 minutes long. This theme is one of the most accomplished pieces of Focus, in terms of construction. It has an incredible mix of styles and genres turning it in one of the best progressive pieces ever. "La Cathedral De Strasbourg" is also from "Hamburger Concerto". It's a beautiful piece with calm voices and with church organ and bells. This is an incredible beautiful track. It evokes perfectly well the grandeur and majesty of the Gothic Cathedral of Strasbourg. "Sneezing Bull" is from "Focus Con Proby". It's an energetic excellent track with a great flute work that becomes its key attraction. As far as I'm concerned, this is easily just as good as anything Focus ever made. It reminds me the earlier Focus' albums. But, this time, it has intense flavours of jazz-rock fusion. "Angel Wings" is a non-album's track. It was recorded in 1976 and broadcast on Radio 1 in the BBC Concert Series and was released on their live album "Live At The BBC" in 2004. The album was recorded just weeks after Jan Akkerman had left the band, and a new guitarist, Philip Catherine had been brought in. It has a strong hard driven guitar lines and a killer drum work. This is a jazz/fusion classic piece. "Anonymous II" is from "Focus 3". This is a piece divided into two parts, the part one and the conclusion. This is a lengthy piece with an excellent instrumental performance. It's, essentially, an improvised track, but that seems to me most enjoyable and interesting played live than in the studio. "Eruption" is from "Moving Waves". It's divided into fifteen parts and is the magnum opus and the best piece on that album. This is a magnificent piece with great moments that reminds me the classical Baroque music, in some parts. This is entirely an instrumental long suite with about 12 minutes and where the music flows continuously. It has several themes that come and goes and where some of them develop through some musical improvisations. "Eruption" is a track full of virtuosity and a perfect example how to make great progressive symphonic music with a high quality level. "Focus II" is also from "Moving Waves". It's an interesting and melodic piece dominated by the guitar of Jan Akkerman. This is a song that continues the Focus' series, with good song writing and great musical performance by all band's members, as is usual. It has a fantastic interplay between all band's members. This is one of the best examples of their unusual style. "Sylvia" is from "Focus 3". It's a classic from Focus. It's a melodic song conducted by the electric guitar of Jan Akkerman and with some great performances by all other band's members in the supporting role. It's basically a flurry of sounds all meticulously connected. This is a memorable catchy song with an emotive melody where the song is all built around it.

Conclusion: "Masters Form The Vaults" is probably one of the best and one of the most complete compilation albums of Focus that covers their best and most progressive phase. It has tracks from the first four studio albums of Focus, "In And Out Of Focus" from 1970, "Moving Waves" from 1971, "Focus 3" from 1973 and "Hamburger Concerto" from 1974. Thus, some of their best and most progressive tracks are present here. I can't see any weak track on it. But, above all, it has the two tracks written by Philip Catherine, the guitarist that replaced Jan Akkerman soon as he left Focus. The two tracks are both great, a really nice surprise. "Masters Form The Vaults" is a great starting point for newbies with Focus.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

One of the most important features of Focus is the presence of two fantastic and brilliant composers and musicians Thijs van Leer and Jan Akkerman, the two songwriters of the group. Thijs van Leer is a classical trained keyboardist and flautist and despite be more known as the founder keyboardist and flautist of Focus, he also is known because the release of many solo albums which were based on the classical music and jazz. Jan Akkerman, in addition to his great career in Focus and his extensive solo career, he's also known because of his constant experimentation of new equipment and guitars and the use of complex and innovative guitar techniques. He's considered as one of the best guitarists in the world, and even he was also be chosen, in 1973, as the best guitarist by the readers of Melody Maker.

"Greatest Hits Of Focus" is a compilation album of Focus. This is one of the several compilation albums released by the band during the career of the group during the 70's. "Greatest Hits Of Focus" has tracks that belong to that musical period of Focus and that includes tracks from their first three studio albums, "Focus Plays Focus" aka "In And Out Of Focus", "Focus II" aka "Moving Waves" and "Focus 3". That means that we are talking about tracks that belong to some of their best studio albums. We are talking about albums that belong to their best and most progressive phase. "Greatest Hits Of Focus" was released in 1984 and ha s eight tracks. "Focus (Instrumental)" is from "In And Out Of Focus". It's a revisiting of the peaceful opener track of that album "Focus (Vocal)". This track is the best and the most progressive song on that album and it's another classic gem of the band. It's an astonishing track with about ten minutes with incredible improvisations that moves constantly between guitar, keyboards and flute. This is Focus at their best and represents perfectly the progressivity and the quality of their music and how great they can be. "Moving Waves" is from "Moving Waves". This is my less favourite song on "Moving Waves". It's a sweet and gentle piano song, but not very inspired, especially in what concerns to the vocal parts. This is a melancholic song dominated by piano and the voice of Thijs van Leer. So, the final musical atmosphere of the song is a bit boring for my taste, really. "Focus II" is also from "Moving Waves". It's an interesting and melodic piece dominated by the guitar of Jan Akkerman. This is a song that continues the Focus' series, with good song writing and great musical performance by all band's members, as is usual. It has a fantastic interplay between all band's members. This is one of the best examples of their unusual style. "Tommy" is another track from "Moving Waves". It's a small excerpt of their multi-part suite "Eruption", which is divided into many several parts. "Eruption" is a real progressive masterpiece with great organ sounds, tons on drums, very melodic bass, straightforward hard rock electric guitars. There are some intensely floating Mellotron and backing vocals parts. "Tommy" is probably the most known excerpt, a logical choice for a single. "Hocus Pocus" is once more a track that belongs to "Moving Waves". This is an extraordinary track, a legendary track from the band with intensity and perfectly astonishing and, at the same time, we may also say that it has some beautiful insanity on it. It's a track that soon we heard it, soon we sing it, and that, in the end, we remain completely free from all tensions and stress after a day's work. This always was one of my favourite progressive tracks ever. "House Of The King" is from "In And Out Of Focus". This is a true legendary track. It shows the compositional abilities of Jan Akkerman and the harmony between the flute of Thijs van Leer and the acoustic guitar of Jan Akkerman. Despite be short, it has some exciting and refreshing moments. It's a classic from Focus where we can see compositional mastery, creative experimentalism and instrumental virtuosity. "Sylvia" is also from "Focus 3". It's a classic from Focus. It's a melodic song conducted by the electric guitar of Jan Akkerman and with great performances by all other band's members, in the supporting role. It's basically a flurry of sounds all meticulously connected. This is a memorable catchy song with an emotive melody where all song is built around it. "Janis" is from "Moving Waves". It's a soft track, despite be a Jan Akkerman's song. The lead is taken by the magic flute of Thijs van Leer, perfectly supported by the others band's members. This is a very simple song but the melody and harmonies are so perfect and catchy that makes of it, somehow, a memorable song. Like some other reviewers had already said, "Janis" is a song that reminds me my strongly my old beloved band, Camel.

Conclusion: "Greatest Hits Of Focus" is, without any doubt, a good compilation album of the band. Despite this compilation album had already been released in 1984, a year when Focus had already released seven studio albums and only three are represented in here. I think we can say that "Greatest Hits Of Focus" is a good compilation album of Focus, even thinking this isn't properly one of their most representative compilation albums. As we all know, the most faithful fans of Focus, their best and most progressive studio albums are their first four studio albums, "Focus Plays Focus" aka "In And Out Of Focus", "Focus II" aka "Moving Waves", "Focus 3" and "Hamburger Concerto". So, 3 stars.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Focus is a Dutch progressive rock band founded in 1969 by organist and flutist Thijs van Leer, bassist Martin Dresden and drummer Hans Cleuver. The initial idea was to follow the style of Traffic. After that the group could produce their debut studio album, "Focus Plays Focus" aka "In And Out Of Focus" in 1970, already with the presence of Jan Akkerman on guitar. Focus is considered one of the biggest and most important bands in the progressive rock style.

"House Of The King" is a compilation album of Focus. This is one of the several compilation albums released by the band during the career of the group during the 70's. "House Of The King" has only tracks that belong to that musical period of Focus and that includes tracks from their first three studio albums, "Focus Plays Focus" aka "In And Out Of Focus", "Focus II" aka "Moving Waves" and "Focus 3". That means that we are talking about tracks that belong to some of their best studio albums. We are talking about albums that belong to their best and most progressive phase.

"House Of The King" was released in 1983 and has nine tracks. "Hocus Pocus" is from "Moving Waves". This is an extraordinary track, a legendary track from the band with intensity perfectly astonishing and, at the same time, we may also say that it has some beautiful insanity on it. It's a track that soon we heard it, soon we sing it, and that, in the end, we remain completely free from all tensions and stress after a day's work. This always was one of my favourite progressive tracks ever. This is the US version. "Love Remembered" is from "Focus 3". It's a simple short and beautiful song. It's a relaxing song with a soft tune and a nice pastoral and bucolic melody. Basically, it's a song with acoustic guitar, flute and keyboards, with bass and drums on the back. Instead of the usual aggressive style of Thijs van Leer flute, it goes for a delicate and melancholic melody. This is an incredibly beautiful and melancholic song. "Tommy" is from "Moving Waves". It's a small excerpt of their multi-part suite "Eruption", which is divided into many several parts. "Eruption" is an amazing real progressive masterpiece with great organ sounds, tons of drums, very melodic bass and straightforward hard rock electric guitars. There are some intensely floating Mellotron and backing vocals parts too. "Tommy" is probably the most known excerpt, a logical choice for a single. "Elspeth Of Nottingham" is from "Focus 3". It's a very beautiful medieval madrigal well performed by classical guitar and flute. I always loved the medieval music, and so, this song is a blessing for my senses. This is another great track with great high quality. This is something very adequate, because the travel inside this music with lute and piccolo prepares us to a true trip in time. It's clearly a Jan Akkerman's influenced piece. "House Of The King" is from "In And Out Of Focus". This is a legendary track. It shows the compositional abilities of Jan Akkerman and the harmony between the flute of Thijs van Leer and the acoustic guitar of Jan Akkerman. Despite be short, it's an exciting and refreshing moment. It's a classic from Focus where we can see compositional mastery, creative experimentalism and instrumental virtuosity. "Sylvia" is from "Focus 3". It's a classic from Focus. It's a melodic song conducted by the electric guitar of Jan Akkerman and with great performances by all other band's members, in the supporting role. It's basically a flurry of sounds all meticulously connected. This is a memorable catchy song with an emotive melody where the song is built around it. I can see why this became a hit for them on the radio. It has a more mainstream pop sound. "Focus II" is from "Moving Waves". It's an interesting and melodic piece dominated by the guitar of Jan Akkerman. This is a song that continues the Focus series, with good song writing and great musical performance by all band's members, as usual. It's a beautiful song with amazing melodies and a fantastic interplay between all band's members. This is one of the best examples of their unusual style. "Round Goes The Gossip" is from "Focus 3". This is a well humoured song with a curious and strange consecutive repetition of the title song, by Thijs van Leer, as if it was a lyric. It's catchy, a kind of a jazz-fusion song with nice instrumentation. It's one of the rare songs with singing with a little bit of Latin. This is really a vibrant track very versatile that just only can be described as progressive rock at its best. "Focus III" is also from "Focus 3". It continues the Focus series, with excellent song writing and a great performance by all band's members, as is usual with Focus. Like the other Focus' themes, it's a great piece, gentle, symphonic and emotional. It's pleasant and amusing. It has a beautiful and pastoral sound, really. This is truly an incredibly and beautiful song, that demonstrates all the best qualities of Focus, indeed.

Conclusion: "House Of The King" is another good compilation album of Focus. It's very similar to "Masters Of Rock 1971 ? 1973" from 1974 and "Dutch Masters 1969 ? 1973" from 1975. All three compilation albums only have tracks that belong to the first three studio albums of Focus, "In And Out Of Focus", "Moving Waves" and "Focus 3". It means that they're only focused in what is considered the golden prog era of the band. So, as happened with the other two compilation albums, "House Of The King" has some of the best and most known progressive tracks of Focus like "Hocus Pocus", "Tommy", "House Of The King", "Sylvia", "Focus II" and "Focus III". So, also the same 3 stars to it.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

'Focus On Focus 1970 - 1978' is a compilation album of Focus. It has tracks that were taken from all studio albums of the band in the 70's, with the exception of 'Ship Of Memories'. So, it covers almost the entire career of the band in that time, including their golden years. Thus, here we have tracks that belong to 'In And Out Of Focus' from 1970, 'Moving Waves', from 1971, 'Focus 3' from 1973, 'Hamburger Concerto' from 1974, 'Mother Focus' from 1975 and 'Focus Con Proby' from 1978. The last one is an album already without the participation of Jan Akkerman as a band's member.

'Focus On Focus 1970 - 1978' was released in 1979 and has fourteen tracks. 'Tommy' is from 'Moving Waves'. It's a small excerpt of their multi-part suite 'Eruption', which is divided into several parts. 'Eruption' is a real progressive masterpiece with great organ sounds, tons of drums, very melodic bass and straightforward hard rock electric guitars. There are some intensely floating Mellotron and backing vocal parts too. 'House Of The King' is from 'In And Out Of Focus'. This is a legendary track. It shows the compositional abilities of Jan Akkerman and the harmony between the flute of Thijs van Leer and the acoustic guitar of Jan Akkerman. Despite be short, it shows their compositional mastery, creative experimentalism and instrumental virtuosity. 'No Hang Ups' is from 'Mother Focus'. It's a pleasant song with good guitar and keyboard works, performed by Thijs van Leer and Jan Akkerman. This is one the songs where both better played together on that album. 'Sneezing Bull' is from 'Focus Con Proby'. It's an energetic excellent track with a great flute work that becomes its key attraction. As far as I'm concerned, this is easily just as good as anything Focus ever made. It reminds me the earlier Focus' albums. But, this time, it has intense flavours of jazz-rock fusion. 'Focus IV' is from 'Mother Focus'. It's less good as the other Focus' series but doesn't embarrass them. It has almost the same quality of the previous tracks of that series. Still, it's too short and less inspired. 'Anonymous' is from 'In And Out Of Focus'. It's the first great musical moment on their debut album that sounds like Focus that we all know and love. This is a typical Focus track that became as one of the classic songs of the band. The performance of all band's members is absolutely extraordinary and shows clearly the amazing musical talent of all them. 'Bennie Helder' is from 'Mother Focus'. This is a great song where the main characteristics of the group are present. It's well constructed, with nice performances, and a touch of medieval music. 'Sylvia' is from 'Focus 3'. It's a classic from Focus. It's a melodic song conducted by the electric guitar of Jan Akkerman and with great performances by all other band's members, in the supporting role. It's basically a flurry of sounds all meticulously connected. This is a memorable catchy song with an emotive melody. 'Focus II' is from 'Moving Waves'. It's an interesting and melodic piece dominated by the guitar of Jan Akkerman. This is a song that continues the Focus' series, with good song writing and great musical performance by all band's members, as is usual. It has a fantastic interplay between all band's members. 'Wingless' is from 'Focus Con Proby'. It's a nice dreamy and atmospheric track with a nice melody. The guitar work is really stunning and becomes the critical attraction of this track. The vocal work isn't bad despite it doesn't please to everybody. 'Hocus Pocus' is from 'Moving Waves'. This is a legendary track from the band with intensity and some beautiful insanity on it. It's a track that soon we heard it, soon we sing it, and that, in the end, we remain completely free from all tensions and stress after a day's work. This always was one of my favourite progressive tracks of them. 'Harem Scarem' is from 'Hamburger Concerto'. It's a rock oriented song, with some jazzy influences, frantic from the start to end. Here we can see, on the vocals, some the usual 'insanity' of Thijs van Leer. It's a great piece with some impressive guitar and piano works. 'Mother Focus' is from 'Mother Focus'. This is a good and interesting song. It has a groovy and jazzy moody very pleasant to hear and represents one of the highest moments on that album. 'Brother' is from 'Focus Con Proby'. It's a mellow track that provides a nice break on that album. This is a ballad with a vocal work. It's not bad but it isn't great too. The vocal work isn't bad too. Still, I think it isn't for everybody, being more a question of an acquired taste.

Conclusion: 'Focus On Focus 1970 - 1978' is a good compilation album from Focus. It almost covers the career of Focus in the 70's with tracks from 'In And Out Of Focus', 'Moving Waves', 'Focus 3', 'Hamburger Concerto', 'Mother Focus' and 'Focus Con Proby'. The only exception is 'Ship Of Memories'. But, as we know, 'Ship Of Memories' is a very special album of the band, a compilation of unreleased leftover tracks from Focus. So, we can say that 'Focus On Focus 1970 - 1978' is a very well representative compilation album from the band where many of their most classic and progressive tracks are present, I mean, the tracks from their first four studio albums. It's true that 'Mother Focus' and 'Focus Con Proby' are weaker and less progressive too. But, they don't spoil the good quality level of this compilation.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

"Focus - Special Polydor" is a compilation album of Focus. This is one of the many compilation albums released by the band during the career of the group in the 70's. So, "Focus - Special Polydor" has only tracks that belong to that musical period of Focus and that includes tracks from their first three studio albums, "Focus Plays Focus" aka "In And Out Of Focus", "Focus II" aka "Moving Waves" and "Focus 3". That means that we are talking about tracks that belong to some of their best studio albums. We are talking about albums that belong to their best and most prog phase. "Focus ? Special Polydor" has also a non-album's track, "Early Birth", which wasn't released on their original studio albums.

"Focus - Special Polydor" was released in 1975 and has twelve tracks. "Hocus Pocus" is from "Moving Waves". This is an extraordinary track, a legendary track from the band with intensity perfectly astonishing and, at the same time, we may also say that it has some beautiful insanity on it. It's a track that soon we heard it, soon we sing it, and that, in the end, we remain completely free from all tensions and stress after a day's work. This always was one of my favourite progressive tracks ever. "Focus (Instrumental)" is from "In And Out Of Focus". It's a revisiting of the peaceful opener track of that album "Focus (Vocal)". This track is the best and the most progressive song on that album and it's another classic gem of the band. It's an astonishing track with about 10 minutes with incredible improvisations that moves constantly between guitar, keyboards and flute. This is Focus at their best and represents perfectly the progressivity and the quality of their music and how great they can be. "Round Goes The Gossip" is from "Focus 3". This is a well humoured song with a curious and strange consecutive repetition of the title song, by Thijs van Leer, as if it was a lyric. It's catchy, a kind of a jazz-fusion song with nice instrumentation. "Love Remembered" is also from "Focus 3". It's a simple short and beautiful song. It's a relaxing song with a soft tune and a nice pastoral and bucolic melody. Basically, it's a song with acoustic guitar, flute and keyboards, with bass and drums on the back. "House Of The King" is from "In And Out Of Focus". This is a legendary track. It shows the compositional abilities of Jan Akkerman and the harmony between the flute of Thijs van Leer and the acoustic guitar of Jan Akkerman. Despite be short, it's an exciting and refreshing moment. "Early Birth" is a non album's track. It was only released as a bonus track on the CD release of "Hamburger Concerto". It was the B side of their single "Harem Scarem". This is a beautiful, short, simple and nice instrumental piece. "Focus II" is from "Moving Waves". It's an interesting and melodic piece dominated by the guitar of Jan Akkerman. This is a song that continues the Focus' series, with good song writing and great musical performance by all band's members, as is usual. It has a fantastic interplay between all band's members. This is one of the best examples of their unusual style. "Carnival Fugue" is from "Focus 3". It has varied musical sections. It begins in a calm and relaxing way that grows all over the theme. This is a jazzy oriented song with good instrumental playing in the line of their traditional style. "Janis" is from "Moving Waves". It's a soft track, despite it's a Jan Akkerman's song. The lead is taken by the magic flute of Thijs van Leer, perfectly supported by the other band's members. This is a very simple song but the melody and harmonies are so perfect and catchy that makes of it, somehow, a memorable song. Like some other reviewers, this is also a song that reminds me my good old and beloved band, Camel. "Elspeth Of Nottingham" is from "Focus 3". It's a beautiful medieval madrigal well performed by classical guitar and flute. I always loved the medieval music, and so, this song is a blessing for my senses. This is another great track with high quality. "Tommy" is from "Moving Waves". It's a small excerpt of their multi-part suite "Eruption", which is divided into many several parts. "Eruption" is a real progressive masterpiece with great organ sounds, tons of drums, very melodic bass and straightforward hard rock electric guitars. There are some intensely floating Mellotron and backing vocal parts. "Tommy" is probably the most known excerpt, a logical choice for a single. "Sylvia" is also from "Focus 3". It's a classic from Focus. It's a melodic song conducted by the electric guitar of Jan Akkerman and with great performances by all other band's members, in the supporting role. This is a very catchy song with an emotive and beautiful melody.

Conclusion: "Focus - Special Polydor" is very similar to other four compilation albums of Focus, "Masters Of Rock 1971 - 1973" from 1974, "The Greatest Rock Sensation" also from 1974, "Dutch Masters 1969 ? 1973" from 1975 and "House Of The King" from 1983. As happened with all those compilation albums it has only tracks that belong to their first three studio albums "In And Out Of Focus" from 1970, "Moving Waves" from 1971 and "Focus 3" from 1973, three of the albums that belong to their golden era, only missing tracks from "Hamburger Concerto" also of that era. And, as happened with "The Greatest Rock Sensation", "Focus - Special Polydor" has also the same special non-album's track, "Early Birth". So, we can really say that "Focus - Special Polydor" is a good compilation album released by the group.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Focus is a Dutch progressive rock band formed in Amsterdam in 1969 by keyboardist, vocalist, and flautist Thijs van Leer, drummer Hans Cleuver, bassist Martijn Dresden, and guitarist Jan Akkerman. Their debut album "Focus Plays Focus" released in 1970 gained little attention but the follow-up, "Moving Waves" released in 1971, earned the band's international recognition. Their success continued with "Focus 3" released in 1972 and "Hamburger Concerto" released in 1974. Focus remains as one of the most successful and influential progressive rock bands from the Netherlands.

"Masters Of Rock 1971 - 1973" is a compilation album of Focus. This is one of the several compilation albums released by the band during the career of the band and during the 70's. "Greatest Hits Of Focus" has tracks that belong to that musical period of Focus and that includes tracks from their first three studio albums, "Focus Plays Focus" aka "In And Out Of Focus", "Focus II" aka "Moving Waves" and "Focus 3". That means that we are talking about tracks that belong to some of their best studio albums. We are talking about albums that belong to their best and most progressive phase.

"Masters Of Rock 1971 ? 1973" was released in 1974 and has nine tracks. "Hocus Pocus" is from "Moving Waves". This is an extraordinary track, a legendary track from the band with intensity perfectly astonishing and, at the same time, we may also say that it has some beautiful insanity on it. It's a track that soon we heard it, soon we sing it, and that, in the end, we remain completely free from all the tensions and stress after a day's work. This always was one of my favorite progressive tracks from the band. "Love Remembered" is from "Focus 3". It's a simple short and beautiful song. It's a relaxing song with a soft tune and a nice pastoral and bucolic melody. Basically, it's a song with acoustic guitar, flute and keyboards and with bass and drums in the back. Instead of the usual aggressive style of the flute of Thijs Van Leer, it goes for a delicate and melancholic melody. This is an incredibly beautiful and melancholic song. "Tommy" is from "Moving Waves". This is only a small excerpt of their multi-part suite "Eruption", which is divided into many several parts. "Eruption" is a real progressive masterpiece with some great organ sounds, tons on drums, very melodic bass and straightforward hard rock electric guitars. There are some intensely floating Mellotron and some nice backing vocal parts. "Tommy" is probably the most known song, an excerpt, a logical choice for a single. "Elspeth Of Nottingham" is from "Focus 3". It's a very beautiful medieval madrigal well performed by classical guitar and flute. I always loved the medieval music, and so, this song is a blessing for my senses. This is another great track with great high quality. This is something very adequate, because this travel in this music with lute and piccolo prepares us to a true trip in time. "House Of The King" is from "In And Out Of Focus". This is a legendary track from the band. It shows the usual great compositional abilities of Jan Akkerman and the harmony between the flute of Thijs van Leer and the acoustic guitar of Jan Akkerman. Despite be a short track, it's very exciting and a refreshing moment. It's a classic from Focus where we can see compositional mastery, creative experimentalism and instrumental virtuosity. "Sylvia" is another track from "Focus 3". It's another classic of Focus. It's a melodic song conducted by the electric guitar of Jan Akkerman and with great performances by all other band's members, in the supporting role. It's basically a flurry of sounds all meticulously connected. It's a memorable catchy song with an emotive melody where all song are built around it. "Focus II" is from "Moving Waves". It's an interesting and melodic piece dominated by the guitar of Jan Akkerman. This is a song that continues the Focus' series, with good song writing and a great musical performance by all band's members, as usual. It has a fantastic interplay between all band's members. This is one of the best examples of their unusual style. "Round Goes The Gossip" is from "Focus 3". This is a well humoured song with a curious and strange consecutive repetition of the title song, by Thijs van Leer, as if it was a lyric. It's catchy, a kind of a jazz-fusion song with nice instrumentation. This is really a vibrant track very versatile that just only can be described as progressive rock at its best. "Focus III" is also from "Focus 3". It continues the Focus series, with excellent song writing and a great performance by all band's members, as is usual with Focus. Like the other Focus' themes, it's a great piece, gentle, symphonic and emotional. It's pleasant and amusing. It has such beautiful and pastoral sound, really, a truly incredibly and beautiful song, indeed.

Conclusion: "Masters Of Rock 1971 - 1973" is, without any doubt, a good compilation album from Focus. At the time when it was released, and as its name indicates, Focus had only released three studio albums, "In And Out Of Focus", "Moving Waves" and "Focus 3". And as we know, these three studio albums belong to what is considered their golden classic years, with their follow-up "Hamburger Concerto". Thus, many of their best, most known and classic tracks are present here, such as, "Hocus Pocus", "Tommy", "House Of The King", "Sylvia" and two tracks that belong to their legendary Focus' series, "Focus II" and "Focus III". So, this is good compilation covering some of their best material.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

This is their most flawless album. Every single track is superb, while being as varied as you come to expect from the band. I find this is one of those albums that you want to play all the way through. There's no tracks I want to skip. It's not a concept album, bit it sounds cohesive.

Pierre van der Linden is one of my favourite drummers, but kudos to Colin Allen here. To me, he did a similar job in replacing a drumming legend with Focus as Alan White did with Yes ... not quite the same, but close enough. Colin was a boss of a drummer, playing with great conviction, taste and skill.

Highlights for me were La Cathedral de Strasbourg, a beautiful and multi-sided piece. Birth and Early Birth, which could have fitted in the Focus III set. And, of course, the title track, which IMO is among the finest prog epics. The composition, playing, sound - everything is great. Highly recommended.

Side B, a 23min suite, figures to me as a random union of musical proposals, where the instrumental phrasings have a big lack of time and creativity to develop. When Akkerman assumes the guitar sometimes fine notes can be heard, but the drumming and most of all the keyboards are confusing or monotonous most of the time.

3 stars on a five-star scale.