FOCUS

Because same as with Queen's BO, this is collection of really great songs, actually, there are almost the best songs by them. I don't know their albums so well (even I know them basically), but for me, these songs are separateable. Maybe I'm not so into this, but after all, who knows these things after all. For me, this, as a compilation is perfect. It won't appear in top list, it shouldn't make others feel bad, so what's the problem ?

4(+), because from what I see, giving 5 star is something like idiotic nonsense that no sane progger would do. It's almost prohibited, under the punishment of being hated by everyone, huh ? Nevermind, I feel that compilation is not true form, or in other words, how should it be. But as a represent of their best work it's very well. I would give 5-star, but you know, this is just best of.

The CD that I own of this was released by I.R.S. at the same time as In And Out Of Focus and Focus III, yet it does not have the awful muffled sound that the other two disks have. I supposed they took a bit more care with this release, as it contained the band's only U.S. hit.

As a teenager I loved Hocus Pocus, mostly for it's high energy guitar and drums, and secondly for the weird yodeling sections. Now, I like it, but the novelty has worn off. I liten to it occasionally, but not often. The remainder of the songs on what was side 1 of the LP are mostly forgettable, ranging from soft ballads to light fusion.

Eruption is, to me, the album's reason for being. At just over twenty-three minutes, this suite is one of the band's best reasons for inclusion on this site. It has classical references, jamming sections, soft baroque sections. And unlike many suite epics, they flow effortlessly from one section to another. Just don't expect blazing virtuosity. The performances are adequate for the piece, but nothing completely amazing.

The progness of this album is limited, but then, this was released in 1970, when only a few trailblazers were releasing albums of full blown prog. But still, there are some worthwhile moments on this album. Anonymous, or Anonymus as it's spelled on my CD, is a pretty cool jam, superior to it's sequel on the III album.

Not a bad start, but showing little of what would later come from this band.

There are few lyrics on the album (at least on mine, the 1988 I.R.S. CD, which does not include House Of The King, and is plagued by a miserably bad mix), and where there are lyrics, they are pointless, like where Thijs Van Leer constantly repeats the title is the otherwise nice Round Goes The Gossip.

The two long songs, Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers and Anonymus Two are mostly jams. The guitar solos are great, but the bass solo is weak, and the drum solo goes on way too long (don't they always?).

So this was a nice album at the time of it's original release, but it doesn't seem to have held up over the dacades since.

2.5 stars

Both the pop oriented A side Sylvia and the folky flute led House of the King ( often mistaken for a Jethro Tull piece ) appeared on the 1972 LP Focus 3. This particular single peaked at #4 on the UK charts and also made it into the top 100 in North America. As an A side, however, House of The King failed to chart when previously issued in 1969 with Black Beauty on the flip side. It was also re- issued as an A side in 1975 with a version of Red Sky at Night on the other which featured Thijs van Leer's wacky vocals but still failed to chart. Both instrumental tracks here ( Sylvia contains wordless vocal harmonies ) which were recorded 2 years apart featured different lineups with flautist/ organist/ vocalist Thijs van Leer and guitarist Jan Akkerman being the constants.

A logical executive decision to include the earlier House of the King on the B side here perhaps to rekindle interest in the first Focus LP In And Out Of which had been recently reissued at the time. Two great tracks from a progressive rock band who enjoyed a brief but glorious run in the mainstream in the early seventies both of which recieved a considerable amount of air time on both FM and AM radio. House of the King was also used as the theme song for a Birtish Science television show, Don't Ask Me, in the early '70s.

A not-so-rare item hat will be of interest to some collectors.

Misplaced Adulthood..?

There has been a high level of agreement concerning what was the peak of Fucus' career: Hamburger Concerto. I've always fellt that Moving Waves was superiour, but still this is a great album. One track with French vocals and one with Dutch vocals, this is an inventive and a risky expiriment. It does make the album stylish. Still it sounds a bit tame when compared with the earlier Focus albums.

Focus was a Dutch supergroup with keyboardist/flutist Thuis van Leer, guitarshredder (and Fusion expert) Jan Akkerman, Colin Allen on drums and the great bassplayer Bert Ruiter. At first spin one thing was apparent for me: Pierre van der Linden is shurely missed. The main link for the energetic side of Focus is gone, so is the uptempo side of Focus.

His abscence evoked an down-tempo record, except for the second track Harum Scarum. La Cathédral De Strasbourg is however one of the most gentle atmospheric tracks I've ever heard. The French vocals are a nice finding. The long epic on side two has it's up and downs. I think the opening section is not very interesting, while the middle section with the serious themes with the fade in guitar part of Jan Akkerman and his solo is masterfull. After that the perpect parts keep coming. The great intelligent progressive church-like chord progression with the Dutch vocals is one of the finest achievements of the band. The following heavy symphonic parts are great as well and finish the the epic bravely. To bad for the avarage first sections of the song, for the other parts are essential proglistening.

Conclusion. A great symphonic prog record with lots of classical influences and some fusion elements. Still I miss Focus rockin'out on this one and the weak begining of the title track is a pity. I won't give this five stars, for it lacks some of my favourite Focus elements. Where is Focus' sometimes naive compositional style? Did they become a musically adult? Four stars seems to be justified however, for Hamburger Concerto has a lot of masterfull moments.

The record evokes some discussion.

Focus' third is somehow an odd album. It has some of their finest progressive songs, but it also has endless jams as if you are listening to a fusion jamgroup. Luckely both sides of Fucus are seperated; side one and two show the symphonic Focus, while side two and three mainly show Focus jamming out. I've heard some-one say that he though even the true Focus fans wouldn't listen this in one spin and I think he's right. I own the vinyl version and I listen mainly to the first record, record two is like a nice additional present for me. Ofcourse this well though concept was destroyed by the cd, though it could have been printed on two seperate cd's.

Focus' sound consists of three elements: classical influences, hard rock and jazz- rock/fusion. Sympathetic frontman/keyboardist/composer/flute player Thuis van Leer originated from the Dutch theater and classical music scene as composer and flute player. His wide range of influences are the main reason for the succes of Focus, the others are the known guitar acrobatics of the famous Dutch guitarist Jan Akkerman and the great technically perfect drummer Pierre van der Linden. Accompanied with Bert Ruijter on bass one could call this a supergroup: a combination of best musicians in their field.

On side one and two the compositions are as mentioned before as one would expect on a Focus record. Symphonic, jazzy, rockin', varied and devoted. On Round goes the Gossip a lot of inventive up-tempo chord progressions can be heard with some pyschedelic vocals by Thijs van Leer. In the middle section a great fusion part is adapted to complete the song. This is one of my favourite Focus songs! Another standout is the title track, a highly classical compostion played by a symphonic prog band. On a live concert Van Leer mentioned the track passes through the whole fifths circel, which is a nice technical achievement.

Conclusion. If listening to the record as a seperated disc, this is a highly rewarding album. It might not be as perfect as Moving Waves, but it shurely resembles Hamburger Concerto. The additional jam's are very enjoyable, guitarist may want to listen to the reportoire of bizarre guitar techniques Jan Akkerman applies. Recommended to everyone into symphonic prog, classical music and fusion. Four stars!

My opinion on this album really echoes a majority opinion here, so I won't go into too much detail. The album in it's entirety is for those who like to listen to music for relaxation purposes, not to mention the ones that can stomach classical music. The title track is the only sung song on the album as the other pieces don't have or contain wordless vocals. At best, the instrumental interplay is tight, but at worst it just bores.

''Hocus Pocus'' is such an obvious miscast from everything else here; it is a high-octane foot stomping rock tune that has seen the light of day on many a classic rock station. It jaunts, taunts and flaunts as it soars with ecstatic drum solos, Jethro Tull-esque flute moments, yodelling, gibberish and the gawking guitar bits.

There's an epic here, but it's mostly boring to me. Too many soft mellotrons, uninteresting drum solos, stagnant tempos and subpar ELP-like outbursts. The bluesy jam in the middle is nothing short of spectacular with one of the best guitar solos I've ever heard, although the backing instruments help propel the song further.

I only pull this out for ''Hocus Pocus'' and the bluesy jam, that is unless I'm driving my car. The symph lover with an immense taste for classical music will want this, but those who want rock in their prog will only care for the two tracks that I mentioned.

Last words: Apparently, MOVING WAVES is also known as FOCUS II and the latter title has a different cover art associated with it.

I always look critically on every symphonic rock band. No, it doesn't mean that I hate sympho-prog, no way! But there are so many posers and pretenders between sympho- prog musicians, that my more than 30 yrs experience in music telling me : "Just be careful with them!"

You want to know why? It's easy! If you're playing eclectic prog,heavy prog, fusion or jazz- rock, you demonstrate your technique and musical ideas openly. One can love your music or not, but at least everyone hear what you wanted to say ( and how you done it). But in sympho-prog you can use some classic themes, or even better - just heavy keys passages, plus overproduction in recording studio - and you are new genius!!! And with modern synth/ recording technologies it's become much more easy.

It's a pity, but many young neo-prog bands are doing it regularly!!!

Ok, now let return back to Focus. The difference there is that their sound is very acoustic!! Pure melodies, competent guitar, very correct keyboards(piano!), (o,God - you can hear all other instruments playing!!!), flute, jazzy drums. Different kind of sympho-prog!

Some songs sound as early Jethro Tull, because of rich flute and acoustics. Another are coming near to jazz-rock. But all sound is very acoustic ( I'm speaking not about instruments used, but about SOUND itself). Jan Akkerman is wellknown as very competent guitar player, so you will hear one of the best guitar line there. But no axe-man posing! Akkerman uses guitar as music instrument,not as Kalashnikov!

The compilation is representative as well, and I think it's one of the best entrance to Focus music for beginners. To be honest, even experinced listeners would have this one instead of big amount of Focus original albums quite often. Because of very balanced mid tempo sound and mainly instrumental nature, full list or Focus original albums is interesting mainly for Focus fans and collectors.

As I told above, total sound is very acoustic, well balanced, mid tempo, with light jazzy feeling, more cool then warm. In other words, typical "dutch sound" ( I spend two years living there, believe me, that sound is a mirror of dutch character). Because of reasons as above album could be a bit boring or monotonious for some listeners, but generaly very pleasant and competent work.

Just to throw you off balance a tad they open with 1:12 of an air entitled "Delitiae Musicae," an arrangement of a traditional song from days gone by (a fancy way of saying it's a tune so old that no one has a clue as to which caveman came up with it and, thusly, no royalties need be paid). Using classic acoustic instrumentation, it's nicely done but not at all representative of what's to follow. "Harem Scarem" is more like what I expected in that it's an upbeat rocker from front to back in which the piano and Hammond organ of Thijs Van Leer and the guitar of Jan Akkerman combine to create a light-hearted ditty that's fun to listen to. (I'm wondering why it didn't receive a lot more airplay since it seems to be borne of the same cloth that made "Hocus Pocus" such a monster hit but perhaps it was due to a lack of grease-the-program-director's-palm-with-payola-and/or-nose-candy being supplied by the PR pukes at the label.) It's a happy-go-lucky boogie-woogie song that flies in the same stratosphere as Traffic's smile-inducing "Glad" does but it distinguishes itself with a more involved and complex structure. The funky breakdown just past the halfway point gives bassist Bert Ruiter a chance to stand in the spotlight and he doesn't shy away from making the most of his opportunity.

The album's apex comes in the form of "La Cathedrale De Strasbourg." The number begins with a flurry of dramatic piano stylings ala Chopin that lead to a delicate melody performed in a duet with Jan's guitar. In the 2nd part of the piece the group adopts a slow, bluesy groove whilst Thijs breaks into a brilliant whistling foray that would make a Texas mockingbird jealous. It's a cool surprise and Akkerman's jazzy guitar solo that follows is impressive. Overall it's a well-composed, moody instrumental that takes the listener through several different musical textures and emotions with ease. I can't say the same for the labored "Birth," however. It starts out with promising harpsichord trills but when drummer Colin Allen rambles in with his floor toms a 'rolling the unremarkable main theme emerges and the track enters the dreaded realm of the mediocre. There's a nifty flute ride (and later on a spirited recorder spasm) that pleases the Tull fan in me but Jan's sloppy guitar phrases leave me cold. I realize that this tune might have been the bee's knees in '74 but the decades haven't been kind to this cut and now it's as dated as a paisley Nehru jacket.

The LP's six-movement namesake and claim to fame is, obviously, the side- long "Hamburger Concerto." While unfortunate moments of inconsistency and hum-drum plague this opus there are enough spots of genuine euphoria erupting to rescue it from the dregs. "Starter" possesses the kind of grandiose and stately attitude that I like to hear and Bert's intricate bass lines distinguish themselves in particular. It's big and proggy as all get out. Perfect. Don't change a thing. "Rare" is a continuation of that processional aura but it does belie a tuft of gray hair poking out from under the tiara (Careful with that ARP, Eugene!) in that the synthesizer is as thin and buzzy as a gnat's aria. Yet a large- scale intervention from the mighty Mellotron saves the day. "Medium I" (get the bun pun yet?) features some clever vocal hijinks from Van Leer that keep things from getting too heavy-handed/serious (always a good thing, their sense of humor being one of their more endearing traits) and when he mounts the Hammond organ and drives it like a dirt bike for a spell he demonstrates that Wakeman and Emerson ain't got nothin' on him. Thijs also ends this segment with some swirling, tasty flute roll-ups that will tickle your eardrums.

On "Medium II" it's the guitar's turn to shine from center stage but it seems there's a short in the floodlights. Jan's jazzy noodling at first is intriguing but when he dials up the volume/distortion his tone becomes brittle and it sounds like he's searching desperately for places to take his solo. To add insult to injury he's not helped in the least by the tired descending chord progression that's droning underneath him. It's intolerably unimaginative and entirely too been-there-a-zillion-times patronizing. I understand that it's intended to be a simple platform for Akkerman to shock and awe atop of on the fretboard but he fails to do so and it becomes no better than a flabby Lynyrd Skynyrd-like jam that can't end too soon. What I'm saying is that if a guitarist is going to fill up 5 minutes of vinyl he'd better tear the roof off the sucker or it's just filler. Enough already! He finally plugs his cord into the Leslie speaker cabinet and switches to a friendlier riff to pull this bus out of the ditch. "Well Done" takes us into a stained-glass sanctuary for a large dose of Catholic mass-ish chantings before a heavy rock motif ensues and things get back to being both entertaining and challenging. "One For the Road" is the finale and it doesn't back away from being delightfully over-the-top. Glad to hear it. They construct a fittingly colossal wall of sound accentuated by a fatter ARP synthesizer setting and the mountainous climax is stupendous and gratifying. You know, the kind of stuff that drove punk rockers to stick safety pins through their cheeks.

While Focus may not occupy the penthouse suites in the prog rock condominiums that house the likes of Pink Floyd, Yes and Genesis they do reside comfortably in the same high-rise and there's a lot to be said for that. They were extremely talented, to be sure, but they weren't necessarily innovative and that's the essential characteristic that separates them from the giants. "Hamburger Concerto" is a pleasant listening experience that affords a clear look into precisely what was going on in the mid 70s in commercial prog rock and it deserves my highest 3-star rating. Enjoy it for what it is but don't expect too much.