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Ivan_Melgar_M 
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 Topic: Focus The Shorts
Posted: May 01 2012 at 10:15 |
 richardh wrote:
I am most familiar with House Of The King through school about 35 years ago. You would assemble to watch some eduactional progamme and House Of The King was the theme music for schools TV. I didn't have a clue who it was until many years later I got a Focus compilation. It was nice to hear it again even though I will always associate it with school! |
Funny, my case is similar:
In the late 60's in Perú, there was a vinyl floor called PISOPAK, and the theme of the TV advertising was The House of the King.
It was rare because Rock was almost banned in Perú due to the "Gobierno Revolucionario de las Fuerzas Armadas" of General Velazco, The Nacional Service of Intelligence (paradoxical name for the brutish censorship) checked that Rock wasn't played in schools or TV, but it's told that they convinced the censors that it was played with quena (Peruvian wooden flute), so the Government said nothing.
I loved the song. and always reminds me of my childhood.
Iván
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richardh
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Joined: February 18 2004
Location: United Kingdom
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Points: 26395
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Posted: May 01 2012 at 01:23 |
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I am most familiar with House Of The King through school about 35 years ago. You would assemble to watch some eduactional progamme and House Of The King was the theme music for schools TV. I didn't have a clue who it was until many years later I got a Focus compilation. It was nice to hear it again even though I will always associate it with school!
Edited by richardh - May 01 2012 at 01:23
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Ivan_Melgar_M
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Points: 19535
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Posted: April 30 2012 at 16:15 |
I forgot, The House of the King also has a story.
The guys were recording for several days the "In and Out of Focus" album, but the inspiration was dry. They were missing some minutes to complete the album and the producer was behind them. One morning they came early and started to jam and voila, The House of the King was there. They recorded it with the personnel at the studio and when the producer came, he was angry, he said this song should not be in the album because they had bypassed him, and he grabbed the tape.
I don't know if they refused to make a new song (Akkerman had a strong character) or the producer changed his mind, but the song was included and it was the only hit of the album.
The sad part is that 90% of the people who have listened it believe it's a Jethro Tull song.
Iván
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The-Winkler
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Joined: April 30 2012
Location: Harlow newtown
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Points: 125
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Posted: April 30 2012 at 13:38 |
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Sylvia
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Dellinger
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Posted: April 30 2012 at 13:22 |
richardh wrote:
Dellinger wrote:
richardh wrote:
Its a real shame that their recent albums get completely ignored but never mind
I voted House Of The King but could easily have gone for Sylvia which has one of the best guitar melodies ever.
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I guess it doesn't help that their albums are rather difficult to find. I have all of the Jan Akkerman albums (as far as I know), but it was rather difficult to get them. By then I thought I already had them all, but then found out they had been releasing albums after Jan Akkerman left, but since for me he is such an amazing guitar player, and it's rather difficult to get the albums, I just thought it would be easier to stop where I was, and assume that without Akkerman they wouldn't be as great (their last or last two albums with Akkerman, the Mother Focus and Ship of Memories, were already much weaker than what they'd done before, anyway). |
They are good albums.Maybe not earth shattering but not deserving of being ignored totally (which is usually the case).
I love Akkerman as well. Seen him live a couple of times.One of the best guitarists ever. |
Lucky you.
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Ivan_Melgar_M
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Joined: April 27 2004
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Posted: April 30 2012 at 11:06 |
For those who voted Sylvia, this song has an interesting story:
The original name of he song was: "I thought I could do Everything on my own, I was always stripping the Town Alone" and had lyrics.
The song was written by Thijs before he joined Focus. On those days he worked with another young man and two girls as chorus for two famous crooners in Holland named Ramses Shaffy and Liesbeth List.
During the show of this musicians, the kids in the chorus were allowed to sing one song each one, and one of the girls (Sylvia Alberts) had a song that Thijs didn't liked. So one day he wrote "I thought I could do Everything on my own, I was always stripping the Town Alone" for her, but Sylvia hated the song, so he took it and saved it for a better moment.
When they were recording FOCUS III, side one was missing like 4 minutes and nobody had a song, so Thijs remembered the song he wrote for Sylvia Alberts, deleted the lyrics, changed the name and included it in the album. he rest is well known, Sylvia was the biggest world hit they had until that moment.
Iván.
Edited by Ivan_Melgar_M - April 30 2012 at 11:08
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richardh
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Joined: February 18 2004
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 26395
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Posted: April 30 2012 at 09:53 |
Dellinger wrote:
richardh wrote:
Its a real shame that their recent albums get completely ignored but never mind
I voted House Of The King but could easily have gone for Sylvia which has one of the best guitar melodies ever.
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I guess it doesn't help that their albums are rather difficult to find. I have all of the Jan Akkerman albums (as far as I know), but it was rather difficult to get them. By then I thought I already had them all, but then found out they had been releasing albums after Jan Akkerman left, but since for me he is such an amazing guitar player, and it's rather difficult to get the albums, I just thought it would be easier to stop where I was, and assume that without Akkerman they wouldn't be as great (their last or last two albums with Akkerman, the Mother Focus and Ship of Memories, were already much weaker than what they'd done before, anyway). |
They are good albums.Maybe not earth shattering but not deserving of being ignored totally (which is usually the case).
I love Akkerman as well. Seen him live a couple of times.One of the best guitarists ever.
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Dellinger
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Joined: June 18 2009
Location: Mexico
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Points: 12612
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Posted: April 29 2012 at 21:50 |
BarryGlibb wrote:
C'mon you guys..BIRTH is an absolute gem. Have a listen to it and then Hocus Pocus.
I am sure Birth will win out.
I can't get rid of this underlined italicised type!!!!!!! |
Indeed, I love Birth too. Hocus Pocus rocks, but Birth is really beautiful.
Edited by Dellinger - April 30 2012 at 13:20
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colorofmoney91
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Joined: March 16 2008
Location: Biosphere
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Points: 22774
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Posted: April 28 2012 at 20:13 |
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Sylvia!
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BarryGlibb
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Joined: August 28 2010
Location: Melbourne, Oz
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Points: 1781
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Posted: April 28 2012 at 19:17 |
C'mon you guys.. BIRTH is an absolute gem. Have a listen to it and then Hocus Pocus.
I am sure Birth will win out.
I can't get rid of this underlined italicised type!!!!!!!
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Dellinger
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Joined: June 18 2009
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Points: 12612
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Posted: April 28 2012 at 14:11 |
richardh wrote:
Its a real shame that their recent albums get completely ignored but never mind
I voted House Of The King but could easily have gone for Sylvia which has one of the best guitar melodies ever.
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I guess it doesn't help that their albums are rather difficult to find. I have all of the Jan Akkerman albums (as far as I know), but it was rather difficult to get them. By then I thought I already had them all, but then found out they had been releasing albums after Jan Akkerman left, but since for me he is such an amazing guitar player, and it's rather difficult to get the albums, I just thought it would be easier to stop where I was, and assume that without Akkerman they wouldn't be as great (their last or last two albums with Akkerman, the Mother Focus and Ship of Memories, were already much weaker than what they'd done before, anyway).
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Harold-The-Barrel
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Joined: November 05 2010
Location: Dublin, Ireland
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Points: 659
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Posted: April 28 2012 at 02:38 |
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Sylvia
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You must be joking.....Take a running jump......
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richardh
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Joined: February 18 2004
Location: United Kingdom
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Points: 26395
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Posted: April 28 2012 at 02:24 |
Its a real shame that their recent albums get completely ignored but never mind
I voted House Of The King but could easily have gone for Sylvia which has one of the best guitar melodies ever.
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ten years after
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Joined: September 07 2007
Location: Australia
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Points: 1008
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Posted: April 28 2012 at 02:17 |
Anonymous is a bit too long to count as a "short".
I voted for Sylvia on this list for various reasons.
Three of the short tracks on the first album (Focus vocal, Mescaline and Why Dream) are worthy of inclusion on this list.
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Dellinger
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Joined: June 18 2009
Location: Mexico
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Posted: April 27 2012 at 18:37 |
Gandalff wrote:
Ivan_Melgar_M wrote:
Gandalff wrote:
Ivan_Melgar_M wrote:
Would be unfair to mix short tracks with epics, so here you have the shorts by the great Dutch band Focus..
Now I have to think between House of the King, Sylvia, Harem Scarem and La Cathdral De Strasbourg.
Iván
PS: Went with The House of the King, masterpiece of flute and bass often attributed to Jethro Tull. |
Where are Focus The Middles? |
<SPAN style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: medium" ="Apple-style-span"> <DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: 1.2; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; MARGIN: 1px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 12px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; -: none; rgb255: ">Now, I can't understand that Delitae Musicae and Harem Scarem don't have a vote.
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: 1.2; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; MARGIN: 1px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 12px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; -: none; rgb255: ">
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: 1.2; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; MARGIN: 1px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 12px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; -: none; rgb255: ">Iván</SPAN> |
That´s easy. Overshadowed by Hocus Pocus, genial and timeless musical joke. |
Indeed!!! Hocus Pocus must be about the only "Joke" song I really love. Brilliant.
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Mista-Gordie
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Joined: March 27 2011
Location: Canada
Status: Offline
Points: 282
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Posted: April 27 2012 at 17:15 |
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Birth, easily
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Badabec
Forum Senior Member
Joined: November 14 2005
Location: Germany
Status: Offline
Points: 1313
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Posted: September 14 2011 at 06:45 |
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The awesome Carnival Fugue, of course.
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Mesmo a tristeza da gente era mais bela
E além disso se via da janela
Um cantinho de céu e o Redentor
- Antônio Carlos Jobim, Toquinho & Vinícius de Moraes - Carta ao Tom 74
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irrelevant
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Joined: March 07 2010
Location: Australia
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Points: 13382
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Posted: September 14 2011 at 06:33 |
LudwigBrahms wrote:
Where's the love for Focus III? It's so melodic and Akkerman's guitar crescendos beautifully into that main theme that I just love. That's always been one of my favorites and would definitely be the one I'd vote for if this poll would let me. |
It's a great track.
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LudwigBrahms
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Joined: March 18 2010
Status: Offline
Points: 13
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Posted: September 13 2011 at 15:44 |
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Where's the love for Focus III? It's so melodic and Akkerman's guitar crescendos beautifully into that main theme that I just love. That's always been one of my favorites and would definitely be the one I'd vote for if this poll would let me.
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Gandalff
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Joined: September 07 2007
Location: Middle-Earth
Status: Offline
Points: 4214
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Posted: September 13 2011 at 14:03 |
Ivan_Melgar_M wrote:
Gandalff wrote:
Ivan_Melgar_M wrote:
Would be unfair to mix short tracks with epics, so here you have the shorts by the great Dutch band Focus..
Now I have to think between House of the King, Sylvia, Harem Scarem and La Cathdral De Strasbourg.
Iván
PS: Went with The House of the King, masterpiece of flute and bass often attributed to Jethro Tull. |
Where are Focus The Middles? |
Now, I can't understand that Delitae Musicae and Harem Scarem don't have a vote.
Iván |
That´s easy. Overshadowed by Hocus Pocus, genial and timeless musical joke.
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A Elbereth Gilthoniel
silivren penna míriel
o menel aglar elenath!
Na-chaered palan-díriel
o galadhremmin ennorath,
Fanuilos, le linnathon
nef aear, sí nef aearon!
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Focus The Shorts
