Focus, the resurrected Dutch band... thoughts?

This would be one of the few cases where I'd recommend a greatest hits:

 

Live at the Rainbow with a great version of Sylvia.

 

I don't know how the band could even exist without Jan Akkerman. He was to Focus what EVH is to Vanhalen.

 

I think the (pre) Spinal Tap guys actually had a hand in this if I am not mistaken.

 

Christopher Guest was highly involved.

 

I think the core 3 albums (Moving Waves, Focus 3 and Hamburger Concerto) are equally great and among the bet progressive rock albums ever. But I would not forget the first one and Mother Focus, they have some weaker material (not the first one, in my opinion, though) and less improvisation or jamming, but the following tracks are essential:

Anonymous
House Of The King
Happy Nightmare (Mescaline)
Focus -- the instrumental long version. For me the quintessential Thijs Van Leer composition. Half of his work could be considered as a continuation of that.
Mother Focus
Focus IV -- an absolutely beautiful fourth chapter to his suite over multiple albums

 

I saw this is in a used record (LP) shop for $6. Almost got it until I opened it up for inspection. Scratched!

 

Dutch Masters is probably the best Focus compilation album .

 

Sure there will be-IF they sell-in terms of ROYALTIES. That's why bands re-record, and sometimes perhaps to get old stuff "out there again." For instance, Journey re-recorded their hits as the second disc of Revelation because Sony wouldn't play ball (I read the details in an interview, but forget what the deal was).

 

agreed... those three alone made Focus famous!
I would also add Live At The Rainbow as well.

 

I would love to see them visit the US. I haven't seen them for 41 years. I'd miss Akkerman, but then again, this time I would get to see Pierre van der Linden, who had left the band when I saw them in 1974.

 

My first concert was Focus opening for Return to Forever, 1972 in Minneapolis at the State or Orpheum Theater, can't recall which one, They made me a fan that night!

 

I'd go with Moving Waves or Focus 3. There's a lot of love for Hamburger Concerto, which I honestly haven't listened to in its entirety. I've sampled later albums and like much late 70s prog, they're of highly variable quality.

 

I am a big fan of the Van Leer Introspection series.

 

Ever hear Jan's live album 10000 Clowns on a Rainy Day? It's a fantastic set, and he plays outstanding versions of some Focus classics. Highly recommend it.

 

In 1972, aged 12, I'd heard "Hocus Pocus" on AM radio and immediately saved my allowance to buy Moving Waves. But I was very shocked to hear this album of melodic "classical-rock"! Turns out that Hocus Pocus was not very representative of the rest of the album. However I quickly learned to like it very much, and became perhaps the youngest Prog fan on the Canadian prairies. I'm a big Prog fan to this day, and I credit Focus for introducing me to my beloved genre. Still own that old copy of Moving Waves too, although I like Hamburger Concerto even better.

 

Nah, I have no interest in that release. When I want to hear Focus music, I want to hear Focus playing it, live or otherwise. ('70s Focus, that is.)

This almost mirrors my experience! I first heard "Hocus Pocus" on the radio in a department store and bought the single. Not long after that, I bought Moving Waves on cassette - I remember that it was in a cool-looking blue shell. Like you, I was surprised that the rest of the album was so different. But I quickly absorbed the music and as a result became maybe the youngest Prog fan in the NYC area! And I didn't even know what "Prog" was yet. To me, it was just good music.

 

Big fan of
Focus II and Hamburger Concerto here!
I still do not understand why Focus II was retitled to Moving Waves though. I like the original sleeve better too.

 

Same age as me and this is exactly correct and a great post. I didn't buy Moving Waves though, a buddy did. We used to share albums in those days. Wasn't like we were pulling in that 6 figure income at 12.............

 

Maybe Seymour Stein could tell you why Focus II was retitled. Likely because the first Focus album wasn't issued globally, so it would've been confusing for most people outside the Netherlands to see II. As far as I know, the Netherlands is the only place where Focus II had that title.

Did you ever see the North American sleeve for Focus 3? It's very different from the European one. And in North America, the title Focus 3 was used, even though it was still very hard for us to find a copy of the first Focus album. Mine was an expensive imported UK copy, which had sleeve notes written by Seymour Stein.

 

I don't think I know more than Hocus Pocus, but that is a great one.

 

La Cathédrale de Strasbourg

 

Loved Focus since the mid 70s when i was about 15.I thought they had broken up because i found most of their albums in cut out bins on the Polydor label.Then EMI re-released them so i bought them all again.Bought all the solo ,compilations and import albums and even Jap pressings.Focus 3 is probably my favourite but as mentioned once you get passed the first side your in for some pretty self indulgent jamming.The opening six or seven minutes of Anonymous2 feauturing van Leer on flute and organ is fantastic but i wish they had kept up the pace for Bert Ruiter's solo which goes on forever.Jan Akkermans guitar tone is dark and somewhat muddy like a jazz guitarist on this album(except for the hit Sylvia),unlike the spikey searing tone on previous albums and can be messy and discordant in places.I love Pierre van der Lindens jazzy drumming.And then we finish off the album with the lovely Elspeth of Nottingham and House of the King which was from the first album/lineup.Not an album for newbies so i would go for Moving Waves.Hamburger Concerto is grandiose and mostly magnificent .Although highly dismissed i find Mother Focus a great album.It may be a little jazz lite but there is some great meldies in their.Ship of Memories ,a collection of outakes is interesting but not essential.Focus Con Proby an ill advised collaberation with pop 60s star P.J.Proby is pretty forgetable save for the brilliant Sneezing Bull.Akkerman and van der Linden were long gone by this time and the fire was just about out.

 

Another great record by them that I did not see eas Mother Ship. Check it out.

 

Indeed..... The first album is thier BEST because its the original band and the music kicks!!!