Focus - 50 Years Anthology 1970-1976 [box set 9 CD + 2 DVD] - release 13th November 2020

My set is on order with one of the online retailers here, good price, but on release day changed from "preorder" to "backorder." I suspect they'll come through pretty soon and I've just got to be patient! Really looking forward to it though, great content and though I had much on vinyl back in the day I never got any of the cd's except for Live Rainbow....this box is going to get me reacquainted with albums I've not heard in years.

 

Hi,
Is that direct from Amazon or a 3rd party seller?

 

Third party.

 

Thanks, I think I'll get the set.

 

I think you are the first person in this thread from this continent to receive the box.

 

It took only a week to ship it from England to Canada, pretty quick I think.

Currently listening to first album, so far so goooood! Thanks Mr. Wouter.

 

Not bad at all. Thanks, i've ordered. Expected delivery sucks, but I am not in a hurry.

 

I wasn’t in a hurry but can’t wait to listen to it! Have so much to listen anyway.

 

Just finished watching the Rainbow concert, the simplicity of the stage setup, makes the music more powerful. Thijs Van Leer vocal percussion is something to be watch, has the playing of the others band members also. SQ quite good, good.

 

Good comment I agree with you.

 

I am being threatened with divorce if I listen to anymore Focus or Tangerine dream this weekend. Driving my wife mad with my obsession. Think Wouter may be getting named in the petition...

 

Listening with headphones it becomes apparant that the albums here sound better than the 1988 CDs, they sound cleaner, as if a thin veil is lifted from it. It's not dramatic but noticeable. The mastering on the CDs of the Hocus Pocus box set from 2017 holds up quite well in my opinion, they sound very good to me as well. The Japanese K2 HD CDs are garbage compared to these, as Wouter mentioned. It's a crime really, considering how expensive these were.

 

Been there... Perhaps it’s time for you to negotiate the acquisition of an headphone listening kit...

 

It is a shame Red Bullet released this great box set, and their biggest act in their catalog is the worst. The Golden Earring CDs by Red Bullet sound really bad, compared to the original Polydor CDs or LPs.

 

I have a few versions of the BBC 73 show, the audio on the CD here is as good as it's ever going to sound, another fine replacement. Pristine sound quality and such a great show, Focus in top form. "Such a joy to listen to" to quote Bob Harris.

 

I’m looking forward to comparing the sound to my 1988 IRS Moving Waves cd -it sounds excellent and will be hard to beat.

 

I have a poor sounding audience recording of the Dublin May 9 1973 show, the show on DVD 2 "Focus at the Stadium" is different so I assume it's from the day after, May 10. That is, if I got the tour schedule right, which is rather poorly documented for the early years.

 

Stone deaf in one era. Headphones don't work great for me ....

 

Sunday morning and my first dip into Mother Focus since perhaps 1977. It had been pert of a Focus cache at that time which came together so I had no real sense of chronology. At that time I would not have been aware of what was happening with the band internally or how the various releases fitted together as a sequence. It is certainly sounding fine as I look out of the window at a cold, but sunny day. And in spite of the occasional talking guitar is does sound distinctly out of kilter with the time it was recorded. It is certainly more laid back and has a lot in common with what was promoted with 'easy' compilations of the late nineties which fed classic TV and film themes in with easy listening instrumental and vocal performances from the mid sixties to early seventies. Much of this could have fitted that musical landscape. And that it not meant as a criticism, there were some wonderful atmospheric and mood-setting tracks on those compilations. I guess that you can see a softening of the edges though in terms of style though.

This is the right album for this morning and there is some superb playing here. As I have perhaps said previously. Focus have not been on my radar or turntable for a considerable time but I am so glad to have purchased this set. It is like meeting an old friend.

 

I listened to it yesterday.
I agree with what you say about the music being softer & possible soundtrack music for something like Magnum or Miami Vice or some similar cop show maybe?

 

My jpc order has finally arrived on these shores and
should be delivered in the next 1-2 days.
Can't wait to go into Focus overload.

 

It just so happens that I did the same thing this morning. I have to admit though that it will take some time for Mother Focus to grow on me. In the first half of the '70s, I got very excited by jazz-rock in its infancy but around 1975 things got far too smooth to my liking. I am still a big fan of Jan Hammer, for example, but Miami Vice is rather beyond me. Likewise, over the years, I've collected almost all of Larry Coryell's oeuvre from 1966 to 2017, but I can't get myself buying his CDs in the smooth jazz genre. I do realize that it's a matter of personal taste. I really admire both Jan Akkerman and Larry Coryell for integrating diverse musical styles and excelling in all of them. From baroque to blues, from jazz to rock, from funk to punk, from Abba to Zappa ...

 

You’re right Kees it’s the one album from their classic era which leaves me scratching my head.
I’ll have another listen. For research purposes.

 

Focus
Live (Unreleased Live Recordings)
Red Bullet
CD

(From the Focus 50 Years Anthology 1970-76 Boxed Set)

Great stuff!