Focus

Focus - Live At The BBC - 2004 - Hux Records

Recorded in London on 21st March 1976 by the BBC, this concert includes new material as well as old Focus standards. In 1976, the only original Focus members left were Thijs van Leer and bassist Bert Ruiter. Thijs assembled a new Focus line-up for a UK tour. He recruited Philip Catherine, the great jazz fusion guitarist and the great LA session drummer David Kemper. This is a very good Focus album even without the great Jan Akkerman. Check out Focus’ classic “Live At The Rainbow” album, Jan Akkerman’s “Tabernakel” album, and Philip Catherine’s “Twin House” album [All tracks @ 320 Kps: File size = 141 Mb]

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1. Virtuous Woman (Van Leer) 10:58
2. Blues In D (Ruiter) 3:46
3. Maximum (Van Leer) 14:00
4. Sneezing Bull (Catherine) 7:46
5. Sonata For Flute (Bach, arr. by Van Leer) 2:47
6. House Of The King (Akkermann, Flynn) 3:15
7. Angel Wings (Catherine) 5:38
8. Little Sister/What You See (Van Leer) 8:18
9. Hocus Pocus (Akkermann, Van Leer) 5:48

MUSICIANS

Philip Catherine - Guitars
Bert Ruiter - Bass, Vocals
Thijs Van Leer - Keyboards, Flute, Vocals
David Kemper – Drums

SHORT BIO

Best remembered for their bizarre chart smash "Hocus Pocus," Dutch progressive rock band Focus was formed in Amsterdam in 1969 by vocalist/keyboardist/flutist Thijs van Leer, bassist Martin Dresden, and drummer Hans Cleuver. With the subsequent addition of guitarist Jan Akkerman, the group issued its debut LP, In and Out of Focus, in 1970, earning a European cult following thanks to the single "House of the King." Dresden and Cleuver were replaced by bassist Cyril Havermanns and drummer Pierre Van der Linden for the English-language follow-up, Moving Waves; the record generated the hit "Hocus Pocus," a hallucinatory epic distinguished by Akkerman's guitar pyrotechnics and van Leer's demented yodeling. Easily one of the flat-out strangest songs ever to crack the American pop charts, the single peaked at number nine in the spring of 1973, by which time Focus had already exchanged Havermanns for bassist Bert Ruiter and issued their third album, Focus III, which yielded the minor hit "Sylvia." In the wake of 1974's Hamburger Concert, the band streamlined the classical aspirations of earlier efforts to pursue a more pop-oriented approach on records like Ship of Memories and Mother Focus; though roster changes regularly plagued Focus throughout the period, none was more pivotal than the 1976 exit of Akkerman, who was replaced by guitarist Philip Catherine for 1978's Focus con Proby, cut with British pop singer P.J. Proby. Focus then disbanded, with the original lineup reuniting in 1990 for a Dutch television special. © Jason Ankeny © 2014 AllMusic, a division of All Media Network, LLC. | All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/artist/focus-mn0000195305/biography