FunkFreak75 I always like the highpoints of Focus Con Proby--especially "Wingless." New guitarist Eef Albers never gets enough credit; everyone always assumes the great guitar solos and playing is known & respected Belgian maestro Phillip Catherine, but if one is to believe the credits, Phillip only plays lead on three songs (Side 1, song 5; Side 2, songs 3 & 4), while Eef has all the rest--including the great "Wingless" and the nice instrumental "Orion" (which he is credited as having composed) and the bluesy duo of "Eddy" and "Brother"--which he also composed. The fast chargin' "Night Flight" is another Eef composition which, interestingly, sounds like it could have come straight from one of Jan Akkerman's solo albums of the 1970s. (Think "Can't Fake a Good Time" from Eli). So, please, give Eef Albers some of the credit, people! He's due! He's a seasoned and gifted guitarist composer with a long career in the Dutch music scene--Toots Thielmans, Medusa, Kraan, Steve Smith, Rob Franken, Peter Herbolzheimer Orchestra, etc. Phillip's jazzy lead & rhythm guitar work (on multiple tracks, apparently) on "Sneezing Bull"--the only song that he is listed as composer--is impressive, though some might not listen to him due to Thijs Van Leer's flute play, it is, as I said, impressive.

"Maximum" (8:43) as some people point out, falls into the realm of funk/disco that bands like Jean-Luc Ponty, Jan Akkerman, and George Duke were exploring, but there is still some serious classical Weather Report-like chops in there, too. It's actually a pretty decent song (an instrumental) with some nice bass and keyboard play from Focus old guard, Bert Ruiter and Thijs van Leer, respectively. This is also my favorite song in which Steve Smith shines--lots of sytlistic and rhythmic shifts over the course of the almost nine minutes.

Speaking of classical orientation, the gorgeous little piano and flute duet that starts out "Tokyo Rose" is nice--before PJ Proby steps in to try his best Frank Zappa vocal impersonation. Luckily, it then turns out to be more of an instrumental with intermittent narrative passages.

This is by no means a bad album, just not as cohesive or consistent as some of the previous Focus albums. I do have one further comment: the album's liner notes and credits always confused me more for the fact that if it is indeed an album of two guitarists trading off the lead and rhythm duties, it is quite remarkable how often the songs credited to Philip Catherine on the lead sound like the lead of Eef Albers. My theory is that, in fact, Eef and Philip more often shared the lead and rhythm duties even within single songs, but that the creditor was just being kind of lazy (or forgetful--or wasn't even part of the recording sessions).

Anyway, this is a a far more listenable and even enjoyable album than people want to give credit--probably due to the lack of interconnection from song to song as well as the disco and blues ruts the band had allowed their music to fall into.

FunkFreak75 This is an odd album that, to my mind, epitomizes the quandary that is/was FOCUS: Nothing feels finished, polished, worked through to its best possible end result. And this seems the case with all Focus albums: INCREDIBLE individual talents (here sporting THE favorite Focus cast of all-time--Jan Akkerman, Thijs van Leer, bassist Burt Ruiter and drummer Pierre van der Linden) collaborating only half-heartedly leads to flashes of utter brilliance--sometimes unparalleled in all of prog world!--but then there are the lows where things just didn't feel heart-felt or worked through, as if the band thought they might as well ride out the recording sessions with "the best they could get." Here's my vision of how a Focus studio session would unwrap:

Band arrives. (Not all at the same time--which irks the early/on-time members.) Talk. Warm up. Rehearse some parts. Quickly set levels and push 'record' and play. Play back. "It's good." "There are some amazing parts!" "It could be better." "Do we want to try it again?" "No--" "F#*k no!" "Okay, then. Next song." --and repeat.

This album is such a hodge podge. The musical styles present here are all over the map. From humorous, tongue-in-cheek, Robert Wyatt-like jazz-rock-pop with, 1. "Round Goes the Gossip" (5:16) (8/10), to the syrupy romantic adult contemporary jazz piece, 2. "Love Remembered" (2:49) (10/10), to an attempt at an pop instrumental anthem in 3. "Sylvia" (3:31) (8/10), to MICHEL LE GRAND-like lounge classical piano jazz in, 4. "Carnival Fugue" (6:02) (8/10), to the reworking on a variation of an old group song and coming out with 5. "Focus III" (6:07) (my favorite version of the song) (9/10), to the loose but exhilarating free-form jamming of 6. "Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers!" (19:54) (one of my all-time favorite songs--and all-time favorite guitar exhibitions) (10/10), to an attempt at a modern electric classical symphonia (but ends up sound more like a re-hashing of "Answers? Questions!...") in 7. "Anonymous II" (26:19) (8/10), to ancient/medieval with, 8. "Elspeth of Nottingham" (3:11) (10/10), and topped off with one of their old standards--released previously on their first album (with different drummer and bass player)--a JETHRO TULL-sounding piece here used to fill space on Side 4, 9. "House of the King" (2:23) (8/10)--all of which exhibit's compositional mastery, creative experimentalism, and, of course, instrumental virtuosity. Too bad it doesn't all work. Amazing that it sold so well--especially as it is an all-instrumental album.

Could've been a masterpiece with a little more work. But, heck! A double album is a lot of work!

FunkFreak75 One of the seminal albums in my induction into the world of progressive rock music, I can never forget the first time hearing with awe the artistry and skills put on display by the radio friendly "Hocus Pocus." Amazing speed from all players, amazing guitar leads, amazing drum play, amazing flute play, and simply shocking display of yodelling. (Yodelling?! Yes! Yodelling!) Guts and innovation. The album that I bought out of this radio experience, was slightly disappointing except for the stunning beauty of the "Tommy" section of "Eruption." I think I was just a bit too new to complex and eclectic music making to appreciate the shorts on Side One. And then, while I wore out the grooves of my Side Two ("Eruption") twice (I still own three copies of "Moving Waves"), the song has not kept it's lustre for me over the years (though a recent listen surprised me with just how familiar and how adrenaline-pumping the song was to me). However, with age all of the songs from Side One have won me over to the point that I truly believe that these musicians were truly geniuses--virtuosi, too!--creating music that blended classical, folk, jazz traditions more cleverly, more deftly and certainly more skillfully than 99% of the bands out there. I mean this was 1971!

Everytime I hear the gorgeous "Le Clochard" (2:01) (10/10) I mistakenly think I'm listening to a Steve Hackett piece. "Janis" (3:08) (9/10) is equally gorgeous just not as technically impressive (though there are amazing flourishes there). "Moving Waves" (2:43) (8/10) is impressive for its English and classical feel--though I always felt singing with lyrics was an incongruous manouevre for this band. "Focus II" (4:04) is one of those classic beauties with its jazzy, YES-like in and out of focus tempos. It's only flaw for me was that it exposed (for me) a little of the weakness of the drummer (Who I've never been able to embrace with the praise and admiration that so many others do). (10/10) The side-long (over 23-minutes!) "Eruption" is one of the daring masterpieces of the classic era of progressive rock music. It has the ELP feel and classical structures to it but it has the added bonus of the presence and contribution of the great Jan Akkerman--perhaps the greatest guitarist of his generation.

A few years ago I rated this with only four stars but, no more, this is one of the unsung and seminal masterpieces of the progressive rock movement of the early 1970s.

FunkFreak75 I can't believe I have not yet written a review for one of my favorite albums from my college days. While I would most often play Side 2--the one containing the concerto--"La Cathédrale de Strasbourg" remains one of my favorite all-time prog songs. (Partly because I lived in Strasbourg, France, 1978-79, but more for the beautifully refined and respectful ministrations of vocal, flute, and guitar entwined therein.) While "Harem Scarem" (9/10; a kind of "Hocus Pocus" reprise) and "Birth" (9/10) are good, solid songs, FOCUS, for me, excelled when they brought the old, 'ancient and medieval' sounds or the quirky odd sounds into their music rather than performed straightforward rock. Still, this is the best all-around record of a, IMHO, notoriously underachieving band (think of the potential they had with the likes of Ruiter, van Der Linden, van Leer, and Akkerman on board!). Though really 4.5 stars, it is one of those masterful milestones of progressive rock that one cannot but hold up high for others to try.

Moshkiae Focus Hamburger Concerto 1974

If there is an exceptional album that defines Focus, I think that "Hamburger Concerto" is the one.

Starting with a slight likely traditional piece that is acoustic and very pretty, and in the hands of Jan Akkerman, this is very nice and opens up the album, although it does not define it, but I think it is a hint that... we do other things!

From there to "Harem Scarem" is a really nice piece that drives the sound that we will associate with Focus more and more. It is a piece that really shines between Thijs and Jan and it is a nice rocker, probably in the idea of their hit "Hocus Pocus", but I don't think it has the fun that the famous piece did. It looks like it would be a super piece for Thijs and Jan to play, but while a wonderful listen, it does not bring up the excitement that you would want to have fun with it like you could with the previous piece.

"La Cathedral of Strasbourg" is probably one of the pieces that I love to listen to and it needs to be played on the air ... it has some nice stuff in it .... it seems like a sort of parade of what it would be like to see some of these old places, with some fun stuff in the piece. It starts solemn, as many of these churches usually look, with the organ giving it that ... well known thought that this is what the church gives us. Solemn words! And the fun starts ... a few light lyrics and a ding dong, give you a nice touch of how many folks feel about this place, as if you were a visitor and saw this ... let's call it, these are the vendors and folks around the church selling yo everything you can think of. It's low and kinda in the background and it is nice and ... I think it is just right, as I remember in various places in Portugal in my young days. It continues quietly and in a very pretty way design of the music that gives us an idea of what a lot of the baroque music might have been like. Just a really nice piece, that is more about the atmosphere of the whole place, than it is anything else.

"Birth" is next, and ... it seems to want to setup a special solo or moment in the music, and it breaks up into a nice guitar part, and later into a flute part ... and then they come together for a bigger and louder part that drives the rest of the piece. A nice piece for radio, but not a favorite one for folks that like this band, as it seems to not be as important as the other pieces, but in my ears this is nice, and it gets stronger as it goes along. I like this, and it helps the album nicely and along with the previous piece and the main piece, this already makes it a special album.

The real thing in this album is the main piece and title. A true concerto in that it is subdivided in parts by how you want your hamburger done ... Yeah ... you got it ... Starter, Rare, Medium 1, Medium 2, Well Done, and ... of course ... One for the Road! What makes this neat, and far out is hearing the cook singing along ... well ... Thijs really ... but you get the idea, besides the seriousness of the musical continuity and design, this piece is exceptional and well handled. It is one of those things that you will sit and listen to it in its entirety, as it goes through its many changes, but its continuity is special and makes this one of the highlights of the whole of FOCUS's material and life.

I suppose that a lot of folks don't like some fun stuff in the middle of serious music, and I suppose that did not appear a long time ago even in folks like Mozart ... but you can tell that this was done in gest, and made FOCUS a bit of a fun band to come and watch, but I have always wondered if this got in the way of the band's musical definition, which obviously they enjoyed having fun with several pieces, as almost all albums have some of it. But for the rock fan, this could be a problem. For the classic fan, this might be OK because it has a lot of really well done and defined touches that are specially classical in their approach, and they make the music a real nice portion of your evening. The "jazzy" side of this album are almost all in the hands of Jan Akkerman, in various moments, when they seem to be setting up a transition in th emusic, since it does not continue. But these, end up being really fine moments, and I never felt that they took away from the music at all, even if the majority of it is more oriented towards classical music with rock instruments. And loud and special, at that!!!

This is a magnificent album, in many aspects, though I'm not sure that someone that is a lover of hits, or specific specialties in music, will enjoy this ... but it is a highly recommended piece and it stands up beautifully and really well played all the way through it ... the keyboard work, in this piece is magnificent and they setup Jan Akkerman really well, something they did well since their first album, and it continued until they no longer played together.

This is one of the most recognized piece of theirs, other than the monster song of course, and it has been played by a group of folks from around the world, with Rachel Flowers and its arrangement was also faithful to the original and played to the max. In that sense, you want to see this in concert more often than not, unless you only came for the hits, in which case the other hall across the street is the one you want to go to, likely!

A very good album.