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Focus   Pays : Netherlands Genre : Rock Progressif Symphonique Dates : 1969 URL : cliquez ici Acheter un album de Focus - Focus a été consulté 5792 fois - Focus a une moyenne de : 7.34 sur 10 - Focus a reçu 21 note(s) et 2 critique(s) - Focus est classé : 817 ème
Biographie de Focus
Source / Auteur : Wikipedia Date : 10/02/2006 Nb consultation : 616
Focus was a Dutch progressive rock band of the 1970s. It was founded by classically trained organist/flautist Thijs van Leer in 1969. It leaned heavily on his talents, and on those of another of the Netherlands' contemporary music heavyweights, the guitarist Jan Akkerman, who joined the band in 1970. In 1971 the group released their second album, Moving Waves, which received international acclaim. The band's biggest international hits were the guitar-based instrumental 'Sylvia', and the band's signature piece, the bizarre rondo 'Hocus Pocus'. (The title may have been a deliberate joke on DJs: "That was 'Hocus Pocus' by Focus"). It consisted of a striking rock-guitar chord sequence used as the recurring theme, and surprisingly varied episodes in between that included accordion playing, alto flute riffs, guitar improvisation, drum solos, whistling, nonsense vocals, falsetto singing, and yodeling. The musical egos of van Leer and Akkerman proved incompatible. In 1976 Akkerman left the band, which finally dissolved in 1978. However, in 1985 van Leer and Akkerman reunited for an unsuccessful Focus album. In 2001 van Leer re-formed Focus with musicians who had originally formed a Focus tribute band: Jan Dumée (guitar), Bobby Jacobs (bass) and Bert Smaak (drums). They recorded a new album called Focus 8. In October 2004 Pierre van der Linden took over on drums. He had been the drummer during the band's most successful period during the early 1970s. Focus were in many people's minds the best band to come out of Holland in the 1970s. (Golden Earring's single Radar Love enjoyed more success, but Focus's musical achievements were more significant.) Their extended, almost exclusively instrumental, compositions and improvisations contained many clear references to the classical music canon. One notable example is the quoting of Monteverdi's landmark early opera Orfeo in their extended piece 'Eruption' on the album Moving Waves. Another demonstration of their stylistic awareness is in the well-constructed Bach-like counterpoint that begins 'Carnival Fugue' on the album Focus 3, or the renaissance harmonic progression of 'Anonymus II' from the same album. Some feel their finest musical testament is Moving Waves (which included 'Hocus Pocus'). Others believe the peak was reached in 1972 with Focus 3. This included the sprightly jazz-tinged 'Round Goes The Gossip', and the band's biggest single success, the robustly lyrical Akkerman electric guitar vehicle 'Sylvia'. The second half of the album, where the tracks are extended up to 27 minutes, feature extended improvised solos. The interplay between keyboards, flute, guitar and even a penny whistle is of high standard, though some feel the drum solos were overlong. Still others believe that Focus's best and most impacting achievement was Hamburger Concerto, an LP which features four songs with varied influences ranging from jazz to classical to rock on the first side, including the songs 'Delitae Musicae', 'Harem Scarem', 'La Cathedrale de Strasbourg', and 'Birth', and the 20-minute title track on the second side. Focus's main achievement in their short but bright heyday was that, unlike many other progressive rock groups of the time, they could construct valid structures over fairly large time scales, incorporating both rigorously composed material in the classical style, and rambling jazz-style improvisation. Their inventiveness and tongue-in-cheek stylistic references were also unusual in their wit and technical prowess. It is to the regret of many rock fans that the two major talents of Thijs van Leer and Jan Akkerman were unable to collaborate further, as together they were more than the sum of their formidable parts. The band leaves a small but significant contribution to the rock scene of the early 1970s.
Discographie de Focus
Albums Studio
Focus 9 / New Skin 2006 (Studio) Moyenne : 6   Focus 8 2002 (Studio) Moyenne : 7.5   House Of The King 1983 (Studio) Moyenne : 6   Focus On Proby 1978 (Studio) Moyenne : 5   Mother Focus 1975 (Studio) Moyenne : 5   Hamburger Concerto 1974 (Studio) Moyenne : 7.9   Focus Iii 1973 (Studio) Moyenne : 6.5   Moving Waves 1972 (Studio) Moyenne : 8.05   In And Out Of Focus 1970 (Studio) Moyenne : 6
Albums Live
The Greatest Hits 2004 (Live) Moyenne : pas de note   Live At The Bbc 1996 (Live) Moyenne : pas de note   Live At The Rainbow 1973 (Live) Moyenne : pas de note
Albums Compilation, EP, Demo, Bootleg etc.
The Best Of Focus 1994 (Boxset/Compilation) Moyenne : pas de note   Focus : Jan Akkerman And Thijs Van Leer 1985 (Boxset/Compilation) Moyenne : pas de note   Greatest Hits Of Focus 1984 (Boxset/Compilation) Moyenne : pas de note   Focus On Focus 1970 - 1978 1979 (Boxset/Compilation) Moyenne : pas de note   Ship Of Memories 1976 (Boxset/Compilation) Moyenne : pas de note   Focus - Special Polydor 1975 (Boxset/Compilation) Moyenne : pas de note   Dutch Masters 1969 - 1973 1975 (Boxset/Compilation) Moyenne : pas de note   Masters Of Rock 1971 - 1973 1974 (Boxset/Compilation) Moyenne : pas de note   The Story Of Focus 1974 (Boxset/Compilation) Moyenne : pas de note
DVD de Focus
Masters From The Vault 2002 (Live) Moyenne : pas de note
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