A similar case in Los Jaivas in Chile was in the seventies with Focus in the Netherlands in the sense of cultural identification of a particular village with a band, this by the fact rooted meet national traditions and deliver them to the public in the form of rock, another very similar case is the gratefull dead in the U.S., which anyway have never been considered far from their homeland ... is not the case that integrated Focus very successful in the flood of good European bands born in the early seventies and continue to amaze to this day with his undeniable quality to those who dare to delve into his old discs.
do not remember how I met them, but I think that I first heard in the eighties in a radius of Valparaiso called "Voices" which was a classic rock program hosted by Telmo Aguilar, the same known for its "Dimension Latin American. " The guy did not know both rock and folk, but he played very good music ... good thing is that at first I used to be confused with Jethro Tull, but the time I realized I had a sound and attitude all its own and that mixed classic rock with old European traditions of a highly intelligent and certainly with very good musicians.
What caught my attention Focus is that his music is almost instrumental, with little or no part sung and still very enjoyable even for untrained ears.
Focus began as the band was hired to make a Dutch version of the rock opera "Hair", among these musicians was the excellent guitarist Jan Akkerman and keyboardist / flutist Thijs van Leer who became the creative core of group, while Van Leer priority was training as a classical musician, Akkerman was shown as a huge rock guitar, the combination is explosive, but not all well understood at first because the first the band album only sold 8,000 copies. However, both the label and the band, sure great things were to decide to promote the album in England became a great success, especially by the combination of different styles that showed the band's music ... and this was due in part to were still unclear about what music to play, in fact Akkerman and Van Leer constantly clashing musical tastes, but held together by the respect he had as musicians and the good results obtained by mixing their different influences while remaining members were constantly changing over the years.
get the consecration in 1971 final with their second album called Moving Waves or Fucus II depending on where the issue and contained the most classic of the band called "Hocus Pocus" with his trademark yodel and it sounded amazing quality and at the same time casual and fun ... what is called a true classic rock. The disc adds elements of jazz and progressive rock to ensure a successful entry into the American public.
The following year, bassist Bert Ruiter intregra would be a new piece gravitating in the creativity of the band and one more ingredient to ensure success in the United States where they remain long-time touring with his album Focus III, 1973. After editing two live albums and having become all ambassadors of the Dutch culture in the world too much success is slowly undermining the foundation of the band, especially after the release of the album "Mother Focus" designed more to please American public that to be true to the Focus European sound to the point where Akkerman himself reneged on the new album in full promotion ... if it had even become "funky."
The differences could not hold more and the wonderful duo that gave rise to the magical sound finally broke Focus, Van Leer tried to go it alone but nothing was the same in future. However
from 1985 Akkerman and Van Read met on several occasions for concerts and small gigs and aware of what had been the rock and the culture of the Netherlands ... the fact of delivering great classical music, ancient medieval roots combined with jazz, blues and progressive rock ... a delight I have never met omitted from that.
This "Greatest Hits" was released on the label in 1977 with the exit of Akkerman aware perhaps that it was the culmination point in the history of the eternal Focus ... because the bands and their inner selves are finished, but good music is ... here's the proof.
Topics:
Hocus Pocus
Anonymus
House of the king
Focus
Tommy Focus II Focus III
Sylvia
Harem Scarem
Mother Focus Focus IV
Bennie Helder
Glider Red sky at night the
Hocus Pocus (U.S. version)
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