Full Description
For a few short
years in the 1970s, the unique music of Focus entertained the world. Built
around the prodigious instrumental talents of Dutch masters Jan Akkerman
(guitar) and Thijs van Leer (keyboards and flute), the band produced three
classic hit albums in quick succession between 1971 and 1974, at the same time
scoring two worldwide hits with 'Sylvia' and 'Hocus Pocus'. The latter piece is
as ubiquitous as tunes from the 70s get, distinctive for Akkerman's famous riff
and van Leer's bizarre yodelling. Musical and personal tensions between the two
led to a split in early 1976, but the band limped on without Akkerman until
1978. An unlikely revival in 1985 was a false dawn, and except for a few public
appearances, the duo have not played together since.
Stephen Lambe's book guides the reader
through the band's early history, dealing with all seven Focus albums from the
era song by song, plus the eponymous 1985 comeback. It is an important potted
history of the band and an insight into the tensions which led to such a
creative - if short-lived - peak. But the book also acts as an essential guide
to the astonishing music the two men made together - and sometimes apart -
while at the apex of their powers.
