Looking at the music of Dutch rock band Focus, started in the late sixties by Thijs van Leer (b /31/03/48) with Jan Akkerman (b 24/12/46). Van Leer still performs and records under the name today (official site here). Akkerman's site here.

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20080305

Track by track 35 P's March

Archive number: 35
Title: P's March
Main Album: Ship of Memories. Also a single in 1976 b/w Focus 5.
Track number: 1
Genre: Progressive Rock Instrumental
Studio: Chipping Norton Recording Studio, 26-32 New Street, Chipping Norton, Oxon, OX7 5LJ Length: 4' 45”
Composer: Thijs van Leer
Musicians: Jan Akkerman - Electric guitars; Thijs van Leer – Flute, Piccolo, Hammond organ, Clavinet, Mellotron; Bert Ruiter – Bass; Pierre van der Linden – Drums
Producer: Mike Vernon
Engineer: Barry Hammond and Dave Grinsted
Label: LP – EMI, Harvest, Sire CD – EMI-Bovema, IRS, Red Bullet, JVC
Date of recording/release: Final weeks of May 1973. Intended as a single but not released until 1976 (single) 1977 (LP). CD – 1988,1993, 2001, 2006
Alternative version: Van Leer used the track as the basis for his later Carmen Elysium on Introspection 2.
Notes: This, another track from the ill-fated trip to Oxfordshire, is really two alternating and perhaps too disparate pieces, each played twice over. The number begins with drums and two power chords on guitar then the whole band comes in with a repeated flute and piccolo-led jig with a bridge (00:00-01:23). It is followed by a lugubrious, dreamy-like guitar-led section that ends on a drawn out note (01:24-02:19). The sequence is repeated (02:20-02:56; 02:57-04:45) the guitar 'weeping' more the second time and becoming aggressive and insistent for a while (03:49-04:05), while the backing remains ballad-like. The whole ends with a distinct bass drum beat.

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