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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20101216

Track by track 113 Black Beauty (Instrumental)

Archive number: 113
Title: Black Beauty (instrumental)
Main Album: Focus 9 (New Skin)
Track number: 1
Genre: Progressive Rock Instrumental
Studio: Fieldwork Studios, Schoten, Belgium
Length: 04:10
Composer: Van Leer
Musicians: Thijs Van Leer – Hammond organ, piano, whistling; Niels Van Der Steenhoven – Guitars; Bobby Jacobs - Bass; Pierre Van Der Linden - Drums
Producer: Bobby Jacobs and Thijs Van Leer
Engineer: Han Nuijten
Label: Red Bullet
Date of recording/release: Summer 2006
Alternative version: The original vocal version appears on the first Focus album
Notes: We begin with a mincing organ, accompanied by bass and drums to introduce the piece (00:00-00:16). The electric guitar joins in with a twice stated riff in slightly muted pizzicato style (00:17-00:32). The organ then swells and the band build up (00:33-00:48) to a first guitar led “vocal” section (00:49-01:04) followed by a more tempestuous yearning section (01:05-01:16). This pattern is repeated (01:17-01:32; 01:33-01:59) the yearning section more whistful, less tempestuous at first. The “vocal” section is repeated a third time (02:00-02:31). A piano trill is heard quite distinctly at 02:15 before the yearning section comes in and the “vocal” part is repeated yet again (02:32-02:55). There is then a break down where first Van leer leads with whistling (02:56-03:10) then Van der Steenhoven very pleasantly on guitar (03:11-03:42). We play out with a whistle led “vocal” section with a final ritartando (03:43-04:10).

20101024

Love Remembered

Round goes the gossip

Focus Live @ Jazz Cafe 2

Track by track 112 Drum Solo (Old Skin)

Archive number: 112 [u]
Title: Drum solo
Main Album: Unreleased
Track number: 4
Genre: Live Drum solo
Venue: Unknown
Length: 03' 33”
Composer: Pierre Van Der Linden
Musicians: Pierre Van Der Linden – Drums.
Producer: Bobby Jacobs and Thijs Van Leer
Engineer: Unknown
Label: None
Date of recording/release: This track was recorded in 2006 and appears on the Old Skin collection
Note: The track appears to be a live recording of van der Linden doing what he does best.

Track by track 111 Hello

Archive number: 111 [u]
Title: Hello
Main Album: Unreleased
Track number: 5
Genre: Progressive Rock Instrumental
Studio: Fieldwork Studios, Schoten, Belgium
Length: 06' 30”
Composer: Jan Dumee
Musicians: Thijs Van Leer – Hammond organ, Voice; Jan Dumee – Electric Guitar; Bobby Jacobs – Bass, Voice; Pierre Van Der Linden – Drums.
Producer: Bobby Jacobs and Thijs Van Leer
Engineer: Han Nuijten
Label: None
Date of recording/release: This track was recorded in 2006 at the start of preparations for the album Focus 9 – after the departure of Bert Smaak but before the departure of Jan Dumee. It is in the Old Skin collection and has been made available on Jan Dumee's website.
Alternative version: A vocal version by John Lawton with Dumee
Note: The track announces its presence with the sound of a cymbal and two lots of four notes on electric guitar with organ, bass and drums backing (00:01-00:18). We then move into a plaintive guitar led section (00:19-01:09) that becomes perhaps a little more brilliant (01:10) then more quiet (01:33). Dumee seems to be groping for a melody that does not really develop much. At 2:12 a sudden spark of life appears as Van Leer adds an onomatapoeic voice. This continues to 2:30 where the plaintive guitar returns. The voice returns for a longer run, 03:52-06:16. In this section the guitar and band get a little wilder. The piece then tails off with a drawn out voice and organ ending.

20101021

Focus live @ Jazz Cafe 2010


These clips show Focus at a recent gig in the Jazz Cafe, London. This was the last gig of the tour. Unusually, the guitarist is Menno Gootjes, the regular guitarist having had to drop out. Here we have House of the King followed by bit of flute and scat from Thijs, a little Cathedrale and the repeated Sylvia finale. Thanks guys! Menno has subsequently become the regular guitarist.

20100602

Track by track 110 Face to face

Archive number: 110 [u]
Title: Face to face
Main Album: Unreleased
Track number: 3
Genre: Progressive Rock Instrumental
Studio: Fieldwork Studios, Schoten, Belgium
Length: 06' 00”
Composer: Jan Dumee
Musicians: Thijs van Leer – Flute, Hammond organ; Jan Dumee – Acoustic Guitar (slide), Electric Guitar; Bobby Jacobs – Bass; Pierre van der Linden – Drums.
Producer: Bobby Jacobs and Thijs van Leer
Engineer: Han Nuijten
Label: None
Date of recording/release: This track was recorded in 2006 at the start of preparations for the album Focus 9 – after the departure of Bert Smaak but before the departure of Jan Dumee. It has been made available on Jan Dumee's website. Alternative version: A vocal version by John Lawton with Dumee Note: This track is very much a Focus track though it sounds slightly strange at the beginning due to a singular use of acoustic slide guitar. We start with a signal from the high hat before the slide guitar and electric guitar set up a riff (00:00-00:05) that is later supplemented by the Hammond organ (00:06) and the band. The bass (with drums) sets up a new riff from 00:13, supplemented first by electric guitar (00:23) then organ with a drum fill (00:30). This leads into a full band performance, with the flute coming in at 00:44 with three clear blasts then more. The main band backed ten note flute riff begins at 01:04 and is repeated four times before reverting briefly to the starting riff (01:25-01:34). This pattern is then repeated (01:35-01:55/01:56-02:08). At 02:09 we return to the beginning but this time we enter a good old fashioned bass and drums section at 02:20. This goes on until 03:33 when the organ begins to come in again. At 03:51-04:03 we have the earlier electric guitar riff. From 04:04 Dumee solos on band backed electric guitar. The ten note flute riff, again repeated four times, comes in again at 04:23-04:42 and 04:54-05:14. Meanwhile the electric guitar-led band plays out until 05:39 where a punctuated ritartando conclusion begins, closing with the band all on one unified note.

20100531

Track by track 109 Holy Graal

Archive number: 109 [u]
Title: Holy Graal
Main Album: Unreleased
Track number: 2
Genre: Mediaeval
Studio: Bolinha Studio
Length: 02' 28”
Composer: Jan Dumee, Thijs van Leer
Musicians: Thijs van Leer – Flutes; Jan Dumee – Vocals, acoustic Guitars, Drum, Tambourine Producer: Thijs van Leer
Engineer: Unknown
Label: None
Date of recording/release: This track was recorded in 2006 at the start of preparations for the album Focus 9 – after the departure of Bert Smaak but before the departure of Jan Dumee. It has been made available on Jan Dumee's website. Alternative version: None Note: We begin with a slow percussion backed flute section (00:00-00:21). The vocal, backed by guitar and some flute begins at 00:22 and ends at 01:57. At 01:04-01:15 a short choir-like non-verbal section comes in backed only by guitar, the flute returning at 01:44. The final instrumental section features guitar, flute and percussion (01:58-02:28). The words appear to be in Old French or something similar.
Note on Holy Graal (From Wikipedia)
The word graal, as it is earliest spelled, appears to be an Old French adaptation of the Latin gradalis or gradale, meaning 'by degree', 'by stages', applied to a dish brought to the table in different stages or services during a meal. After the cycle of Grail romances was well established, late medieval writers came up with a false etymology for sangréal, an alternative name for "Holy Grail." In Old French, san graal or san gréal means "Holy Grail" and sang réal means "royal blood"; later writers played on this pun. Since then, "Sangreal" is sometimes employed to lend a medievalising air in referring to the Holy Grail. This connection with royal blood bore fruit in a modern bestseller linking many historical conspiracy theories. The Holy Grail is a sacred object figuring in literature and in certain Christian traditions, most often identified with the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper and said to possess miraculous powers. The connection of Jospeh of Arimathea with the Grail legend dates from Robert de Boron's Joseph d'Arimathie (late 12th century) in which Joseph receives the Grail from an apparition of Jesus and sends it with his followers to Great Britain. Building on this theme, later writers recounted how Joseph used the Grail to catch Christ's blood while interring him and that in Britain he founded a line of guardians to keep it safe. The quest for the Holy Grail makes up an important segment of the Arthurian cycle, appearing first in works by Chrétien de Troyes. The legend may combine Christian lore with a Celtic myth of a cauldron endowed with special powers. The development of the Grail legend has been traced in detail by cultural historians: It is a legend which first came together in the form of written romances, deriving perhaps from some pre-Christian folklore hints, in the later 12th and early 13th centuries. The early Grail romances centered on Percival and were woven into the more general Arthurian fabric. Some of the Grail legend is interwoven with legends of the Holy Chalice. The Grail plays a different role everywhere it appears, but in most versions of the legend the hero must prove himself worthy to be in its presence. In the early tales, Percival's immaturity prevents him fulfilling his destiny when he first encounters the Grail, and he must grow spiritually and mentally before he can locate it again. In later tellings the Grail is a symbol of God's grace, available to all but only fully realised by those who prepare themselves spiritually, like the saintly Galahad. There are two veins of thought concerning the Grail's origin. The first, holds that it derived from early Celtic myth and folklore. Meanwhile, other scholars believe it began as a purely Christian symbol. Another recent theory holds that the earliest stories casting the Grail in a Christian light were meant to promote the Roman Mass. It was around the time of the appearance of the first Christianised Grail literature that the Roman church was beginning to add more ceremony and mysticism to this particular sacrament. This theory has some basis in the fact that the Grail legends are a phenomenon of the Western church. Most scholars today accept that both Christian and Celtic traditions contributed to the legend's development, though many of the early Celtic-based arguments are largely discredited. The general view is that the central theme of the Grail is Christian, even when not explicitly religious, but that much of the setting and imagery of the early romances is drawn from Celtic material. The Grail is first featured in Perceval, le Contedu Graal (The Story of the Grail) by Chrétien de Troyes, who claims he was working from a source book given to him by his patron, Count Philip of Flanders. In this incomplete poem (from some time between 1180 and 1191), the object has not yet acquired the implications of holiness it would have in later works. Though the earliest and most influential account, it was in the work of Robert de Boron that the Grail truly became "Holy" and assumed the form most familiar to modern readers - in the verse romance Joseph d’Arimathie (composed between 1191 and 1202).

20100528

Track by track 108 Brazil Love

Archive number: 108[dl]
Title: Brazil Love
Main Album: Focus 9/New Skin
Track number: 14
Genre: Progressive Rock Instrumental
Studio: Fieldwork Studios, Schoten, Belgium
Length: 06' 10”
Composer: Jan Dumee
Musicians: Thijs Van Leer – Hammond organ, Flute, Voice; Jan Dumee – Guitars; Bass - Bobby Jacobs; Drums – Pierre Van Der Linden
Producer: Bobby Jacobs and Thijs Van Leer
Engineer: Han Nuijten
Label: None
Date of recording/release: This track was recorded in 2006 at the start of preparations for the album Focus 9 – after the departure of Bert Smaak but before that of Jan Dumee. It was available as a download on itunes with Focus 9 but was not on the CD version.
Alternative version: Opening track on an unofficial release called Old skin
Notes: The track begins with bass and drums (00:00-00:07). First the guitar then the organ dabble in putting a pattern over it (00:08-01:09) until the dreamy voice and flute of Van Leer come in for the first of three sections where that dominates (01:10-01:47). We then revert briefly to the bass and drums alone (01:48-01:57) the guitar and flute coming back in (01:58-02:21) before a second flute and voice section (02:22-02:56). From 02:57-03:44 we have a section led by Dumee's guitar, the voice and flute kicking in again at 03:45-04:50. At 04:51-05:24 it's back to bass and drums before the flute comes in alone (05:25-06:07) until the final seconds where the voice is heard to die away.

20100504

Akkerman by Hogg

As mentioned, the boy who really got me into Focus all those years ago was called Robert Hogg. I found this and the other one looking for something the other day. We all agreed that he gets Akkerman better than van Leer. On reflection, I may have only paid 50p or 60p for the pair (both are on one large sheet of drawing room paper). Scandalously cheap. Thanks again!

Van Leer by Hogg

The boy who really got me into Focus all those years ago was called Robert Hogg. He knew about Focus through his older brother. A talented fellow (unlike myself - my efforts can be seen elsewhere) he took artistic commissions. I think I paid 50p for this. We lost touch once school was over. He served in the RAF. Thanks!

20100503

Track by track 107 Flower Shower

Archive number: 107
Title: Flower Shower
Main Album: Focus 8
Track number: 11
Genre: Progressive Rock Instrumental
Studio: Peptide Studio, Vuren
Length: 05:37
Composer: Jan Dumée, Bobby Jacobs, Bert Smaak, Thijs van Leer
Musicians: Thijs van Leer – Hammond organ, Vocal; Jan Dumee – Guitars, Vocal; Bass - Bobby Jacobs; Drums - Bert Smaak
Producer: Geert Scheijgrond & Focus
Engineer: Geert Scheijgrond & Dick Kemper
Label: Musea/Red Bullet
Date of recording/release: A limited run of 500 of the album appeared in August 2002 to be followed by a general release on CD later that year. Also later on Paras and JVC Victor Alternative version: None Notes: Flower Shower is declared to be a bonus track. Clearly it is a joke but quite what is going on and the story behind it is unclear. Weird and surreal is how van Leer describes it. From the beginning the sound of a garden sprinkler or of a shower is heard. Five seconds in van Leer and Dumee (or is it Jacobs?) using a falsetto voice sing several verses in a rather silly way in Dutch. There is a little flute led break 00:58-01:06 and a later one at 02:30-02:46. It is not clear what they are singing exactly although they close with a brief rendition of a traditional Dutch birthday greeting - "Lang zal je leven, lang zal je leven, lang zal je leven in de gloria. In de gloria." (This means let him live long in the glory [ie in heaven]).

Track by track 106 Blizu Tébe

Archive number: 106
Title: Blizu Tébe
Main Album: Focus 8
Track number: 10
Genre: Progressive Rock Instrumental
Studio: Peptide Studio, Vuren
Length: 06' 30”
Composer: Jan Dumee
Musicians: Thijs van Leer – Hammond organ, Piano; Jan Dumee – Guitars; Bass - Bobby Jacobs; Drums - Bert Smaak
Producer: Geert Scheijgrond & Focus
Engineer: Geert Scheijgrond & Dick Kemper
Label: Musea/Red Bullet
Date of recording/release: A limited run of 500 of the album appeared in August 2002 to be followed by a general release on CD later that year. Also later on Paras and JVC Victor Alternative version: None Notes: Blizu Tebe is a second title in Bosnian-Serbian-Croatian. Meaning “closer to you” we are away from any political overtones. A slow, romantic number for the most part, it begins (00:00-00:12) and ends with the sound of seabirds, suggesting music for a TV series based by the sea. A drum beat (00:13) introduces drums, bass and keyboards as the sound effects fade (00:14-00:30). An electric guitar (00:31) takes up the first gentle and haunting theme (as far as 01:04). A more strident or yearning guitar theme comes next (01:05-01:30) before going back to something less so (01:31-01:51) then the original quiet theme (01:52-02:47). Next comes the soaring theme again (02:48-03:12). The quieter and more strident or yearning themes alternate once more (03:13-03:26/03:27-04:45) then the quieter theme comes in again (04:46-04:59) and at 05:12 to the end, being briefly interrupted for the final time by the other theme (05:00-05:11). The piano comes out at times, the organ at others, violined guitar and brushed drums too. The seabirds are heard again from 05:39 to the end at 06:30, the actual music coming to an end at 06:26.

20100302

Track by track 105 Brother

Archive number: 105
Title: Brother
Main Album: Focus 8
Track number: 9
Genre: Progressive Rock Instrumental
Studio: Peptide Studio, Vuren
Length: 05' 33”
Composer: Thijs van Leer, Roselie Peters
Musicians: Thijs van Leer – Hammond organ; Jan Dumee – Guitars; Bobby Jacobs - Bass; Bert Smaak - Drums
Producer: Geert Scheijgrond & Focus
Engineer: Geert Scheijgrond & Dick Kemper
Label: Musea/Red Bullet
Date of recording/release: A limited run of 500 of the album appeared in August 2002 to be followed by a general release on CD later that year. Also later on Paras and JVC Victor Alternative version: Several including Notes: This is an instrumental version of a Focus track that first appeared on Focus Con Proby with P J Proby singing. It begins with the beautiful, classically informed (from Brahms?) but now bluesified, introduction this time on Hammond organ (00:00-00:59) and slightly extended. A drum beat (01:00) brings the band in with the slow march led this time by Dumee's electric guitar (01:01-01:56) and, for the chorus, Van Leer's flute and organ (01:57- 02:26). The pattern is repeated (02:27-03:21 and 03:22-03:56). A final Dumee-led section wrings a good deal of emotion out of the tune before a dramatic end (03:57-05:20) that ends with a 13 second quotation from Eruption to conclude.

Track by track 104 Sto Ces Raditi Ostatac Zivota?

Archive number: 103
Title: Sto Ces Raditi Ostatac Zivota?
Main Album: Focus 8
Track number: 7
Genre: Progressive Rock Instrumental
Studio: Peptide Studio, Vuren
Length: 05' 23”
Composer: Jan Dumee
Musicians: Thijs van Leer – Flute, Hammond organ, Voices; Jan Dumee – Guitars, inc Acoustic, Voices; Bobby Jacobs - Bass; Bert Smaak - Drums
Producer: Geert Scheijgrond & Focus
Engineer: Geert Scheijgrond & Dick Kemper
Label: Musea/Red Bullet
Date of recording/release: A limited run of 500 of the album appeared in August 2002 to be followed by a general release on CD later that year. Also later on Paras and JVC Victor Alternative version: None Notes: The title is Bosnian-Serbo-Croatian and means something like What will you do with the rest of your life? The title is presumably a comment on the recent politics of the region, which has known great upheaval. If so, this would be a second political or protest song for Focus (Sugar Isalnd back at the beginning being the first). The opening introduction features flute and acoustic guitar which ends with the sound of tom toms (synthesised?) (00:00-00:30). The drums then introduce a further melodic introduction (00:31-01:23) featuring the band on acoustic guitar, organ, bass and drums with distant vocal backing of a scat variety. A flute is heard near the end of this. From 01:24 the electric guitar gives some strong notes to lead the organ, some flute coming in too (with a distinctive guitar sound briefly at 02:38-02:42). This goes on rising pretty much (though not really progressing much) until 04:16. A voice comes in at 04:17, 18 as the guitar grows more passionate. From 05:10 a fade begins featuring acoustic guitar that ends with just the voice at 05:23.

Track by track 103 Focus 8

Archive number: 103
Title: Focus 8
Main Album: Focus 8
Track number: 6
Genre: Progressive Rock Instrumental
Studio: Peptide Studio, Vuren
Length: 06' 13”
Composer: Thijs van Leer
Musicians: Thijs van Leer – Hammond organ, piano, synthesiser; Jan Dumee – Guitars; Bobby Jacobs - Bass; Bert Smaak - Drums, Timpani
Producer: Geert Scheijgrond & Focus
Engineer: Geert Scheijgrond & Dick Kemper
Label: Musea/Red Bullet
Date of recording/release: A limited run of 500 of the album appeared in August 2002 to be followed by a general release on CD later that year. Also later on Paras and JVC Victor.
Alternative version: None
Notes: The title track begins with drums, then a rhythmic piano with bass and drums (00:00-00:08). An electric guitar then picks out a descending tune over the band (00:09-00:38). The main heroic guitar led theme kicks in for the first time at 00:39. Backed by piano, timpani and band, it is played several times altogether. At 01:09 there is something of a change of pace and at 01:20 something of a ritartando or slowing down only to pick up again after almost pausing at 01:21, 22. The main theme comes in a second time (01:23-02:00), closing this time with a more staccato slowing down until a piano bridge at 02:12-14. A third assault on the main theme follows (02:15-02:42). This also breaks down at 02:43-48 before a fourth round and break down (02:49-02:42/43-47). The fifth attempt follows from 02:48. This goes on until an organ dominated dip ending at 03:46. The guitar then soars more and the piano is almost lost as we head for the home strait and a final timpani/piano driven assault from 04:31 followed by a descent echoing the earlier guitar led theme with strong Hammond chords at times. The band end in unison around 06:13.

20100220

Track by track 102 De Ti O De Mi

Archive number: 102
Title: De Ti O De Mi
Main Album: Focus 8
Track number: 5
Genre: Progressive Rock Instrumental
Studio: Peptide Studio, Vuren Length: 06' 22”
Composer: Bobby Jacobs
Musicians: Thijs van Leer – Hammond organ; Jan Dumee – Guitars; Bobby Jacobs - Bass; Bert Smaak - Drums
Producer: Geert Scheijgrond & Focus
Engineer: Geert Scheijgrond & Dick Kemper Label: Musea/Red Bullet
Date of recording/release: A limited run of 500 of the album appeared in August 2002 to be followed by a general release on CD later that year. Also later on Paras and JVC Victor Alternative version: None Notes: We begin with a dark bass riff backed by drums then organ (from about 00:26). At 00:46 an electric guitar takes up the lead with a yearning jazz melody that when eventually about to build at 01:21 reverts to the sparse bass riff. At 01:39 drums re-introduce the organ and a cleaner electric guitar sound and (from 02:01) the jazz guitar melody. It builds a little more this time until panning out with an organ backed development leading to a caesura at 02:59 and 03:00. For the remainder of the track the guitar-led melody is allowed to develop further, this time eventually taking off to some extent, though still meandering a little and later getting quite earnest. The section eventually begins to fade at 05:55 and ends around 06' 22”.

20100219

Track by track 101 Hurkey Turkey

Archive number: 101
Title: Hurkey Turkey
Main Album: Focus 8
Track number: 4
Genre: Progressive Rock Instrumental
Studio: Peptide Studio, Vuren
Length: 4' 07”
Composer: T van der Kaaij, Thijs van Leer
Musicians: Thijs van Leer – Hammond organ, Voices; Jan Dumee – Guitars; Bobby Jacobs - Bass; Bert Smaak - Drums; Geert Scheigrond - Additional guitars.
Producer: Geert Scheijgrond & Focus
Engineer: Geert Scheijgrond & Dick Kemper Label: Musea/Red Bullet
Date of recording/release: A limited run of 500 of the album appeared in August 2002 to be followed by a general release on CD later that year. Also later on Paras and JVC Victor Alternative version: None
Notes: The studio version of Hurkey Turkey starts very distinctively with 8 slightly odd notes on electric guitars followed by a longer ninth one that also features a crash cymbal (00:00-00:08). We then get another two and one then one and one twice and the drums crash in before one of two main themes starts at 00:15 - a bassy riff thing. This is played several times with Van Leer's voice in the background and Dumee going up and down the fretboard. At 01:00 there is a slight change of pace announced by the guitar which then takes up more of a lead with the other contrasting theme. This ends at 01:32 when the first theme returns led this time by the Hammond organ (01:33-02:03). We then go back to the guitar-led second theme (02:04-02:34) before the original theme returns with Van Leer's voice more prominent at first. This section slows down around 02:44 and from 02:51-03:12 we have a 'scat' section where Van Leer's voice is multi-tracked over just drums, one voice providing a jazzy “danga danga danga dang dumdiddy” style and the other a rather crazy turkey voice! The band then come back, with the guitar getting pretty wild and ending with a fade around 04:07.

Track by track 100 Fretless Love

Archive number: 100
Title: Fretless Love
Main Album: Focus 8
Track number: 3
Genre: Progressive Rock Instrumental
Studio: Peptide Studio, Vuren
Length: 6'05”
Composer: Thijs van Leer
Musicians: Thijs van Leer – Hammond organ, Flute, Voice; Jan Dumee – Guitars; Bobby Jacobs - Bass; Bert Smaak - Drums, Timpani
Producer: Geert Scheijgrond & Focus
Engineer: Geert Scheijgrond & Dick Kemper
Label: Musea/Red Bullet
Date of recording/release: A limited run of 500 of the album appeared in August 2002 to be followed by a general release on CD later that year. Also later on Paras and JVC Victor Alternative version: None
Notes: The track begins in quiet and relaxed style with acoustic guitar (possibly synthesised) and a beautiful and melodic flute, backed by the Hammond (from 00:24). At 00:46 we move to a new yearning electric guitar-led section with Hammond and rhythm section. This itself is succeeded (at 01:30) by a funky guitar and organ part (with Van Leer's voice giving oompahs at first - again possibly synthesised) and led by a hard blown flute. This is in turn is repeated and developed (from 02:19). Another break in tempo comes at 03:08 and we go into a section led by melodic flute but backed by the band with a riffing style and a distinct underlying guitar motif. Another break comes at 04:09 with a timpani marked halt (almost a caesura). We then return to the yearning electric guitar of the second section but slightly more staccato, until 04:50 where it all gets pretty funky again, this time with a heavier bass and more earnest guitar work from Dumee. This then head relentlessly for the fade, volume disappearing around 06:05”

Track by track 99 Tamara's Move

Archive number: 99
Title: Tamara's move (Allegro-adagio-allegro)
Main Album: Focus 8
Track number: 2
Genre: Progressive Rock Instrumental
Studio: Peptide Studio, Vuren
Length: 5' 14”
Composer: Jan Dumee
Musicians: Thijs Van Leer – Hammond organ, Flute, synthesisers, hanclaps; Jan Dumee –Guitars including Spanish guitar, Vocal; Guitar; Bobby Jacobs - Bass; Bert Smaak - Drums
Producer: Geert Scheijgrond & Focus
Engineer: Geert Scheijgrond & Dick Kemper
Label: Musea/Red Bullet
Date of recording/release: A limited run of 500 of the album appeared in August 2002 to be followed by a general release on CD later that year. Also later on Paras and JVC Victor
Alternative version: None
Notes: The piece is in three sections – allegro, adagio, allegro. The first allegro section is from 00:00-02:12. It begins with double tracked acoustic guitars (00:00-00:07) soon accompanied by the rhythm section, which includes a distinctive synthesised mouth tom tom sound at certain points (00:08-00:00:18). The flute (multi-tracked at certain points) then takes up the lead in joyful style as far as 02:12, with a note held around 01:08 and handclaps from both speakers from 01:36.
The adagio section (02:13-03:34) has two parts. First, a mournful organ and synthesiser backed vocal section that ends at 02:49 with a timpani sound. The words are indistinct but appear to be
Don't let a thing respond,
No breath for you too.
Just signs of trying to forget you,
To exorcise you.
Leave me in your thoughts
But don't you miss the sight.
A drum roll immediately follows (02:50-02:57) and we are into a rather grand instrumental version of the same tune led by guitar with organ that ends at 03:34.
The third section is the flute-led allegro again. The handclaps begin at 04:03, the mouth tom toms are therre and the Spanish guitar has a much more prominent role from 04:24.