Track by track 135 Crossroads

Archive number: 135
Title: Crossroads

Main Album: Focus X 

Track number: 10

Genre: Jazz Rock with vocal 

Studio: Fieldwork Studios, Schoten, Belgium 

Length: 5:38

Composer: van Leer, Peters

Musicians: Thijs van Leer – Piano, organ, flute, vocal; Menno Gootjes – Guitars; Bobby Jacobs – Bass; Pierre van der Linden – Drums; Berenice van Leer - vocal 

Producer: Bobby Jacobs 

Label: Eastworld Recordings

Date of recording/release: November, 2012

Alternative version: This is a version of Brazil Love

The track begins with rhythmic drums. After five seconds the bass and jazz piano come in then electric guitar. A piano trill at 34 seconds announces a rising choral and guitar part. Then at 1:05 a new driving guitar theme begins and is joined by the flute from 1:44 to 2:13. We then revert to the choral and guitar theme - the guitar perhaps a little wilder. At 2:28 the flute is back, though further back in the mix. At 2:40 to 3:44 van Leer comes in with a spoken style vocal (see below). The vocal continues until the flute and other instruments come back to the fore, the guitar leading latterly. At 4:17 the guitar announces the final part, a brief drum break until 4:43 when the bass adds its own contribution, which goes on until the fade. Apparently there was more but it had to be cut.

Lyrics

I don't want to know just how I feel

Cannot bear to know just how I feel - crossroads ahead

I don't want to think in terms of tears

There's no time to lose you're here

At the crossroads we part.

Love is far ahead and far behind. - the crossroads are here.

How can we still look back at the past, it doesn't last

We cannot change the good and bad times we remember

Here we meet and here we part my friend

And I will love you 'til the end ...

Just like the tide that keep on rolling.

Focus Under the Bridge London October 2019

I have been to Stamford Bridge, Chelsea's ground, more than once but I had not really noticed that under the East stadium near the Shed end there is a venue called Under the Bridge, Last Friday night I and a ministerial friend (who I convinced about Focus last time they were in town) were among a couple of hundred squeezed into this state of the art setting. (A light show is a rare treat at a Focus gig but appreciated - I think the visuals man must have a sense of humour as we had a picture of crocuses as we started on Hocus Pocus or as Jan Akkerman would surely have rechristiened it Focus crocus!). We caught most of Chantel McGregor's set which was of a high standard. She plays guitar and sings with a bass and drums rhythm section. Of course, once Focus stepped on stage were into a whole new zone with each member of the band making a solid contribution that was rewarded with a solo slot for for each - more in some cases. Van Leer was on form with the complete array of two kinds of flute, organ, melodica, scat, whistling, throat singing, lots of vocoder and a brief vocal on the opening song.
The set list began as usual with some very early stuff - Focus 1, a little Anonymus and House of the King. We then had a version of Eruption, good but not outstanding on this occasion I thought. We then moved on to some more recent stuff - Winnie and the simple but effective All hands on deck with the essential Sylvia in the middle.

We then had some songs rarely heard, if ever - Focus 4 (!) from Mother Focus and Focus 6 which has never appeared on a Focus album (I can only find it on a van Leer solo album. You can hear a recent live version here.). Between these we had Who's calling? originally on the Akkerman van Leer Focus collaboration of 1985 but recently revived on the Focus 11 album. Staying with 1985 material we then had a very fine version of Le Tango with melodics, whistling, etc. Before tackling that Thijs remarked on the presence in the audience of former wife Rosalie Peters who wrote lyrics for  this and other songs. We then had two numbers from Hamburger Concerto regularly played back to back La Cathedrale and Harem Scarem. In the second, van Leer takes opportunity to make himself scarce. So we had solos from Menno Gootjes and Udo Pannekeet on six string bass. Van der Linden had had one in Eruption and was to get another very full one on the penultimate track.

The set of over two amazing hours (no-one in the band showing any signs of tiring) closed with the usual Hocus Pocus and then slightly over they plumped for Focus 2 (rather than Focus 3) as the closer. Stupendous stuff.

There was an opportunity to meet the band but there was a rather long queue and so we decided to head off.

Track by track 118 Just Like Eddy

Archive number: 118
Title: Just like Eddy
Main Album: Focus 9 (New Skin)
Track number: 6
Genre: Progressive Rock Vocal
Studio: Fieldwork Studios, Schoten, Belgium
Length: 05:04
Composer: This van Leer/Roselie Peters
Musicians: Thijs van Leer – Hammond organ, piano; Niels van der Steenhoven – Guitars; Bobby Jacobs – Bass; Pierre van der Linden – Drums; Jan van der Roek - Vocal
Producer: Bobby Jacobs and Thijs van Leer
Engineer: Han Nuijten
Label: Red Bullet
Date of recording/release: Summer 2006
Alternative version: On Focus Con Proby with PJ Proby and on van Leer's solo album O my love!
Notes: This third version of Eddy is again unique. This time the band begins with a short introduction (00:00-00:21) before the vocal comes in at 00:22.

Just like Eddy in the morning
He never said, although he could
I know someone who would, but
He never woke to have an ear (00:22-01:00)

Yes I think of things unnoticed
Like what happens in the egg
As it lies without motion
Just like Eddie's sleeping head (01:01-01:40)

When I come home in the morning
Softly as I tread the dawn
I know things that are important
That have only just begun (01:41-02:22)

I'm gonna fly away
Here I go here I go here I go
I'm gonna fly away
Here I go here I go here I go (02:23-02:42)

Seeing you across the table
Smiles are dying on your face
Being here with my heart open
Seems a little out of place (02:43-03:41)

I'm gonna fly away
Here I go here I go here I go
I'm gonna fly away
Here I go here I go here I go (repeated twice) (03:42-04:18)

There is a break at 04:19-04:29 followed by another I'm gonna fly away (04:30-04:36) and a second break (04:37-04:46) and ending on the vocal (04:47-05:04).

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 on Focus Con Proby

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 90 [DVD] Brother (Live FLIA)

Archive number: 90 [DVD only]

Title: Brother (Live)

Main Album: Focus Live In America DVD Track number: 6 (DVD) not on CD

Genre: Jazz Rock Vocal

Venue: Patriots Theater, 1 Memorial Drive, Trenton, New Jersey, USA

Length: 12' 57”

Composer: Thijs van Leer

Musicians: Thijs van Leer – Hammond organ, Vocal; Jan Dumee – Gibson Marauder Guitar; Bobby Jacobs - Bass; Bert Smaak - Drums

Producer: Gavin Bott/Bob Carruthers

Engineer: Mike Potter (Orion Sound) Mix (Total audio)

Label: Classical Rock Legends Limited

Date of recording/release: October 2002 (part of a two day Uriah Heep led classic rock legend festival that also featured Nektar, Mostly Autumn and Asia). Released on DVD and CD (edited) in 2003.

Alternative version: Instrumental versions can be found on van Leer's solo album Introspection 3 and later on Focus 8. P J Proby sings it on Focus Con Proby.

Notes: Perhaps van Leer was keen to include this when performing in America as it is essentially an American song. It includes a nice introduction on organ (as written for the Con Proby album), rather poor vocal work from van Leer and, most interestingly, a guitar coda quoting Eruption. It was rightly left off the CD.

Track by track 77 How Long

Archive number: 77

Title: How Long

Main Album: Focus Con Proby

Track number: 9

Genre: Jazz Rock Vocal

Studio: EMI Studios, Hilversum, The Netherlands

Length: 05' 16”

Composer: Roselie van Leer, Thijs van Leer

Musicians: Philip Catherine - Electric guitars; Thijs van Leer – Synthesisers, Hammond organ; Bert Ruiter – Bass; Steve Smith - Drums

Producer: Yde de Jong

Engineer: Jan van Vrijaldenhoven/Mike Stavron

Label: LP – EMI

Date of recording/release: Recorded/released 1978 LP – 1978 CD - 1998

Notes: We begin with a fast paced synthesiser-led introduction (00:00-00:55). Proby then comes in with the lyric (00:56-02:49). The lyrics are

How long

Lasts a love

When does a smile begin?

How far Is a dream

From remembering?

And how fast is a train of thought?

And I know how long a moment can last.

How high

Can you see in the sky?

And does it never end?

And I think that the world was meant to be

Much better than we've ever seen or hoped for

And I say that each time you can be

Kind or mild you'll know the joy to make it better

And I think we must, and why don't we start now?

How white

How clear and how bright

Is an angel's light?

And how fast is a train of thought

And I know how long a moment can last.

The backing is quite uniformly fast but occasionally begins to break down. There is then an instrumental break at 02:50-03:21 then Proby resumes (03:22-03:58) with the following:

And I think that the world was meant to be

Much better than we've ever seen or hoped for

And I say that each time you can be

Kind or mild you'll know the joy to make it better

And I think we must, and why don't we start now?

Hear, hear

The best of all, I think love never dies

The final upbeat section (03:59-05:16) is shared by the synthesiser and guitar.

Track by track 75 Tokyo Rose

Archive number: 75

Title: Tokyo Rose

Main Album: Focus Con Proby

Track number: 7

Genre: Jazz Rock Vocal

Studio: EMI Studios, Hilversum, The Netherlands

Length: 5' 05"

Composer: Roselie van Leer, Thijs van Leer

Musicians: P J Proby – Vocals; Eef Albers- Electric Guitars; Thijs van Leer – Flute, Piano, Hammond organ; Bert Ruiter – Bass; Steve Smith - Drums

Producer: Yde de Jong

Engineer: Jan van Vrijaldenhoven/Mike Stavron

Label: LP – EMI

Date of recording/release: Recorded/released 1978 LP – 1978 CD – 1998

Alternative versions: None

Notes: As with the previous track, we begin with a classical introduction possibly stolen from Brahms. This time the flute joins the piano. (00:00-00:44). The band then kicks in at marching pace and Proby (sounding very like Presley at times) begins to half sing half speak the lyric. The vocal is then punctuated by the guitar-led instrumental as indicated.

Hahaha, hey you know something?

World War II wasn't all that much fun, 

Specially if you didn't even have a gun.

Well, you know you gotta go through it if you wanna get to it,

and I can tell you I did,

but no thanks to a little lady.

She was, uh, she, she kept us up all hours of the night.

Hell, half the time we didn't have time to fight.

But I don't think I would have to expound much further

 'cause everyone knows 'bout Tokyo Rose.

(Instrumental break at 01:32-02:31)

Hehaha, lemme tell you a little more. Scared?

Christ, I was so damned scared I could crawl under a snake's belly,

with a top hat on, without even touching it.

That's how scared I was.

Shit, who wants your ass blown off when you don't even know if it's kosher.

You know, kind of like when you went to school.

Always breakin' the rules, thinkin' nobody knows.

Haha, but don't kid yourself, baby, the lady in the classroom knows, 

nd her name? You got it - Tokyo Rose.

(Instrumental break at 03:20-04:18)

Lord, have mercy. Ha, I feel like I'm teaching class.

I gotta go through it all over again,

'cause you haven't learned your lessons now.

I don't want to give you a bad report card,

so I say, do you know that World War II wasn't fun.

Have you got that down, Jim? Right on,

especially if you didn't have a gun.

Well, you know you gotta go through it

if you wanna get to it.

And I can tell you I did, but no thanks to a little lady,

yeah, she kept us up all hours of the night.

Hell, half the time, we never had time to fight.

And, uh, yeah, there's no sense of me expounding any further.

The end is again quite sudden.

Note on Tokyo Rose (from Wikipedia)

Tokyo Rose (or Tokio Rose) was a generic name given by Allied forces in the South Pacific during World War II to any of approximately a dozen English-speaking female broadcasters of Japanese propaganda. Their intent was to disrupt the morale of Allied forces listening to the broadcast near the Japanese mainland. The name is most strongly associated withIva Toguri D'Aquino, who broadcast under the pseudonym "Orphan Ann" during the 15-20 minute DJ segment of the 75-minute The Zero Hour programme on Radio Tokyo (NHK). Other women who, separately or together, may have warranted the title include American Ruth Hayakawa (who substituted for Iva on weekends) and Canadian June Suyama ("The Nightingale of Nanking"), who also broadcast on Radio Tokyo, and Myrtle Lipton ("Little Margie"), who broadcast from Japan-controlled Radio Manila.

Tokyo Rose has been the subject of two movies and four documentaries. Both in 1969 and 1976 CBS broadcast documentaires on the subject. 1969: The Story of "Tokyo Rose", CBS-TV and WGN radio documentary written and produced by Bill Kurtis. 1976: Tokyo Rose, CBS-TV documentary segment on 60 Minutes by Morley Safer, produced by Imrel Harvath.

Track by track 74 Brother

Archive number: 74
Title: Brother
Main Album: Focus Con Proby
Track number: 6
Genre: Jazz Rock Vocal
Studio: EMI Studios, Hilversum, The Netherlands
Length: 05' 16”
Composer: Roselie van Leer, Thijs van Leer
Musicians: P J Proby – Vocals; Eef Albers- Electric Guitars; Thijs van Leer – Piano, Mellotron, Hammond organ; Bert Ruiter – Bass; Steve Smith - Drums
Producer: Yde de Jong
Engineer: Jan van Vrijaldenhoven/Mike Stavron
Label: LP – EMI
Date of recording/release: Recorded/released 1978 LP – 1978 CD – 1998
Alternative versions: An instrumental version can be found on van Leer's solo album Introspection 3. Also see the later Focus 8.
Notes: The piece begins with a beautiful, classically informed, piano introduction with some slight mellotron backing (00:00-00:48) possibly stolen from Brahms. After five seconds silence (00:49-00:54) heavy drum beats are heard and the band comes in with a slow march led by Proby's rock ballad vocal (0051-03:35). The angst ridden verses and 1920s American depression influenced chorus are as follows:

I've never been unhappy or alone
Each day daylight came back

I always watched the stars
Not thinking space big and dark

Rains always were my friend
The wind knew all my secrets

Brother do you know that the times are hard
Do you wanna see my eyes
Better Make a start
Cause brother do you see that the times are hard
I need love
Hey yeah (Repeat chorus)

I did not fear the shadows of trees
But city shadows don't move

I saw a child of God. He was
Someday to grow into the world.

Brother do you know that the times are hard
Do you wanna see my eyes

You'd better make a start
Cause brother ...
do you see that the times are hard
I need love (Repeat chorus)

A horn-like guitar leads the band as the music rises (03:36-04:12) until the vocal comes back in very high (04:13-05:01) with the opening six lines. A triumphant classical style piano, organ and cymbals close the piece (05:02-05:16).

Track by track 72 Eddy

Archive number: 72
Title: Eddy
Main Album: Focus Con Proby. Also a single in 1977 b/w Sneezing Bull.
Track number: 4
Genre: Rock Vocal
Studio: EMI Studios, Hilversum, The Netherlands
Length: 5' 49"
Composer: Eef Albers
Musicians: P J Proby - Vocals; Eef Albers - Electric guitars; Thijs van Leer – Hammond, Bass Synthesiser; Bert Ruiter – Bass; Steve Smith - Drums
Producer: Yde de Jong
Engineer: Jan van Vrijaldenhoven/Mike Stavron
Label: EMI
Date of recording/release: Recorded 1977 Released 1978 LP – 1978 CD – 1998
Alternative versions: Roselie van Leer (Peters) sings an earlier version on van Leer's solo O my love and Jo De Roeck sings on a later version on Focus 9
Notes: The band open with bass and drums and 'violined' guitar and organ (00:00-00:09) then Proby comes in pleasantly crooning the lyric as follows

Just like Eddy in the morning
He never said, although he could
I know someone who would, but
He never woke to have an ear

Yes I think of things unnoticed
Like what happens in the egg
As it lies without motion
Just like Eddie's sleeping head

When I come home in the morning
Softly as I tread the dawn
I know things that are important
That have only just begun

I'm gonna fly away
Here I go here I go here I go
I'm gonna fly away
Here I go here I go here I go

Seeing you across the table
Smiles are dying on your face
Being here with my heart open
Seems a little out of place

I'm gonna fly away
Here I go here I go here I go
I'm gonna fly away
Here I go here I go here I go (repeated twice)

All the way, the guitar plays some fine licks against the vocal, which finally becomes breathless, insistent then indistinct, dying with a scream at 4:33, when the band takes over. The vocal is lost a little in the mix.

Note on Eddy

Eddy van Leer is Thijs van Leer's father. He plays with Thijs on the track Hommage (Song for pa) on the Thijs van Leer solo album Reflections. Van Leer senior, a competent classical flautist himself, bought his son a flute and gave him his first lessons when Thijs was around 11 or 12.

Focus Lyricists 02

Here are another five.

Also note that Focus fan Gordon Taylor is the man who put the Focus titles together for the track European Rap(sody).

6. Joost van den Vondel 7. Jules Deelder

8. Bert Ruiter

9. Roselie Peters/van Leer

10. Jan Dumee