Focus in the UK once again April 2026 (and Happy Birthday)

For some reason we tend not to note birthdays on this blog but today Thijs van Leer is 78 today. Happybirthday! Further, Focus will be here in the UK April 20-May 2. Notable dates from my point of view are the two in Wales April 27 (Cardiff, where I have seen them in the past) and May 2 (Newport, where I was born). Also April 28 (Wavendon, MK, where I hope to see them this time round). Other venues include Southampton, Aldershot and Trading Boundaries Nr Fletching, where I have seen Jan twice. They are coming here twice gain before year's end.

More Lego

 

Track by track 170 (164) Winnie

Archive number: 170
Title: Winnie
Main Album: Focus 11
Track number: 6
Genre: Progressive Rock Instrumental
Studio: Mosh Studios, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Length: 5:13
Composer: Thijs van Leer

Key: F
Musicians: Thijs van Leer – Hammond organ, Flute; Menno Gootjes – Guitars; Udo Panekeet – Bass; Pierre van der Linden – Drums
Producer: Geert Scheigrond
Engineer: Geert Scheigrond
Label: In and Out of Focus Recordings
Date of recording/release: November 2018
Alternative recording: Focus Family Album
Notes: This is a slightly shorter edit from the version on The Focus Family Album

Track by track 169 Mazzel

Archive number: 169

Title: Mazzel

Main Album: Focus Family 11

Track number: 5

Genre: Jazz Rock Instrumental

Studio: WedgeView Studios, Netherlands

Length: 4:23

Composer: Thijs van Leer

Key: Em

Musicians: Thijs van Leer – Hammond organ; Menno Gootjes – Guitars; Udo Panekeet – Bass; Pierre van der Linden – Drums

Producer: Geert Scheigrond

Engineer: Geert Scheigrond

Label: In and Out of Focus Recordings

Date of recording/release: November 2018

Alternative recording: None

Notes: Mazzel is a Dutch slang word for luck (used in phrases for good luck, also so long or 'bye) taken from Yiddish (as in Mazzel tov, good luck)

The track is led in by the electric guitar before the whole band joins with choppy jazz type progressions. At 01:33-01:44 (and 03:28-03:42) the guitar becomes a little more mournful and then it is back to the jazz. Plenty of variation but no prgression. From 01:44 flute or synthesiser is introduced.

Liner notes 7 Bojoura

These liner notes by Thijs van Leer originally appeared on the 1970 album The Beauty of Bojoura and the 1972 album Jesus Christ Superstar - the best of Bojoura, which he had a large part in assembling

Asked to think up the title for this new Bojoura album, I couldn't but suggest to entitle it "The Beauty of Bojoura", impressed as I am by her inward as well as her outward beauty. In addition to a talent for singing she also possesses a fine feeling for languages. This not only manifests itself in her fluency when speaking such languages as French, German, English, Bulgarian or Dutch, but also in the remarkable richness of metaphor in the lyrics she writes. This figurative language has been a great inspiration to me when setting a handful of her poems to music. On the other hand, Bo and I have equally enjoyed doing our versions of songs from the repertoire of such groups and singers as Peter, Paul & Mary, the Doors, the Rolling Stones, Tim Hardin and Tom Paxton.

Bojoura's inward beauty as well as her outward beauty impress me quite a lot.

In addition to a talent for singing she also possesses a fine feeling for languages. This not only manifests itself in her fluency when speaking such languages as French, German, English, Bulgarian or Dutch, but also in the remarkable richness of metaphor in the lyrics she writes.

The figurative language has been a great inspiration to me when setting some of her poems to music. On the other hand, Bo and I have equally enjoyed doing our versions of the hit songs from the Rock Opera "Jesus Christ Superstar" and songs from the repertoire of such groups and singers as Peter, Paul & Mary, The Doors, The Rolling Stones, Tim Hardin, Tom Paxton, Jo Stafford and Gordon Lightfoot.

Liner notes 6 Nice to have met you

These liner notes appear on the van Leer solo album Nive to have met you from 1978

Tys van Leer is a household word throughout his native Holland and other parts of Europe. His classical roots as a flutist and as a composer, showcased in the CBS albums "Introspection 1, 2 and 3," have earned him superstar status abroad. From these classical seeds, carefully cultivated since childhood, Tys branches out into other musical genres.

The rest of the world sampled Tys' artistry when he toured with his trendsetting rock band, Focus, in the early 1970s. Their single, "Hocus Pocus", was an international success, memorable not only for its musical composition, but for one of Tys' additional talents - yodeling. Turning to yet another music form, he captivated the audience at the 1977 Montreaux Jazz Festival. While the flute remains Tys' featured instrument, he is also accomplished on the piano, organ, oberheim, harmonium and mellotron.

Everywhere Tys travels, people accept his music with admiration and appreciation. When Tys arrived in the United States in November, 1977, to make plans for this album, he was overwhelmed by the sincerity and friendliness of those he encountered. And, at the end of every conversation, a phrase which struck him as being typically American recurred, "...nice to have met you."

In February, Tys returned to New York City to begin recording. He brought with him several new compositions and a title song to express warm feelings for his many new American friends, "Nice To Have Met You."

The sessions began on a high note. Two of his new friends, Ralph MacDonald and Tom Scott, collaborated their production talents with the brilliance of Tys' music. The joy and intensity that characterized Tys' meetings with artists he's long admired is evident in the music that resulted. And, as the end of each session, many musicians would approach Tys with compliments to his music and the ever-familiar phrase, "...nice to have met you."

With this album, the world will be able to savor the genius of this multi-talented Dutch musician. It is, indeed, so nice to have met you, Tys van Leer.

Liner Notes 2 Introspection

These liner notes were penned by the Dutch TV presenter Willem Duys for the van Leer solo album Introspection, which came out in 1972

It seems unfair that some people are so much more talented than others. THIJS VAN LEER is one of those more.than usually gifted musicians. He could have been a concert pianist for instance. Born the last day of March 1948, he caressed the keys when still the tiniest of toddlers, started studying seriously when he was all of three years old and became the often praised pupil of locally famous pianists like Maria Stroo and Gerard Hengeveld. When he was thirteen, he became interested in jazz and pretty soon played fine harmonic variations on "Stella by Starlight" and other beautiful ballads.

Van Leer Senior, however, was not very happy to see a possible Mozart gradually becoming a probable Bill Evans. Being an extraordinary flute player himself, he started to teach young Thijs the intricates of this old and difficult instrument.

Meanwhile, the musical prodigy did very wekk in school. He finished his Gymnasium-studies in record time and even proved to have more arrows to hus cultural bow than people had expected: during an inter-scholar match, he proved himself and exciting actor in Shakespeare, did some declamation of his own poetry, played jazz and flute abd finally sang a song he had just composed in true Richard Rodgers-style: music and lyrics. It was then that I had the fortune to discover Thijs van Leer and I took him to his first recording session in 1967. This resulted in a single nobody took notice of. I also introduced van Leer to Ramses Shaffy, who was just forming a new cabaret group and soon young Thijs made his professional debut on stages all over the country.

Meanwhile he studied the History of Art, took lessons in harmony and counterpoint at the Amsterdam Conservatory and painted many pictures. Success had to come one way or another. It came when he formed his own group with equally talentes Jan Akkerman, a guitar player of great virtuosity and this group, called FOCUS, has now won prizes in Festivals all over Eurpe, as well as the 1971 Edison Award, apart from being a top-selling bunch of record makers.

This is the first solo LP Thijs van Leer has made. It goes back to Bach in some numbers, it shows his classical training, it proves his ability as a flute player. It also shows his remarkable sense of style and form. Whether you hear Fauré's lovely Pavane or Van Leer's own Focus I and II, you will be thrilled by the whole conception and reakisation of his music.

A word of praise should be printed for Rogier van Otterloo, who wrote so many fine arrangements for Rita Reys and others and who came up this time (being a pianist and flute player himself) with truly lush orchestral backgrounds, in which a prominent part is played, or rather sung, by young soprano Letty de Jong.

So there it is: an LP featuring a still very young but unusually gifted performer named Thijs van Leer, whose name you're bound to hear many times in the future and whose kind of music should appeal to anyone with good ears and taste.

New Solo Album from Thijs van Leer

I thought it unlikely that Thijs van Leer would have been doing nothing during the pandemic. His new album is now out. All in French, Parce que is a set of ten vocal numbers with piano and flute from the maestro. Downloaded it recently and am enjoying it.

Track by track 156 Birds come fly over

Archive number: 147

Title: Birds Come Fly Over

Main Album: The Focus Family Album

Track number: 11

Genre: Sung Ballad

Studio: Unknown

Length: 5:30

Composer: Thijs van Leer, Rosalie Peters

Musicians: Thijs van Leer piano, organ, melodics, vocals, whistling; Menno Gootjes guitars, Udo Pannekeet bass, Pierre van der Linden drums

Producer: Geert Scheigrond

Engineer: Geert Scheigrond

Label: In and Out of Focus Recordings

Date of recording/release: 2017

Other versions: This is a version of Le Tango, which has appeared in several places

Notes: Before van Leer's singing comes in at 00:53 the atmosphere is built through an instrumental section that begins with drums and acoustic guitar but is then developed with flute, organ and a chugging electric guitar. The lyrics continue through the rest of the song, with instrumental interludes of varying short lengths. The piano is prominent but the melodica is in there and the electric guitar gets a good run just before a quieter section (out of a million overs, etc) where van Leer's whistling is present, 04:02-04:44.

The lyrics
I'm always watching sunrise
I have at least a life
And for my heart's desire I can die

And you my love, my good love
I see you live your life
But in my heart I've often seen you cry

I'm only waiting for the time to pass
How can I raise my voice or my hand
Birds come fly over to the sun

Out of a million lovers
One only could be mine
But there's a million others passing by

From sun up until sundown
This life is such a strife
And if you loose your love you loose your life

I'm only waiting for the time to pass
How can I raise my voice or my hand
Birds come fly over to the sun

Track by track 155 Let us wander

Archive number: 155

Title:  Let us wander

Main Album: The Focus Family Album 

Track number: 11

Genre: Solo instrumental (Flute)

Studio: Unknown 

Length: 2:33

Composer: Thijs van Leer 

Musicians: Thijs van Leer – 1989 Muramatsu Flute 

Producer: Geert Scheigrond 

Engineer: Geert Scheigrond 

Label: In and Out of Focus Recordings 

Date of recording/release: 2017 

Notes:  Thijs apparently wanders near a river playing his flute with aquatic and other background nature sounds.

Track by track 154 Clair-Obscur

Archive number: 154

Title: Clair-Obscur
Main Album: The Focus Family Album
Track number: 10
Genre: Progressive Rock Instrumental
Studio: Unknown
Length: 3:12
Composer: Thijs van Leer

Musicians: Thijs van Leer piano, Menno Gootjes guitar, Udo Pannekeet bass, Pierre van der Linden drums

Producer: Geert Scheigrond
Engineer: Geert Scheigrond
Label: In and Out of Focus Recordings
Date of recording/release: 2017

Other versions: The track is also on Focus 11

Notes: We begin with the piano and electric guitar weaving a pleasant melody twice over before the snare-led drums and bass come in at 00:43. The tune meanders rather before the original theme reasserts itself and then meanders again. At 2:34-36 there is something of a ritartando on solo piano before the piece abruptly ends shortly after that.

Clair-obscur is the French version of the Italian Chiaroscuro, an art term that simply means light-dark and refers to the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achieve a sense of volume in modelling three-dimensional objects and figures. Similar effects in cinema, and black and white and low-key photography, are also called chiaroscuro.

Further specialised uses of the term include chiaroscuro woodcut for coloured woodcuts printed with different blocks, each using a different coloured ink; and chiaroscuro drawing for drawings on coloured paper in a dark medium with white highlighting.

Chiaroscuro is one of the canonical painting modes of the Renaissance (alongside cangiante, sfumato and unione). Artists known for using the technique include Leonardo da Vinci, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Vermeer and Goya.

Track by track (128) 148 Victoria

Archive number: 148
Title: Victoria
Main Album: The Focus Family Album
Track number: 4
Genre: Prog Rock Instrumental
Studio: Fieldwork Studios, Schoten, Belgium (Mixed at B-Spot Studio; mastered at Tube Mastering)

Length: 5:28

Composer: Thijs van Leer

Musicians: Thijs van Leer – Hammond organ, piano, flute; Menno Gootjes – Guitars, Vocals; Bobby Jacobs – Bass; Pierre van der Linden – Drums

Producer: Bobby Jacobs, Geert Scheijgrond

Engineer: Bram Bol/Geert Scheigrond
Label: In and Out of Focus Recordings
Date of recording/release: 2012/2017

Alternative recording: This is an edit from the version on Focus X
Notes: See Track by track 128

Track by track 133 Talk of the Clown

Archive number: 133
Title: Talk of the Clown

Main Album: Focus X 

Track number: 8

Genre: Progressive Rock with vocal 

Studio: Fieldwork Studios, Schoten, Belgium 

Length: 2:59

Composer: Thijs van Leer (based on James Hook)

Musicians: Thijs van Leer – Flute; Menno Gootjes – Acoustic guitar; Bobby Jacobs – Bass; Pierre Van der Linden – Drums 

Producer: Bobby Jacobs 

Label: Eastworld Recordings

Date of recording/release: November, 2012

Alternative version: A briefer version of the same track is on Thijs's solo album Renaissance entitled Pierrot
Notes: This playful little acoustic instrumental piece has a renaissance feel about it with Thijs's flute and Menno's guitar leading things with a bass and marching drum backing. A joyful little gem.

Note on James Hook (1746-1827).

Born in Norwich, England, Hook was the son of a razor-grinder and cutler and a musical child prodigy. Some time around 1764 he moved to London to become organist at White Conduit House, Pentonville, a tea garden, a popular venue in 18th-century London. He worked as an organist, teacher and composer and gained a reputation for composing vocal music. He married artist and writer Elizabeth Jane Madden in 1766. They had two son. In 1768 he became organist and composer to Marylebone Gardens. In addition to performances on organ, and occasionally on harpsichord, he was now invited to perform concertos between the main works in theatres, and his short musical entertainments and comic operas were being produced for pleasure gardens and in London theatres. In 1776 he became organist at St Johns Horselydown, Bermondsey, and frequently played concerts on newly built organs, in London and beyond, often playing his own compositions. He was highly successful as a keyboard teacher. He later worked at Vauxhall Gardens. His pupil Margaret Thornton (after marriage Martyr) often sang his songs there. Over the years Hook composed operas and other works, most of which were produced at Drury Lane and Covent Garden Theatres. He frequently collaborated with family members. His wife wrote the libretto for opera The Double Disguise (1784); his son James librettos for Jack of Newbury (1795) and Diamond Cut Diamond (1797) and his other son Thomas Edward librettos for at least eight operas. In 1805 his first wife died and the next year he married Harriet Horncastle James. It was at this time that he produced his best work, Tekeli, or the Siege of Montgatz, the life and adventure of Imre Thököly. In 1820 he unexpectedly left his position at Vauxhall, after almost a half century of service. He died seven years later in Boulogne.

New Focus Album Out Today September 1

Rather out of the blue a new Focus album appears today. What they have done is to interleave Focus tracks with tracks from members of the band to create an attractive double album adorned with one of Roger Dean's iconic artwork covers. I understand that the CD version is quite lavish in presentation. This is well worth a listen and full of good things. They could have simply produced a 10 track Focus album but by this means one gets something a bit more meaty and this is probably the right move, although why the old method of calling solo tracks a group effort (pioneered by the Beatles [Yesterday] and continued by Focus [Moving Waves, le Clochard]) could not have been followed I am not sure. Some few tracks have appeared before but the bulk is very fresh to most of us. It is called Focus Family Album and is available through the usual outlets.

SIr Thijs van Leer Solo Album

Focus fans will be interested to know of a limited edition Thijs Van Leer solo album recently released. The three CD offering is a recording of a live gig at Trading Boundaries. The second and third discs give the concert itself with the fascinating biographical ramblings by Thijs that interweave the songs. The first CD selects songs from the concert and presents them as  amore straightforward album. The three CDs come in a very attractive book-like album with lots of photographs and info and original art work by Roger Dean. A lovely presentation full of old favourites and one or two more obscure ones, all in acoustic fashion. 

New version of Focus II

A new album, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Plays Prog Rock Classics includes a version of Focus II with Van Leer on flute. Worth a listen.

Moving Waves Documentary

Some good news now bad news - the 1997 documentary on the making of the album Moving Waves was briefly available on Youtube. The bad news for monoglot English speakers was that the documentary is in Dutch. However, as it was made up of performances and interviews with Mike Vernon and Jerry Boys there was quite a bit not in Dutch. Die hard fans might even have been able to work out what was being said in Dutch as van Leer describes the writing of Hocus Pocus, perhaps, or as Akkerman describes his early career and Havermans is asked about the bass parts! Anyway it is gone for now.

PS It is on the 50 year anthology box set

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!