Archive number: 32
Title: Hocus Pocus (reprise)
Main Album: Focus at the Rainbow
Track number: 7
Genre: Live Progressive Rock Instrumental
Venue: Rainbow Theatre, Finsbury Park, 232 Seven Sisters Road, N4 3NX (recorded using Pye Studios Mobile Unit and edited from the two performances)
Length: 2' 43” (or 03' 03” as originally played)
Composer: Thijs van Leer, Jan Akkerman
Musicians: Jan Akkerman – Electric guitar (Gibson Les Paul Custom); Thijs van Leer – Hammond organ, Voice; Bert Ruiter - Bass; Pierre van der Linden – Drums
Producer: Mike Vernon
Engineer: Phil Dunne
Label: LP – Polydor, Sire CD – EMI-Bovema, IRS, Red Bullet, JVC Victor
Date of recording/release: May 4, 5 1973/October 1973 (May 4 concert televised UK July 1973) CD 1988, 1993, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006
Alternative version: The original is on Moving Waves
Notes: This reprise of Hocus Pocus immediately follows Sylvia. It begins with Akkerman's chopped guitar (00:00-00:03) playing the opening part from the US single. The guitar is joined by strong bass (00:04) then drums (00:11) then the whole band (00:28). This is followed, after a very brief caesura, by the main theme (00:35-00:58). The break features van Leer's voice singing operatically high at first then very low, before breaking into a chanting style, accompanied by the audience's claps. This gets faster and faster until the 'scream' breaks in and (01:43) the band returns with the theme (01:49) at break neck speed. The whole is then brought to a dramatic, climactic and unified end at 02:09. Clapping, cheers and whistles follow and fade. The track has been subject to an edit around 02:17. On the orginal some 20 seconds of Akkerman playfully sliding his hand down the guitar neck to a halt have been excised to make for a more satisfying audio experience.
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