Miming to House of the King 1971

Eruption Part 4

Eruption Part 3

Eruption Part 2

Eruption Part 1

,

Focus 2

Moving Waves

Janis

Le Clochard (Bread)

Hocus Pocus

Focus Live 02

The next group of Focus extant recordings are from 1971, the year that the second album was released. Again they are from Holland. There are two undated recordings from an early and late show in Den Burg on the Isle Of Texel. It is not clear whether this is before or after Bert Ruiter succeeded Cyril Havermans.

The first show features Anonymous 2 (22:35) Eruption (23:20) and finally an Improvisation (5:55). The later show also has versions of Eruption (23:24) and Anonymous 2 (21:58). These are preceded by versions of House Of The King/Janis (4:11) and Focus ( 5:01).

Focus were also heard that year on a documentary about them called Moving Waves and currently available on DVD.

We know that Focus played the Pink Pop Festival in Geleen on May 31 (alongside Brainbox, Fleetwood Mac, etc). They also played alongside others in the Students Union at Utrecht (June 6) and in a festival at Meerlo (July 7).

Havermans had left by September and so by November, Bert Ruiter was well settled in and their concert at Schouwburg, Den Bosch, on November 6, was recorded as was the one on November 12 at Club Zodiac, Amstelveen. The first begins with various Improvisations leading into Focus 1 (28:24). We also have the track that was later to appear on Focus 3 - Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers! (17:20) and Anonymous 2 (22:21) which are also on the second (16:45 and 22:35 respectively), separated by Focus 2 (7:38). The second concert also includes a version of Eruption (24:09) and the sequence that was eventually to feature on At the Rainbow - Hocus Pocus (9:13) Sylvia (4:12) Hocus Pocus Reprise (2:09).

Track by track 15d Eruption (Part 4 - Answer, Orfeus, Euridice)

Archive number: 15d

Title: Eruption (Part 4 - Answer, Orfeus, Euridice)

Main Album: Moving Waves (Focus 2 in Holland)

Track number: 6d

Genre: Progressive Rock (Symphonic)

Studio: Sound Techniques Studio, 46a Old Church Street, Chelsea, London SW3

Length: 2' 57" (22' 57" the whole)

Composer: Thijs van Leer, (Tom Barlage, Jan Akkerman), Eelko Nobel, (Pierre van der Linden)

Musicians: Jan Akkerman – Electric guitars (Gibson Les Paul Customs), Bass; Thijs van Leer – Hammond organ, Piano, Voice; Cyriel Havermans - Bass; Pierre van der Linden - Drums

Producer: Mike Vernon

Engineer: Jerry Boys

Label: LP - Imperial, Blue Horizon CD – EMI Bovema, IRS, Red Bullet

Date of recording/release: April, May 1971/October 1971. CD - 1988, 1993, 2001

Alternative version: The original Eelke Nobel contribution can be heard briefly in the background on the Ramses Shaffy album Sunset Sunkiss.

Notes: Eruption is a brilliant composite piece that pulls together various musical elements. Album notes refer to as many as 15 different parts though the nature of the music means that there are overlaps and the debatable nature of deciding just where one part ends and another begins is reflected in the varied timings given. We present here our own attempt to convey what is included.

20:01-22:57

The final section appears to be edited down with overdubs possibly from the previous Answer, Orfeus and Euridice.

20:01-20:33 Answer

First we have the slow and fast parts of Answer

20:34-21:25 Orfeus

Then the 'violined' guitar and organ with heavy drums of Orfeus.

21:26-22:57 Euridice

Finally we have the piano and guitar then flute and piano with organ and bass of Euridice. At 22:34 heavy drums come in and their fading erupting sound ends the piece.

Note on Orpheus and Eurydice (from Wikipedia)

Orpheus, a figure from Greek mythology, was king of the Thracian tribe Cicones. Pindar calls him "father of songs". His name is not in Homer or Hesiod but he was known by the time of Ibycus (c 530 BC). He was believed to be one of the chief poets and musicians of antiquity and the inventor or perfector of the lyre. With his music and singing, he could charm wild beasts, coax trees and rocks to dance and even divert the course of rivers. As one of the pioneers of civilisation, he is said to have taught humanity the arts of medicine, writing and agriculture. He was also an augur and seer; practiced magical arts, especially astrology; founded or rendered accessible many important cults, such as those of Apollo and the Thracian god Dionysus; instituted mystic rites public and private; prescribed initiatory and purificatory rituals. In addition, Pindar describes him as harpist and companion to Jason and the Argonauts.

The most famous story in which he figures involves his wife Eurydice (Agriope). While fleeing from Aristaeus, Eurydice ran into a nest of snakes which bit her fatally on her legs. Distraught, Orpheus played such sad songs and sang so mournfully that all the nymphs and gods wept. On their advice, Orpheus travelled to the underworld and by his music softened the hearts of Hades and Persephone (the only one who ever did), so that they agreed to let Eurydice return with him to earth on condition he walk in front of her and not look back until they had reached the upper world. In his anxiety he forgot and turned to look. She vanished a second time, now forever. The story in this form belongs to Virgil's time. He first introduces the name Aristaeus. Other ancient writers speak of the visit to the underworld but the story may actually be a late addition to the Orpheus myths.

Classical compositions featuring the story include those by Monteverdi, Telemann, Gluck, Haydn, Liszt, Offenbach, Stravinsky, etc.

Track by track 15c Eruption (Part 3 - Euridice, Dayglow, Endless Road)

Archive number: 15c

Title: Eruption (Part 3 - Euridice, Dayglow, Endless Road)

Main Album: Moving Waves (Focus 2 in Holland)

Track number: 6c

Genre: Progressive Rock (Symphonic) Studio: Sound Techniques Studio, 46a Old Church Street, Chelsea, London SW3

Length: 5' 25" (22' 57" the whole)

Composer: Thijs van Leer, (Tom Barlage, Jan Akkerman), Eelko Nobel, Pierre van der Linden

Musicians: Jan Akkerman – Electric guitars (Gibson Les Paul Customs), Bass; Thijs van Leer – Hammond organ, Piano, Voice, Flute, Mellotron; Cyriel Havermans - Bass; Pierre van der Linden - Drums

Producer: Mike Vernon

Engineer: Jerry Boys

Label: LP - Imperial, Blue Horizon CD – EMI Bovema, IRS, Red Bullet

Date of recording/release: April, May 1971/October 1971. CD - 1988, 1993, 2001

Alternative version: The original Eelko Nobel contribution can be heard briefly in the background on the Ramses Shaffy album Sunset Sunkiss.

Notes: Eruption is a brilliant composite piece that pulls together various musical elements. Album notes refer to as many as 15 different parts though the nature of the music means that there are overlaps and the debatable nature of deciding just where one part ends and another begins is reflected in the varied timings given. We present here our own attempt to convey what is included.

14:35-20:00

There is a definite caesura or pause at 14:35 and then we enter on the third and penultimate section.

14:36-16:16 Euridice

First we have Euridice by Eelko Nobel (van Leer's fellow singer when he was working with Ramses Shaffy). This begins with beautiful piano and guitar, then the organ comes in. The flute takes up the lead at 15:14 with bass. From 15:53 to 16:16 it is the heavily reverbed solo flute that rounds off the piece.

16:17-17:53 Dayglow

The next part begins with a monk-like voice and organ to be succeeded (16:47-17:19) by organ and 'violined' guitar. At 17:18 a mellotron comes in featuring voices and a horn-like sound. At 17:52 a transition is signalled with bass, cymbals and the horn-like mellotron.

18:24-20:00 Endless Road

This transitional part leads into van der Linden's drumbreak.

Track by track 15b Eruption (Part 2 - End of Orfeus, Answer, Pupilla, Answer, Tommy, Pupilla, Answer, The Bridge)

Archive number: 15b

Title: Eruption (Part 2 - End of Orfeus, Answer, Pupilla, Answer, Tommy, Pupilla, Answer, The Bridge)

Main Album: Moving Waves (Focus 2 in Holland). Tommy was also a single in 1972.

Track number: 6

Genre: Progressive Rock (Symphonic)

Studio: Sound Techniques Studio, 46a Old Church Street, Chelsea, London SW3

Length: This part 10' 44" (22' 57" the whole)

Composer: Thijs van Leer, Tom Barlage, Jan Akkerman, (Eelke Nobel, Pierre van der Linden)

Musicians: Jan Akkerman – Electric guitars (Gibson Les Paul Customs), Bass; Thijs van Leer – Hammond organ, Piano, Mellotron,Voice; Cyriel Havermans - Bass, Voice; Pierre van der Linden - Drums

Producer: Mike Vernon

Engineer: Jerry Boys

Label: LP - Imperial, Blue Horizon CD – EMI Bovema, IRS, Red Bullet

Date of recording/release: April, May 1971/October 1971. CD - 1988, 1993, 2001

Notes: Eruption is a brilliant composite piece that pulls together various musical elements. Album notes refer to as many as 15 different parts though the nature of the music means that there are overlaps and the debatable nature of deciding just where one part ends and another begins is reflected in the varied timings given. We have divided it into four parts in our own attempt to convey what is included. Next 03:50-14:34

03:50-04:15

At 03:50 slow solo organ comes in followed by 'violined' guitar as the opening theme is repeated to close the Orfeus element.

04:16-05:07 Answer

And so back to the fast guitar-led answer, which this time features drums and is brought to a conclusion by a short drum break, 04:38-05:07.

05:08-06:10 Pupilla

The next section is Pupilla. This is a band effort. It is quite slow and features ethereal background voices and mellotron. From 5:42 the guitar comes in and dominates.

06:11-07:58 Tommy

From here Akkerman features more, beginning with the wonderful Tommy – a soaring guitar with the band backing - still played by Akkerman today. The Who's rock opera Tommy made the name fashionable and The Who had performed much of it in Amsterdam in 1969vbut Tommy himself is the flautist and saxophonist Tom Barlage, who often played with Akkerman's previous band Brainbox. Barlage's own band Solution recorded a track called Divergence where one of the themes, played on saxophone, is this same tune.

07:59-08:30 Pupilla

After Tommy we return to the ethereal voices backed by the band for a short reprise of Pupilla.

08:31-09:17 Answer

We are then back into Answer with an ascending guitar-led band then strong chords. From 08:52 we have the Answer riff then a rising and falling scale (09:05-09:17) when we enter into the next section. The section 09:05-09:17 is discussed by a musicologist here in relation to a similar riff by the band Camel.

09:18-14:34 The Bridge

This begins with a heavy rock guitar-led section (09:18-11:35) concluded (11:36-12:01) with the Answer riff and rising scales. This Akkerman section is matched by a van Leer one, a heavy rock organ-led part (12:02-13:44) concluding again (13:45-14:10) with the Answer riff and rising scales. The final part of this section is the Break (14:11-14:34) where it is scorching solo guitar after the three introductory double beats from the rhythm section.

Track by track 15a Eruption (Part 1 - Orfeus, Answer, Orfeus)

Archive number: 15a

Title: Eruption (Part 1 - Orfeus, Answer, Orfeus)

Main Album: Moving Waves (Focus 2 in Holland)

Track number: 6a

Genre: Progressive Rock (Symphonic)

Studio: Sound Techniques Studio, 46a Old Church Street, Chelsea, London SW3

Length: This part 3' 50" (22' 57" the whole)

Composer: Thijs van Leer (Tom Barlage, Jan Akkerman, Eelke Nobel, Pierre van der Linden)

Musicians: Jan Akkerman – Electric guitars (Gibson Les Paul Customs), Bass; Thijs van Leer – Hammond organ, Piano, Voice; Cyriel Havermans - Bass; Pierre van der Linden - Drums

Producer: Mike Vernon

Engineer: Jerry Boys

Label: LP - Imperial, Blue Horizon CD – EMI Bovema, IRS, Red Bullet

Date of recording/release: April, May 1971/October 1971. CD - 1988, 1993, 2001

Notes: Eruption is a brilliant composite piece that pulls together various musical elements. Album notes refer to as many as 15 different parts though the nature of the music means that there are overlaps and the debatable nature of deciding just where one part ends and another begins is reflected in the varied timings given. We have divided it into four parts in our own attempt to convey what is included. First, 00:00-03:50

First we have the van Leer composed parts (Orfeus, Answer, Orfeus part 1) drawn originally from works by Bartok and perhaps others.

00:00-01:20 Orfeus

We begin slowly with bass, organ and 'violined' guitar.

01:21-02:55 Answer

Organ and guitar take us to a suspended chord, immediately followed by a deliberate solo organ phrase repeated by the guitar (01:21-01:42). Then at 01:43 a fast part is played by the whole band leading into rising scales.

02:56-03:50 (goes on to 04:15)

Orfeus

We then go back to the slower part repeated on 'violined' guitar with heavy 'erupting' drums in the background.

This is a convenient place to make the first break (although Orfeus appears to go until 04:15).

Track by track 14 Focus 2

Archive number: 14
Title: Focus 2
Main Album: Moving Waves (Focus 2 in Holland). Also a single in 1972.
Track number: 5
Genre: Progressive Rock/Jazz Instrumental
Studio: Sound Techniques Studio, 46a Old Church Street, Chelsea, London SW3 (and Morgan Studios, London)
Length: 4' 00”
Composer: Thijs van Leer
Musicians: Jan Akkerman – Electric guitars (Gibson Les Paul Customs), Bass; Thijs van Leer – Hammond organ, Piano, Mellotron, Voice; Cyriel Havermans - Bass; Pierre van der Linden - Drums
Producer: Mike Vernon
Engineer: Jerry Boys
Label: LP - Imperial, Blue Horizon CD – EMI Bovema, IRS, Red Bullet
Date of recording/release: April, May 1971/October 1971. CD - 1988, 1993, 2001

Alternative version: There is a live version on the Rainbow album. Van Leer has a classical version on Introspection. All the Focus tracks were redone to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary.
Notes: Very much a studio effort, with subtle use of the mellotron to build atmosphere, this piece has two main parts. The first (00:00-02:28) has two repeated sections. The first of these (00:00-00:51) opens with slow organ, piano and guitar (00:00-00:12). The guitar is 'violined' (00:13-00:24) and around 00:25 bass and drums join in and the guitar soon begins to soar (from 00:39 where the mellotron also probably begins). A jazz break follows (00:52-01:22 - only drums are heard at 01:02-01:06). The guitar leads the band on until the original theme, briefly slow then soaring, returns (01:23-01:47) after which the jazz break is repeated (01:48-02:29 [with the brief drum break at 01:58-02:02]). A second movement follows. This slowly builds, using mellotron, piano, 'James Bond' guitar and some harmonics to heighten atmosphere. The whole builds to a satisfying crescendo that is finally rounded off by what sounds like van Leer's voice mixed with the effect from the tremolo arm of Akkerman's guitar.

Track by track 13 Moving Waves

Archive number: 13
Title: Moving WavesMain Album: Moving Waves (Focus 2 in Holland)
Track number: 4
Genre: Classical (Piano and voice)
Studio: Sound Techniques Studio, 46a Old Church Street, Chelsea, London SW3
Length: 2' 36"
Composer: Thijs van Leer
Musicians: Thijs van Leer – Grand Piano, Vocal
Producer: Mike Vernon
Engineer: Jerry Boys
Label: LP - Imperial, Blue Horizon CD – EMI Bovema, IRS, Red Bullet
Date of recording/release: April 13 - May 14 1971/October 1971. CD - 1988, 1993, 2001

Alternative versions: There is a live version on the van Leer album Trading Boundaries
Notes: A very unusual track for a rock album, this piece is a setting of the words of the Muslim Sufi mystic, Inayat Khan, a big influence on van Leer's mother Mary. Van Leer wrote the piece when he was 16 (probably as a composition exercise) and only he features, singing to his own accompaniment on piano. Following a piano introduction (00:00-00:35) the vocal begins. The swirling sounds of the piano perfectly reflect the words at every point, climaxing with the caesura or pause (02:21) just before the crucial final line and a subsiding like the waves themselves. The words are

 

Moving waves, the wind has left you
And you are still in commotion?
Moving waves, the wind has left you
And you are still in commotion?

We are still repeating the word it has taught us.
It moves our whole being to ecstasy.

Waves, why do you all become excited
And then all calm together?
Because behind our individual action
There is one impulse working.
Because behind our individual action
There is one impulse working.

Rising waves ... what motive is behind your impulse?
What motive is behind your impulse?

The desire to reach upwards!

Note on Inayat Khan (from Wikipedia)
Hazrat Inayat Khan (July 5 1882 – February 5 1927) was the founder of Universal Sufism and the Sufi Order International. He initially came to the West as a representative of several traditions of classical Indian music, having received the title Tansen from the Nizam of Hyderabad. However, Khan felt his life mission was to be to introduce and transmit Sufi thought and practice to the West. His universal message of Divine Unity – Tawhid – focused on the themes of "Love, Harmony and Beauty" and evinced a distinctive and often effective ability to transmit Sufism to Western audiences in his day.

Track by track 12 Janis

Archive number: 12
Title: Janis

Main Album: Moving Waves (Focus 2 in Holland)
Track number: 3
Genre: Progressive Rock Instrumental (Eastern)
Studio: Sound Techniques Studio, 46a Old Church Street, Chelsea, London SW3 (and Morgan Studios, London)
Length: 3' 02”
Composer: Jan Akkerman
Musicians: Jan Akkerman – Electric guitars (Gibson Les Paul Customs), Bass; Thijs Van Leer – Flutes; Cyriel Havermans - Bass; Pierre van der Linden - Drums
Producer: Mike Vernon
Engineer: Jerry Boys
Label: LP - Imperial, Blue Horizon CD – EMI Bovema, IRS, Red Bullet
Date of recording/release: April 13 - May 14 1971/October 1971. CD- 1988, 1993, 2001
Notes: This studio arranged number appears to look east for its inspiration. The first note is a bass guitar note but it is the flutes (multi-layered soprano and alto flutes weaving around one another) and rhythm section (the drums begin with a cymbal stroke at 00:10) that are very much to the fore, the jazz style electric guitars playing a much more subtle role in the background. The very last notes are played by the two flutes - a long note on the soprano and a vibrato from the alto. The title refers to short lived American singer Janis Joplin who had tragically died just five or six months before the recording of this song. Akkerman had been on the same bill with her in Amsterdam, as part of Brainbox, in 1969. (Both Brainbox and Joplin recorded Gershwin's Summertime around the same time). There is nothing in the song itself that obviously connects it to Joplin. It is a reminder, however, of Focus's continuous interaction with the mainstream. Possibly a van Leer composed middle section was missed out of the final edit.
Note on Janis Joplin (from Wikipedia)
Janis Lyn Joplin (19 January 1943 – 4 October 1970) was an American singer, songwriter and music arranger, from Port Arthur, Texas. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company, and eventually as a solo artist. She is widely considered one of the greatest artists of the period and one of the greatest female rockers of all time. Her career continued until her death in Los Angeles, California of a drug overdose at the age of 27 (the same age that Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and others died).

Track by track 11 Le Clochard

Archive number: 11
Title: Le Clochard (Bread)
Main Album: Moving Waves (Focus 2 in Holland)
Track number: 2
Genre: Classical Instrumental (Guitar)
Studio: Sound Techniques Studio, 46a Old Church Street, Chelsea, London SW3
Length: 1' 56”
Composer: Jan Akkerman
Musicians: Jan Akkerman – Classical guitar (Vicente Tatay Tomas); Thijs van Leer – Mellotron (Orchestra strings)
Producer: Mike Vernon
Engineer: Jerry Boys
Label: LP - Imperial, Blue Horizon CD – EMI Bovema, IRS, Red Bullet
Date of recording/release: April 13 - May 14 1971/October 1971. CD - 1988, 1993, 2001
Notes: At the time Rodrigo's Concerto de Aranjuez was popular and Focus would play a 15 minute live version. (Akkerman later recorded part of it on Gibson Les Paul). This much shorter track is in similar style, featuring only Akkerman's guitar and orchestral strings provided by van Leer's keyboard. The mellotron is there throughout except for one short section where only the guitar is heard (01:33-01:41). Le Clochard means hobo or tramp and bread can refer to food or money. The piece conjures up a romanticised Parisienne tramp quite well. Its juxtaposition with the previous Hocus Pocus is striking and is meant to be. Akkerman still sometimes plays the piece today.

Track by track 10 Hocus Pocus

Archive number: 10
Title: Hocus Pocus
Main Album: Moving Waves (Focus 2 in Holland) (Also a single in edited form in 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1977)
Track number: 1
Genre: Progressive Rock Instrumental

Studio: Sound Techniques Studio, 46a Old Church Street, Chelsea, London SW3 (also Morgan Studios, London)
Length: 6' 40”
Composer: Jan Akkerman, Thijs van Leer
Musicians: Jan Akkerman – Electric guitars (Gibson Les Paul Customs), Bass; Thijs van Leer – Hammond organ, Yodelling, Whistles, Shouts, Claps, Flute, Harmonium; Cyriel Havermans - Bass; Pierre van der Linden - Drums
Producer: Mike Vernon
Engineer: Jerry Boys
Label: LP - Imperial, Blue Horizon CD – EMI Bovema, IRS, Red Bullet
Date of recording/release: April 13 - May 14 1971/October 1971. CD - 1988, 1993, 2001

Alternative versions: Among the many other versions of this piece are the single edit mentioned above, the US single version, a version by van Leer (Nice to have met you) and several live versions by Focus and Akkerman. There are also a number of covers by various bands. In 2010 a new mix (the Darius Syrossian & Nyra Mix) appeared in connection with a Nike advert for the 2010 football world cup. A further lease of fame came in 2017 with its use in the film Baby Driver.
Notes: When edited, this track was the single that later propelled Focus to fame. It was first seen on mainstream television in the UK on The Old Grey Whistle Test in November 1972. For the next 10 days Polydor had to devote its entire vinyl pressing plant to servicing the unexpected demand for Moving Waves.
Analysis of the self-mocking track reveals that it can be split into 15 constituent parts, beginning and ending with the full band but alternating with van Leer and his tricks all the way. We begin with electric guitars (first a single strummed guitar [00:00-00:09] with a single note from elsewhere at 00:05 before more guitars join in with the riff after first the drums then the whole band come in for the first run through of the riff (00:00-00:47). At 00:48 we have break 1 - the drums come in alone, followed by van Leer's yodel and a sort of scream. The band then come back in with the main theme (01:14-01:39) to be followed by break 2 - a repeat of the drums, yodel, scream sequence (1:40-02:04). The band come in again (02:05-02:32) but at the third break van Leer uses a strange unintelligible gnome-like gibberish (02:33-02:53). The order established, the band alternate with van Leer to the end. The yodel and scream come another twice. Between these breaks two other alternatives are used – break 4, a breathy flute (04:10-04:30) then break 5 - whistles, claps and a studio harmonium (04:56-05:12). Each time the band comes in, Akkerman's guitar grows wilder and more frenetic. The final yodel break (break 7) is at 05:43-06:03 and the band finale, introduced by screams or shouts, is at 06:04-06:40. The band end in unison. There is also an unconnected 1930s jazz number with the same title.

A note on Hocus Pocus (from Wikipedia)
Van Leer has said that the track has everything to do with rhyming with Focus and nothing to do with magic, however

Hocus Pocus is a generic term used by magicians, usually the magic words spoken when bringing about some sort of change. It was once a common term for a magician, juggler or other similar entertainer. In British English its most prevalent modern meaning is contrived nonsense, as in, "It was all a load of hocus pocus". The origins of the term remain obscure. Some believe it originates from a parody of the Roman Catholic liturgy of the eucharist, which contains the phrase Hoc est enim corpus meus (This is my body). This explanation goes back to speculations by Anglican Prelate John Tillotson who wrote (1694) "In all probability those common juggling words of hocus pocus are nothing else but a corruption of hoc est corpus, by way of ridiculous imitation of the priests of the Church of Rome in their trick of Transubstantiation." Others believe that it is an appeal to the Norse folklore magician Ochus Bochus. The Welsh hwca pwca (a "goblin's trick" or hoax) could also be the source. It may simply be imitation Latin with no meaning, made up to impress people: "I will speak of one man ... that went about in King James his time ... who called himself, The Kings Majesties most excellent Hocus Pocus, and so was he called, because that at the playing of every Trick, he used to say, Hocus pocus, tontus talontus, vade celeriter jubeo, a dark composure of words, to blinde the eyes of the beholders, to make his Trick pass the more currently without discovery, because when the eye and the ear of the beholder are both earnestly busied, the Trick is not so easily discovered, nor the Imposture discerned." Thomas Ady, A Candle in the Dark, 1656.