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.

Track by track 134 Message Magique

Archive number: 134
Title: Message Magique

Main Album: Focus X 

Track number: 9

Genre: Progressive Rock with vocal 

Studio: Fieldwork Studios, Schoten, Belgium 

Length: 3:53

Composer: Ben van der Linden

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

Producer: Bobby Jacobs 

Label: Eastworld Recordings

Date of recording/release: November, 2012

Alternative version: An earlier flute version of this track can be found on Thijs's solo album Renaissance

Notes: The track is introduced by nine seconds of drums then a piano and bass come in for another nine seconds before the lead guitar takes up the main theme in that rising Focus style that is so familiar. This continues until 1:46 when it is the turn of the flute to lead for several bars. From 2:27, it is flute and guitar that synchronise to lead the band. Around 3:15 the descent to the close begins, chiefly led by the flute but concluding with a satisfying sigh from the lead guitar.
Note on Ben van der Linden. 

Van der Linden (no relation) is a pianist and composer. He learned to play the organ as a child in church. He also studied piano with Jaap Callenbach at the Rotterdam Conservatory. He became pianist with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra for two and a half years then studied electronic music with CEM and jazz with Chick Corea.
He also led the Ben van der Linden Trio and was a student of jazz pianist Louis van Dijk.
Over the years he has worked with van Leer and many others including the singer Della Bosiers, the Peter Blanker Consort, Liselore Gerritsen, Fons Jansen, violinist Christiaan Bor, Conny Vandenbos, filmmaker Bob Rooijens, Henk van Ulsen, Ramses Shaffy, Willem Wilmink, Jan Boer Chair, Audrey Hepburn and Huub Oosterhuis. He was musical leader with Paul van Vliet for nine years and has composed hundreds of songs for different people. His work can be heard on around 80 commercial recordings.

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.

Track by track 129 Amok in Kindergarten

Archive number: 129

Title: Amok in Kindergarten

Main Album: Focus X

Track number: 4

Genre: Jazz Instrumental

Studio: Fieldwork Studios, Schoten, Belgium (Mixed at B-Spot Studio; mastered at Tube Mastering)

Length: 5' 00"

Composer: Thijs van Leer

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

Producer: Bobby Jacobs, Geert Scheijgrond

Mastered: Andy Jackson

Mixed: Bram Bol

Label: Eastworld Recordings 

Date of recording/release: November 2012

Alternative version: Two early versions appear on a rare van Leer solo album called Home Concert. The first is a short piano piece and the second long piece features flute and piano.

Notes: First a sombre mood is set by the cymbals and drums with piano, organ and bass (00:00-00:52) before the guitar comes in too with the jazz melody that meanders along until 02:02 when the guitar takes more of a lead. This continues until 03:49 when something more like the earlier theme is taken up. This is a demanding piece on a demanding theme.

A note on the Dunblane School Massacre (from Wikipedia)

The Dunblane school massacre took place at Dunblane Primary School in Scotland, on 13 March 1996, when Thomas Hamilton, who lived five miles from the school, shot 16 children and one teacher dead before killing himself. The massacre occurred in the school gym where 28 children had been gathered for a PE lesson. Several staff were present. He also fired shots into a nearby classroom where the pupils had been instructed to lie on the floor. A total of 32 people sustained gunshot wounds inflicted by Hamilton over a 3 or 4 minute period, 16 of whom were fatally wounded in the gymnasium, which included Gwen Mayor and 15 of her pupils. One other child died later en route to hospital. It remains the deadliest mass shooting in British history.

Following the massacre two new Firearms Acts were passed, outlawing private ownership of most handguns in Great Britain. The gymnasium at the school was demolished on 11 April 1996 and replaced by a memorial garden. Two years after the massacre on 14 March 1998, a memorial garden was opened at Dunblane Cemetery, where Gwen Mayor and twelve of the slain children are buried.

Van Leer's piece is one of several musical responses to the event.

Track by track 128 Victoria

Archive number: 128

Title: Victoria

Main Album: Focus X

Track number: 3

Genre: Progressive 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

Mastered: Andy Jackson

Mixed: Bram Bol

Label: Eastworld Recordings 

Date of recording/release: November 2012

Alternative version: This track was originally recorded in 1970 with a vocal in Dutch penned by Lennaert Herman Nijgh. The lyric tells the story of a man accused of rape who is knifed by the girl's father! An edited version of the instrumental appears on The Focus Family Album

Notes: The track begins with a solo piano intro. At 00:10 the drums break in and then the guitar led band when the chorus comes (00:52-01:16). The chorus features a background vocal repeating the name Victoria. The verse (to 01:55) and chorus (to 02:18) are then repeated. The break down then comes, featuring organ, flute and a little muted flute before returning to the theme just before the three minute mark. A verse and some chorus work follow until 03:56 when a jam comes in with real jazz flute and some guitar. This plays out to the end of the track.

Track by track 127 Focus 10

Archive number: 127

Title: Focus 10

Main Album: Focus X

Track number: 2

Genre: Jazz 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

Mastered: Andy Jackson

Mixed: Bram Bol

Label: Eastworld Recordings 

Date of recording/release: November 2012

Alternative version: None

Notes: This is the title track and the tenth in the eponymous series. The drums again briefly introduce the guitar led band. The tune is a playful jazzy, even at times a quirky and teasing, one. The tune has something of a French feel to it. Beginning at 00:02 it goes on to 02:28 before the flute joins in. This flute section then goes on until around 03:40 before being chiefly superseded by the guitar although it does make some brief comebacks. At 05:02 the piece breaks down and first only piano and organ play and then for the final 33 seconds just solo jazz piano to close the track.

Track by track 125 It takes 2 2 tango

Archive number: 125

Title: It takes 2 2 tango

Main Album: Focus 9 (New Skin)

Track number: 13

Genre: Progressive Rock Instrumental

Studio: Fieldwork Studios, Schoten, Belgium

Length: 07:57

Composer: Thijs van Leer

Musicians: Thijs van Leer – Hammond organ, piano, flute; 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: None

Notes: This further exploration of the tango form is quite slow for the most part. The band handle the first five minutes or so like a jazz quartet but with the familiar Focus rises and falls. There are some very attractive guitar phrases here as it somehow tells a story without words. Just when you have forgotten the tango title, tango rhythms break in first at 05:07-05:40 and then again at 06:08-06:42. In both cases the piano leads, followed by organ, then drums and then flute. The old theme soon reasserts itself (05:40-06:07 and 06:43-07:57), The whole closes on a suitably dramatic and extended note.

Track by track 124 Pim

Archive number: 124

Title: Pim

Main Album: Focus 9 (New Skin)

Track number: 12

Genre: Progressive Rock Instrumental

Studio: Fieldwork Studios, Schoten, Belgium

Length: 02:57

Composer: Thijs van Leer

Musicians: Thijs van Leer – Hammond organ, piano; 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: None

Notes: The guitar leads the band in a jaunty bit of rock with a bright and pretty sound that celebrates the birth of van Leer's grandson. He appropriately whistles (01:48-02:00) before the guitar takes over with renewed strength and the band head for the simple close.

Track by track 123 European Rap(sody)

Archive number: 123

Title: European Rap(sody)

Main Album: Focus 9 (New Skin)

Track number: 11

Genre: Progressive Rock Instrumental

Studio: Fieldwork Studios, Schoten, Belgium

Length: 10:19

Composer: Thijs van Leer, Gordon Taylor

Musicians: Thijs van Leer – Piano, voice, handclaps, synthesiser, organ, flute; 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: None (although there is a clip of a Focus jam in Kasteel Groeneveld on Youtube where they play something similar to one of the sections)

Notes: This song is in several parts. First comes a slow, even halting part led by the guitar backed by piano and keyboard set to choral (00:00-00:42). It leads into a second slow part, backed by the organ (00:43-01:07). We then turn east for an increasingly fast, Russian style dance tune led by the flute with the guitar and backed by the rhythm section (01:08-02:10). This is further developed from 02:11 with the use of the voice and handclaps, the guitar giving balalaika-type riffs. At 02:37 a shout or laugh takes us back to the flute-led tune, this being brought to an end by a couple of piano arpeggios (02:38-02:59). The slow and introspective guitar then leads off again followed by the cymbals, organ, bass and then piano too (03:00-03:34). This segues into the next part, still slow, led first by piano then with guitar and backing from the rhythm section and organ (03:35-05:20).

A crash of cymbals abruptly announces a new and jaunty fast section, which features a first litany of about 12 titles of previous Focus tracks from van Leer (05:21-06:27). The list with the few additional words is as follows:

Spoke the Lord Creator, Can't believe my eyes, Out of Vesuvius, Red sky at night, Round goes the gossip, (of) Eruption, Well done, Dayglow (to break), (Creating) Moving Waves (for how long?), Answers, questions ..., (of) Love remembered, … Questions, Answers, Ship of memories, ??? (06:28-06:13)

This is followed by an instrumental section in the same vein (06:14-06:28)

At 06:29 we come into a new section that begins slowly then becomes jaunty again but this time we are looking west and the style is very French, the keyboards in a very accordion-like mode. At 07:33 this comes to an end with the same slow piano, cymbals and bass conclusion as before, ending at 07:47.

A crash of cymbals announces the second part of the litany. This time we have around 35 further tracks

Carnival Fugue, (on an) Endless Road, (it's an) Early birth, (like a fugue of the) Sneezing Bull, Hocus Pocus (and) Birth (and Birth, and Birth), No Hang ups, (with the) Russian Roulette, (surely) Harem Scarem (dreams, dream), (and a) Cathedrale de Strasbourg, Anonymus (it seems), Maximum, (or) Medium, (or) One for the Road (but) Someone's Crying … what? (in the) House of the King, (it's a) Happy nightmare, Altogether … Oh that!, (Let's) Focus (on) Who's calling?, (Is it) Beethoven's Revenge, (or may be) Father Bach, (is it) Tommy, Benny, Eddy (or) Judy or Sylvia, My Sweetheart (My Sweetheart), It's an Indian Summer, (I'm the) Glider, The Tango, (with) Tokyo Rose, Night flight (with a) Black Beauty, (such a) Tropic Bird, (With movement, with movement, with movement; that's the Lord, that's the Lord, that's the Lord) (07:48-09:15)

We then play out with the band led by van Leer's rocking flute (09:16-10:10). The closing nine seconds are left to the solo flute.

Track by track 122 Ode to Venus

Archive number: 122

Title: Ode to Venus

Main Album: Focus 9 (New Skin)

Track number: 10

Genre: Jazz instrumental

Studio: Fieldwork Studios, Schoten, Belgium

Length: 04:25

Composer: Thijs van Leer

Musicians: Thijs van Leer – Piano, Hammond organ; 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: None

Notes: This haunting slow jazz instrumental begins with a bass slide and the briefest of caesuras before being led by the electric guitar backed mainly by brushed drums, bass and piano but also featuring the Hammond organ at certain points, which outlasts the final piano chord by some seconds at the end.

Track by track 121 Curtain Call

Archive number: 121

Title: Curtain call

Main Album: Focus 9 (New Skin)

Track number: 9

Genre: Progressive Rock Instrumental

Studio: Fieldwork Studios, Schoten, Belgium

Length: 04:31

Composer: Thijs van Leer

Musicians: Thijs van Leer – Hammond organ, piano, flute; 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: None

Notes: This rousing ensemble is counted in by the drums and soon the band (organ, piano, flute, etc) are involved. There is a break down at 00:28 and a slower electric guitar-led theme. These slower themes break in at 00:29-00:39, 00:43-00:53 and 01:09-01:19. At 01:24 the electric guitar grows more wistful and jazzy. The flute leads with its own style 01:52-02:13, that section ending with a swinging staccato conclusion in 02:14-02:24 that includes a piano glissando at 02:23. The flute then returns for a few more bars (02:25-02:37) before the electric guitar leads again with some fine rock playing to take us into the same conclusion just heard with the flute leading (02:38-03:16). The flute leads with a slower section again at 03:17-03:27 before the band races off again with the main theme, the drums growing quicker and more prominent all the while until ending at 04:21. This is followed by a 10 second ending in which the guitar delivers one long note and the piano a series of trills.

Track by track 120 Focus 9

Archive number: 120

Title: Focus 9

Main Album: Focus 9 (New Skin)

Track number: 8

Genre: Jazz Rock Instrumental

Studio: Fieldwork Studios, Schoten, Belgium

Length: 07:53

Composer: Thijs van Leer

Musicians: Thijs van Leer – Hammond organ, piano, flute; 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: None

Notes: The track begins with a rather simple, fairly halting and jazz style solo piano introduction (00:00-00:29). The organ, bass and brushed drums then join in with a staccato 4 or 5 note theme reminiscent of Focus 3 (00:30-00:55). The acoustic guitar and piano take up the halting jazz theme (00:56-01:24) before the organ, bass and drums return (01:25-01:49). The bulk of the track, all the way from 01:50 to 05:49, is taken up by the guitar and piano, with the theme growing slightly more melodic at times but remaining very much a jazz piece. At 03:15-03:49 and 04:19-04:50 the flute is dubbed in with the other two instruments. At around 05:53 the organ, bass and drums return with the Focus 3-style element. At 06:20 the acoustic jazz guitar starts to take the lead. From 07:14 it is the Hammond organ's turn. The track is almost done by 07:36 except for two piano trills and a final resounding bass note from the piano (7:37-07:53).

Track by track 119 Aya-yuppie-hippie-hee

Archive number: 119

Title: Aya-yuppie-hippie-hee

Main Album: Focus 9 (New Skin)

Track number: 7

Genre: Progressive Rock Instrumental

Studio: Fieldwork Studios, Schoten, Belgium

Length: 05:15

Composer: Bobby Jacobs and Thijs van Leer

Musicians: Thijs van Leer – Hammond organ, flute, voice, bird whistle; 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: None

Notes: A traditional clay bird whistle is heard at the beginning of this track which typically alternates between first a yearning theme on guitar backed by the band (00:00-00:29) and a contrasting rock theme introduced the first time by drums and consisting mainly of a four note riff from the guitar backed firstly by harmonics and organ with some great drumming from van der Linden (00:30-01:16). When the high soaring guitar returns at 01:15-17 it leads into a twofold repetition of the title – Aya Yuppie Hippie Hee – the vocals having an effect on them (01:18-01:26). We then slip back into the rock theme with the second guitar wailing much more this time (01:27-02:10) before a repeated “Aya Yuppie” section (02:11-02:22) and the rock theme again (02:23-02:44). There is then a break down into a quieter and slower guitar section (02:45-02:54) that gives way to a three note riff (02:55, 56) followed by a jazzy flute-led part (02:57-03:29), van Leer breaking out vocally at 03:14 and other points, ending with some glossolalic scat. At 03:30 we begin on an increasingly wild guitar-led lead up to first the rock and then the yearning themes which come in at 04:14-04:35 then 04:36-04:59 (listen out for the bird whistle), the whole closing on one more brief rendition of the rock theme with a sudden, decisive and unified stop at 05:12 (the reverb lasting just a few seconds more).

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 117 Niels Skin

Archive number: 117
Title: Niels' skin
Main Album: Focus 9 (New Skin)
Track number: 5
Genre: Progressive Rock Instrumental
Studio: Fieldwork Studios, Schoten, Belgium
Length: 06:02
Composer: Niels van der Steenhoven
Musicians: Thijs van Leer – Hammond organ, piano; 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: None

Notes: The introduction is played on drums (00:00-00:18) and is followed by a series of alternating sections. The first is a choppy guitar riff led section backed by the organ and speeding up at the end (00:18-00:46 and 00:51-01:19). The second is a pleasant guitar led theme (00:46-00:51 and 01:20-01:44) that begins to yearn second time around. When the choppy riff comes in the third time it leads into an organ solo with the band still backing (01:45-02:58). This third time the guitar has a dreamy quality when the theme is played, 02:59-03:43. At 03:44 we return pronouncedly to the choppy section again beginning a little slower with lots of bass and leading into a heavy and fairly wild guitar-led segment. This goes on until 05:15 where the choppy section comes in seamlessly for the final time and the piece comes to a united close at 06:02.

Track by track 116 Sylvia's Stepson UbaTuba

Archive number: 116

Title: Sylvia's stepson Ubatuba

Main Album: Focus 9 (New Skin)

Track number: 4

Genre: Progressive Rock Instrumental

Studio: Fieldwork Studios, Schoten, Belgium

Length: 04:46

Composer: Bobby Jacobs

Musicians: Thijs van Leer – Hammond organ, voice; 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: None

Notes: Organ and guitar begin together, backed by bass and cymbals, as this beautiful piece is introduced (00:00-00:31). The drums announce the main theme, a typical piece of Focus guitar - slow, yearning and thoughtful - with occasional volume swells or violining (00:32-02:00) before quiet (02:01-02:10) then louder (02:11-02:24) guitar-led sections. At 02:25-02:56 we have the “ubatuba” section featuring guitar and “ubatubing” from van Leer's voice. A caesura at 02:57 announces the return of the yearning guitar lead with some exquisite finger work from van der Steenhoven, especially towards the end (02:58-04:14). Finally, we have a quieter section (04:15-04:35) that is rounded off with a coda of 10 violined harmonics (04:36-04:46).

Track by track 115 Remember Mozart/Hurkey Turkey

Archive number: 115

Title: Remember Mozart/Hurkey Turkey

Main Album: Focus 9 (New Skin)

Track number: 3

Genre: Progressive Rock Instrumental

Studio: Fieldwork Studios, Schoten, Belgium

Length: 04:02

Composer: van Leer

Musicians: Thijs van Leer – Hammond organ, piano, keyboard, flute, voice; 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: None

Notes: Following a drum beat there is a slow, deliberate introduction led by a five note guitar, bass and piano riff, more or less repeated eight or nine times (01:00-0024). Next comes a more tuneful section, hailed by a Mozartian trill and featuring the flute along with the band and harpsichord-like keyboards (from 00:25). This goes on until 01:12 when first the guitar then the keyboard (01:13-01:17) re-introduce the opening theme backed this time by van Leer's improvised flute (01:18-01:40). This leads to the central motif, van Leer's piano and band backed voice, based on the famous Mozart piece Alla Turca (hence the titles). That sections ends at 02:16 (slowing down before speeding up again from 02:02). At 02:17 the opening intro is played in slightly lengthened form for the third and last time, backed this time by squealing and wild electric guitars. At 02:52 we come out again with the tuneful and flute dominated second section broken up only by two brief sections on what sounds like acoustic guitar and keyboard (03:12 03:23) and keyboard with flute (03:41-03:46). The piece ends with a note from the flute.

The third movement of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major, K 331 (300i) (from WIkipedia) is a sonata in three movements:

1. Andante grazioso — a theme with six variations 2. Menuetto — a minuet and trio 3. Alla Turca: Allegretto in A minor and major.

All the movements are in the key of A major or A minor; therefore, the work is homotonal. A typical performance of the entire sonata takes about 20 minutes.

It is uncertain where and when Mozart composed it; however, Vienna or Salzburg around 1783 is currently thought to be most likely.

The last movement, Alla Turca, popularly known as the Turkish Rondo or Turkish March, is often heard on its own and is one of Mozart's best-known piano pieces. It imitates the sound of Turkish Janissary bands, the music of which was much in vogue at that time. Various other works of the time imitate this music, including Mozart's own opera The Abduction from the Seraglio.

Repeated notes, repeated ornaments, and loud/soft passages are characteristic of the Alla turca style. The imitation probably came closer with the piano of Mozart's day, whose bass strings made something of a rattle when played loudly, than is possible on modern pianos.

In Mozart's time, the last movement was sometimes performed on pianos built with a "Turkish stop", allowing it to be embellished with extra percussion effects.

Moreover, this third movement is implicitly related to the first one, because the beginning of the "Rondo" can be seen as an additional variation of the "Tema" of the first movement, varied in the Janissary style.

Track by track 114 Focus 7

Archive number: 114

Title: Focus 7

Main Album: Focus 9 (New Skin)

Track number: 2

Genre: Progressive Rock Instrumental

Studio: Fieldwork Studios, Schoten, Belgium

Length: 05:18

Composer: van Leer

Musicians: Thijs van Leer – Hammond organ, piano; 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: Later on Completely Focussed album

Notes: We begin with an introduction just on the Hammond organ until at 00:37 a bass note brings in the guitar led band with an exquisite statement of the main theme (00:38-01:10). The theme is restated slightly more stridently (01:11-01:47) before the typically more yearning and heavier version of it comes in (01:48-02:25). It then reverts to something more like the first statement, but helped in due time by the flute (02:26-03:11), which also features in the following stormy version of the more strident element (03:12-03:48). From 03:49 it is quiet again, rising a little before more or less repeating from about 04:27. The piano is quite prominent in these final sections alongside the organ. A live sounding end comes around 05:18, the Hammond going on for at least 10 seconds after the close.

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 wistful, 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).

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.