Focus
Focus 8

The Focus can be considered the pioneers of the Dutch prog scene, a band formed in the late '60s and primarily based on the two exuberant (and technically remarkable) personalities of guitarist Jan Akkerman and, above all, the "flutist-organist-vocalist-frontman-screaming madman" Thijs Van Leer.

After barely ten years and six albums marked by several lineup changes in the "slots" of bass and drums and by fluctuating successes (but some singles like the yodeling "Hocus Pocus" and the instrumental "House of the King" managed to break through in the UK market and even in the USA), in '78 the dream shattered, Van Leer and Akkerman parted ways and began to pursue solo careers with moderate success.

De profundis for a (great) band? Not at all. Be it age, nostalgia, or who knows what else, the fact is that, at the dawn of the new millennium, good old Thijs (born in 1946) decided to attempt the feat of resurrecting a corpse that had been lying in its urn for almost a quarter of a century. In 2002, therefore, the former leader reformed the Focus project, a project actually much more similar to a tribute band: Akkerman made sure not to abandon jazz and don the rocker guise again, Van Leer contented himself with a group of musicians already perfectly accustomed to the Focus style, as they were members of a cover band called Hocus Pocus. But for this reason, the nostalgia operation should not be dismissed; quite the contrary.

I'll say right away that if I had listened to this album without knowing its release date, considering it a continuation of the magical times of Moving Waves, III, or Hamburger Concerto, no one would have taken the 5 stars away. Seen today, with the disillusionment of the old guy trying not to live solely on memories, I am forced to deduct something from the judgment due to the very scarce originality of the product, which sounds absolutely as if time in the last 30 plus years had stopped. The only concession to modern times is the improved sound quality. Even so, however, this "8" is a very good album, it contains all the intact and exuberant elements that made Focus one of the best prog bands in Europe. My rating expressed in hundredths would be around 90.

Eleven tracks for almost an hour of almost exclusively instrumental music, with the exception of the sprinkles of yodeling that Van Leer throws in here and there with his usual crazy flair, atmospheres now majestically symphonic, now hard-prog with a hint of jazz, the album is dominated by Van Leer's flute (in my humble opinion a true giant of the instrument) and the guitar of the excellent Jan Dumée, certainly very much a "clone" of Akkerman but technically unimpeachable. The high points perhaps "Focus 8", a clear reference to the past (in virtually every album of the band there is at least one track with this title) and the explosive "Brother", starting with an organ that leads into a wonderful "liquid" guitar solo and then into a high-paced duel with Thijs Van Leer's flute, here quite similar to the Jan Andersonian sounds. There is no shortage of ironic and fun moments, like the concluding "Flower Shower", dominated by Thijs's quirky voice.

In conclusion, an excellent album, which certainly has a single "father" (Thijs deus ex machina Van Leer) and whose origin undeniably involves a commercial intent that nonetheless does not detract from its value. It must be said that, after the release of this album, the Focus project continued and the group is still alive and kicking (in 2006, with the return of the historical drummer Pierre Van der Linden, they released another fine work, "9 - New Skin"), protagonists of endless tours in their homeland and Northern Europe and, who knows, they might reserve us new surprises. Applause to Van Leer.