Focus - Focus 3

Released - 1972

Genre - Progressive Rock

Producer - Mike Vernon

Selected Personnel - Thijs Van Leer (Organ/Flute/Keyboards/Vocals); Jan Akkerman (Guitar); Bert Ruiter (Bass); Pierre Van Der Linden (Drums)

Standout Track - Sylvia

As I've discussed elsewhere, Focus were the first true prog band that I loved. I used to be enormously enamoured of "Hocus Pocus" even as a child, many years before my musical awakening at uni led to my even knowing what prog was. And if there was one Focus album that really defined my love of them as a kid, it's Focus 3, their masterful followup to the breakout success of Moving Waves and especially "Hocus Pocus" itself. True, "Hocus Pocus" was the song of theirs I most enjoyed and remembered, but when I came to rediscover Focus at uni and actually really begin to appreciate their significance, I found myself revisiting albums I'd listened to as a child and hearing them anew with adult ears. A lot of Moving Waves had faded in my memory, but when I came to listen to Focus 3 for the first time in far too long, I found pretty much every song had been etched into my memory but gone and hidden in a place where I hadn't thought about it in a long time. For whatever reason, it's always been the Focus album that made the biggest impression on me, and I think it's their crowning achievement. It might not have anything quite as iconic as "Hocus Pocus," though "Sylvia" gives it a run for its money, but it's more consistent than that earlier album, and in many places it feels more daring, dangerous and unusual. I also struggle to think of an album that better manages to amalgamate rock, jazz fusion and classical music into one delirious product with such accomplishment. While most prog bands drew influence from diverse musical styles and traditions, Focus, being led by the classically-trained Thijs Van Leer, had a real knack for making rock music that strictly followed the structures and patterns of classical music to create something new without ever compromising the virtues of any of the territories they were borrowing from.

By the time of Focus 3, bassist Cyril Havermans had quit the band shortly before a tour to support Moving Waves, and had been replaced by Burt Ruiter, thereby completing the band's "classic line-up," although one of the album's tracks, "House Of The King," is actually performed by a wholly different line-up consisting of Van Leer, Akkerman, Martin Dresden and Hans Cleuver. The version of the song released in 1972 is in fact the identical recording originally issued on the band's debut album In And Out Of Focus, but reissued here to cash in on its potential after their first album was totally ignored by the public. I won't go into detail about "House Of The King" as I've discussed it already earlier, but it feels curiously out of place here, where the focus has shifted away from concise songwriting to epic fusion jams. "House Of The King" felt right at home on In And Out Of Focus, but here it feels like an unnecessary coda and is removed from the track listing of the CD reissue. But that's genuinely where my complaints about Focus 3 end, and in the grand scheme of things "this brilliant song feels more in its place on another album than this one" is hardly much of a complaint. Elsewhere, Van Leer and co. really let loose on their improvisational skills, creating some of the finest instrumental jams in the history of rock music.

It also feels very much now that Van Leer has cemented himself as the band's de facto figurehead. On their earlier albums, things had been on a more or less even keel between him and Akkerman, with several songs (such as "Hocus Pocus") built around his protechnic riffing. Here, the majority of the songs are credited to Van Leer and most of them are built around the keyboards and organ, with Akkerman's still jaw-droppingly frenetic guitar skills used more for decoration and distraction than for grounding a song. Even more so, as I mentioned above, there's a far greater sense here that the songs have emerged from playing around with classical formulas, which was squarely Van Leer's territory. His new control over the group is no bad thing, though, as it never threatens to squash any of the invention or talent on display - his song structures merely serve as vital skeletons on which the madness of everybody else's abilities can hang.

"Round Goes The Gossip" is one of the weaker pieces on offer, and pails in comparison to the opener of their last album. It's a spirited jazz fusion piece that makes good use of Van Leer's jazzy organ, but never builds much momentum. "Love Remembered" is much better, and is one of few guitar-based songs on the album. It sees Akkerman reverting to the delicate fluttering of classical acoustic guitar as opposed to the usual firework madness of his solos, with a gentle melody taken by Van Leer's flute. It's a beautiful piece, although the soaring, James Bond-esque synth lines keep it just tongue-in-cheek enough to not feel out of place on this colourful record. Then there's "Sylvia," in which Focus come very close to outdoing their earlier classic and deliver one of the twin highpoints of their career. It's one of the most simple songs in their repertoire, starting with a bright, vibrant guitar riff that then goes into overdrive with the crashing entrance of Van Leer's decending organ part. Akkerman's lead guitar melody is uncharacteristically restrained, but just as vibrant as ever, and the piece knows it's catchy and memorable enough to keep itself short without the need to resort to lengthy jamming (don't get me wrong, Focus jams better than any other band, but with a tune as great as "Sylvia," there really is no need for it). "Carnival Fugue" is an example of the classical structures I was discussing earlier - it's based around a classical refrain on piano borrowed from Bach's "The Well-Tempered Clavier," and makes its way through it in a fairly workmanlike, unimaginative manner. Just when it feels like all the invention of the band has been used up early on "Sylvia," the song picks up and transforms into an incredibly jaunty jazz piece, replete with the delighted squeals of Van Leer on piccolo. It's one of the band's finest moments of wrong-footing the listener and also one of their most undeniably cheerful pieces.

"Focus III," a continuation of the self-titled pieces they started on their debut album, is another classically-based piece that alternates from a maudlin organ part and a languid, almost mournful guitar melody into a triumphant, jubilant chorus in which glimpses of Akkerman's full potential are again seen, but kept in check until it segues perfectly into Akkerman and Ruiter's "Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers!", a lengthy fusion jam driven, unusually for Focus, by Ruiter's effortlessly cool looping bass part. At the end of the day, there's only so much good that can be done by trying to explain how good an improvised jazz fusion jam can be, so just listen to it. Suffice to say, Akkerman finally gets his opportunity to really let loose on guitar, and not for the last time on the album. Because the greatest jam of all is still to come - "Anonymous Two," all twenty-six minutes of it, is one of the band's crowning achievements, and even given its monstrous length and the fact that there's not really any musical progression to it, it somehow manages to get away with not being dull. Only Van Der Linden's extended drum solo towards the end tests the patience a little (call me prejudiced if you like, but I just don't like drum solos). I've no idea quite how Focus are able to maintain such interest and colour and such undeniable cool over nearly half an hour when I've listened to countless other side-long jams that, a few inspired moments aside, have just bored me to tears (The Allman Brothers Band's "Mountain Jam" springs to mind). It's a lengthy development, of course, of the earlier "Anonymous" from In And Out Of Focus, although the main organ refrain at the start has been sped up to the point that everyone involved must be clinging on for dear life. After letting go of the polite restraints of that refrain, the floor is first given to Van Leer on flute, providing one of the most breathless, histrionic flute solos of all time. Akkerman's take-no-prisoners guitar solo follows, before things are brought to a halt for a while by Ruiter's slow, ponderous bass solo that meanders thoughtfully before slowly ratcheting up the tension by building up to another crescendo that climaxes in another Akkerman solo. From there it's the mild let-down of Van Der Linden's drum solo and then back to that sped-up refrain, and for a song that goes on as long as it does, it somehow still manages to leave the listener breathless.

"Elspeth Of Nottingham" is a pastoral, Medieval-styled acoustic guitar piece from Akkerman accompanied by Van Leer's flute and the singing of birds, and is a beautifully idyllic moment, but works much better on the reordered CD reissue as a sort of calm before the storm building into "Anonymous Two," which makes for a phenomenal album closer, and then there's the aforementioned "House Of The King." There honestly is no downtime on this album - "Round Goes The Gossip" is the only piece that really doesn't do much to inspire me, but it's still enjoyable. No wonder it was the album that stayed with me through all the years between loving it as a child and rediscovering it as an adult - it may not have something with the iconic clout of "Hocus Pocus" or the classical grandeur of "Eruption," but it has more inventiveness and energy and sheer madness on display than almost any other prog album, and "Sylvia" is a stone-cold classic. It proved to be the band's final brush with true acclaim - the material from their two most successful albums would be documented the following year by the live album At The Rainbow, before their followup would prove to struggle to connect with the public in the same way that their earlier stuff did (despite the album in question, Hamburger Concerto, being another absolute masterpiece). After that, Focus would never again really be in the public eye, so Focus 3 marks the last time they did anything that really had any impact on the world of music - though it's a long way from being the last thing they did with any value at all.

Track Listing:

1. Round Goes The Gossip (Thijs Van Leer)

2. Love Remembered (Jan Akkerman)

3. Sylvia (Thijs Van Leer)

4. Carnival Fugue (Thijs Van Leer)

5. Focus III (Thijs Van Leer)

6. Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers! (Jan Akkerman & Bert Ruiter)

7. Anonymus Two (Thijs Van Leer; Jan Akkerman; Bert Ruiter & Pierre Van Der Linden)
8. Elspeth Of Nottingham (Jan Akkerman)
9. House Of The King (Jan Akkerman)