Focus - Moving Waves (1972)

Whilst I can appreciate that the prospect of listening to a yodelling Dutch prog rock group may not be particularly appealing, you’d be missing a trick if you were to dismiss Focus based purely on amusing snippets of Moving Waves’ opening track, Hocus Pocus, as a novelty act. Moving Waves, the band’s second studio album, achieved great success on its release on both sides of the Atlantic and a listen to the entire album with an open mind will reveal why.

Opening track Hocus Pocus is possibly the most famous piece from Focus (albeit most probably the majority of people would recognise Sylvia and House of the King, amongst others) and sets off at a frantic pace with very the underrated Jan Akkerman driving the central riff hard. The bone of contention with Hocus Pocus will always be the yodelling interludes from keyboardist Thijs van Leer (although the accordion in the last break is equally ‘odd’) which always raise an eyebrow when heard for the first time. However, if you see any footage of the band playing Hocus Pocus, there’s usually a wry smile on their faces and they too see it as a ‘bit of fun’ but don’t let that distract from the high calibre of instrumentation that carries the track.

Le Clochard follows which is a mellow classical piece featuring some nice acoustic work from Akkerman which leads into the flute-driven Janis and then into Moving Waves which begins with an unaccompanied piano section and some subtle orchestration from the rest of the band. Whilst classically-inspired pieces are now something of a cliche, put yourself back in the early 1970s and this was breaking new ground!

Next we move into Focus II which showcases Akkerman well and moves the sound of the band to a more almost lounge-jazz style and takes the listener through several changes of tempo.

What was side 2 of the vinyl release features Eruption – a 16 movement piece based on the opera Euridice and is a real prog classic featuring all the essential elements: classically inspired – check, drum solo – check, mellotron – check, lashings of guitar soloing – check, frequent tempo changes – check, Hammond/guitar runs – check. Akkerman even sneaks in a brief reprise of the Hocus Pocus riff for good measure!

Joking apart, this is a really strong album and it is unfortunate that a bit of yodelling has stigmatised what were an undoubtedly talented group of musicians – I can never understand why Akkerman in particular never got the credit he deserved – and would suggest that anyone interested in the development of rock adds this album to their collection and I’m sure if you do, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

• Thijs van Leer – Keyboards/Vocals
• Jan Akkerman – Guitar
• Cyril Havermans – Bass
• Pierre van der Linden – Drums