For a few short years in the 1970s, the unique music of Focus entertained the world. Built around the prodigious instrumental talents of Dutch masters Jan Akkerman (guitar) and Thijs van Leer (keyboards and flute), the band produced three classic hit albums in quick succession, at the same time scoring two worldwide hits with 'Sylvia' and 'Hocus Pocus'. The latter piece is as ubiquitous as tunes from the 70s get, distinctive for Akkerman's famous riff and van Leer's yodelling. Musical and personal tensions between the two lead to a split in early 1976 and the band limped on until 1978. However, the decade also saw other many projects, with Akkerman moving into jazzier territory while van Leer had huge success with his Introspection series of light classical, flute-orientated albums.
Stephen Lambe's book guides the reader through the band's early history year by year, dealing with all eight Focus albums song by song, while also giving the same treatment to Akkerman and van Leer's other work during the decade. It is an important potted history of the band and an insight into the tensions which lead to such a creative - if short lived – peak. But it also acts as an essential guide to the astonishing music the two men made while at the apex of their powers.
Stephen Lambe is an author, publisher, festival organiser and journalist. An acknowledged expert on progressive rock, his books include: Yes - on track (Sonicbond, 2018) and the best-selling Citizens Of Hope and Glory: The Story Of Progressive Rock (Amberley, 2011). He lives in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, UK.
