Focus 12 is a lovely throwback to the mid-to-late ’70s (with a Roger Dean cover!) when bands like Emerson Lake and Palmer, Nektar, Yes, King Crimson, and Genesis played music to be contemplated on any good Friday night, without any chance of a date. But that was all right, as this music was complex with hidden synaptic secrets which were more pronounced with every vinyl spin.
The Dutch band Focus entered the prog-rock fray with the unconventional single “Hokus Pokus.” The tune is a litmus test for the times: Perceptions were wide open – even for a yodel or two! The album Moving Waves made the charts with its frenzied opener, a series of quiet songs, and the side-long blitz of the ELP (and everything else!)-styled “Eruption.” Other great albums followed like Focus 3 and (the brilliant!) Hamburger Concerto.
Somewhere along the line, however, there was a song called “I Need a Bathroom,” and the band imploded. But, as my friend Kilda Defnut often says, “Great Progressive music is more about rolling rocks than it is about rocking rolls.” So we have Focus 12.
Focus flute player Thijs van Leer says: “After all these years, Focus is in the here and now; the triumph of survival!” This resurrected current band still includes, besides main guy van Leer, original drummer Pierre van der Linden, with new guitarist Menno Gootjes and bassist Udo Pannekeet – the latter of whom has his own album, Electric Region, that deserves a brilliant mention.
The first instrumental on Focus 12, “Fjord Focus,” is all the things that a prog lover so desires. The intro glances at the keyboard drama of Emerson Lake and Palmer. Nice! (No pun intended.) But, in true Focus form, Thijs van Leer’s flute darts across the organ pulse. Then Menno Gootjes rips with an electric guitar solo that only heightens the before-mentioned drama, to give way to a soft flute finale. Bits of the tune recall the sound of a classic Caravan vibe.
The groove deepens the passion as “Focus 13” slows the spin with a true-to-form classical (and classic!) melody that recalls the grand beauty of “Focus 2” from Moving Wavess. The Dutch progressive rock legacy is alive and well, as the tune morphs into an “eruption” of more keyboard excitement, with added electric guitar urgent rock music. “Bela” begins with a quiet piano touch, that, once again, morphs into the emotional guitar solo that touches starry proggy heaven.
Then those heavens open wide. First, the sublime improvised “Meta Indefinita,” wanders through an (almost!) free-form universe, while bassist Pannekeet and drummer van der Linden provide a jazzy anchor for atmospheric flute and guitar floatation that touches an Eastern vibe, and evokes the brilliant sound of After the Rain / Descendre-era Terje Rypdal. And, “All Aboard” bounces with a flute, bass, percussion, keyboard and guitar. It’s not “Hokus Pokus,” but it creates a similar weird dance step.
The rest of the album waves the Focus flag, in a very moving way. “Born to Be You” is a piano solo that introduces “Nara,” whose Medieval feel blossoms into another big organ workout, with a flute and piano interlude, and then suddenly rocks with an exclamation-pointed ending punctuation mark of wondrous prog rock ‘n’ roll – “I’ve Seen All Good People,” Yes-style! “Bowie” is a classical-styled piano piece. Nice, again!
“Positano” finds a reflective note in the Focus tradition, with a nice flute-engulfed mid-song mystical tranquility. Then the tune explodes (again!) with a dervish world music dance. Thank you, Pierre van der Linden, for the clever percussion. “Gaia” then tempts the cosmos, with a brief warm “promenade” melody, before re-entering Earth’s vinyl rotation in classic keyboard-drench form, with a slight country vibe that adds to a joyous finale that, indeed (to again quote my friend Kilda Defnut), “rocks” a few “rolls.”
Focus 12 also manages to “roll” a few very resurrected and very melodic “rocks” to enhance any good Friday night (with or without a date!) with hidden synaptic secrets which are still, even after all these years, more pronounced with every great prog-rock spin.
- Jon Anderson and the Band Geeks – ‘True’ (2024) - September 23, 2024
- Delay Tactics – ‘Out-Pop Options’ (1982); ‘Any Questions?’ (1984; 2024 reissue) - September 13, 2024
- David Udell – ‘It’s Worth It’ (2024) - July 15, 2024
