FOCUS II [AKA: MOVING WAVES]

I've been listening to this album for almost my entire life, and it has become somewhat of a them for me over the years. This album is a benchmark in progressive rock, considering that the second track Hocus Pocus is one of the most successful and well known progressive rock songs of all time. Other ones to watch out for on the album are the opening track Tommy, which along with the rest of the album shows us why this album earned guitarist Jan Akkerman the Melody Maker best guitarist in the world in 1972. All of the other tracks on side 1 are very good, with the exception of Moving Waves, which returns to the vocal formula of their debut album. The album is saved however, by the side long epic Euption, which is my favourite Focus epic and one of my favourite epics of all time. A very strong album with some stuff tantamount to genius, if you don't own it, you should! 4 stars.