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Focus 11 : Repeat and Repeat!
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O666 View Drop Down
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    Posted: March 04 2019 at 03:07
Hi 
Why Focus released new album in 2019? Can you find "Anything" new in their last album? What is your opinion about it?
Honestly , I don't understand them. They Repeat their most listened moments without adding anything new or change anything that played from their popular and successful 70's albums. For me , Focus 11 is boring because I listened better music from them in same style and same sound and same arrangement! 
I love "Moving waves" and "Hamburger Concerto" so much and I respect to them. IMO , No one can repeat some things over 30 years and expect to convince their older fans or find new fans in music universe specially in Progressive style. I hope they stop it.
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Hmmm....

That's a bit harsh, I think. I'm actually truly enjoying Focus 11. It might be my favorite LP from them since Hamburger Concerto.


Edited by miamiscot - March 04 2019 at 08:45
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This is the old damned if you do or damned if you don’t scenario.
You put out music that is different and many a fan say this doesn’t sound like the nand I love.( well an awful lot of times)
You go back to your populiar classic sound and people say we have heard this before.
I don’t believe it is easy for long term bands.
I like Focus and cantvsaybIbhavencollwed their path.I always enjoyed tne too albums from the 70’’s
When I read a review on 11 I streamed it to check it out and I do like it.
Ot don’t blow me away but I think it’s good classic Focus .
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O666 View Drop Down
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Thanks for your mention and time. 
My question is : Why :I buy Focus 11 when I have Moving waves or Hamburger? 

Path? Which path? Path a definition. IMO Path have a start point and maybe end point and a scenario (or scenarios) to move from "A" point and reach to "B" point. Focus stay in "A" point and didn't start to move!
Melodies, Sounding, Arrangement , ... are copied from their past. Of course I enjoy Focus 11 too! I love their touch and accent but "Enjoying" isn't everything of music IMO. 
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Hi,

Haven't heard it yet ... but honestly, even seeing the clips on the tube with just Thiijs and friends, is not as exciting to me, as FOCUS 3, HAMBURGER CONCERTO ... the two albums that I love the most.

AND ... that version of Hamburger Concerto that has Rachel Flowers ... now that's music to my ears!
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STOP THE PRESS!
band not as good as they were in the seventies

It's a good solid album in PA terms about 3 stars and about as good as 8-10 since they came back. I've seen them a few times live and they are still good. 

Perhaps for their next album they will go for a technical metal approach laced with some Zeul and Krautrock. Or it may be another fun but not ground breaking album.
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Good album.

Cheers Focus!
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Originally posted by O666 O666 wrote:

No one can repeat some things over 30 years and expect to convince their older fans or find new fans in music universe specially in Progressive style. I hope they stop it.

I hope all bands just go on to do what they have fun doing!
I don't have much to say about that album, it's pleasant but not going to make my top 500 any time soon, but I don't get the idea that any band should rather stop than doing something that fan XYZ doesn't get much pleasure from - as long as it isn't objectionable for extra-musical ethical reasons.  You don't have to buy it; test listen for 5 min and decide it's not your cup of tea, job done.
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Yeah. its another POV . I didn't say stop playing . I mean they can "Up to date" their music with so many things that they can use in this era and this age! For example they can improve their sound and arrangement. 
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O666 View Drop Down
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Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

STOP THE PRESS!
band not as good as they were in the seventies

It's a good solid album in PA terms about 3 stars and about as good as 8-10 since they came back. I've seen them a few times live and they are still good. 

Perhaps for their next album they will go for a technical metal approach laced with some Zeul and Krautrock. Or it may be another fun but not ground breaking album.

Hi and thanks. You mention to essential thing that I tried to say. Thumbs Up
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Originally posted by moshkito moshkito wrote:

Hi,

Haven't heard it yet ... but honestly, even seeing the clips on the tube with just Thiijs and friends, is not as exciting to me, as FOCUS 3, HAMBURGER CONCERTO ... the two albums that I love the most.

AND ... that version of Hamburger Concerto that has Rachel Flowers ... now that's music to my ears!

Hi my friend and thanks so much for your time. You are honest every time and I believe in you. Wink
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I haven’t heard the album, but just felt like making a general comment, cuz I was thinking about this the other day.

One option for longtime bands to sidestep the “damned it you do...etc” trap is to change your name. Then if you sound just like your old band, you just might get praised for successfully reviving the old band’s sound (if you do it well). And if you sound different, then you’re “boldly going forward in a fresh direction”. The downside of course is less name recognition. And of course it could backfire (“ripping off his prior band’s legacy” etc). If you’ve “made it” in the biz, there are lots who would take great pleasure in seeing you fall from greatness.
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At the end of the day you have a choice to buy or not to buy. There is never an implicit promise that the music will be any good. 
I tend to take a broader view that I want to listen to a variety of music so rather than comparing a band's output to it's past exploits my question is more whether they are offering something different from the crowd in general. Focus still have something that is very much their own so I am still inclined to 'support' them so to speak. That said I am now going more down the streaming route and so don't feel the need to buy the CD. However I do wonder where that will leave so many bands that are more 'niche'. How do they make enough money to continue going? 
Perhaps eventually it will go back to more bands playing live and recorded music will become a thing of the past.
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Honestly I bought and I will buy Focus CDs! Of course I like their music but I expect more than "Repeat" or "Copycat" of their past. Its not about comparing New Focus to Older Focus. IMO I can't compare "One" thing and I must have 2 different things for comparing them!  

I guess , I can't explain my opinion clearly. 

Thanks for your useful comments in this post. 
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Good to see this thread hasn't lost focus.
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I guess Focus have always been a bit conservative within the progressive movement, mixing a classical sense of melody and harmony with a 'classical' sense of jazz improvisation, and that has played a part in causing their music to sound progressively (no pun intended) more stale as they lost their initial flame, but yeah I would prefer them doing at least something more unique, like indulging in some more medieval sounds like on those solo records? Meanwhile a lot of other first wave prog bands get away with stale newer material by the virtue that they are still kind of ambitious in the songwriting aspect, at least trying to make some new epics and songs with unique character...
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Well we have to remember that artists sell albums for a living. There is only a promise that the music will be recognisable as that band. Beyond that it's just an opinion and really that applies to all bands. I suppose it is possible to update your sound a bit. I'm a big fan of IQ but they haven't produced anything really new since 1993. The Road of Bones is just an extended version of the Ever album to my ears but I still like it nevertheless. I can't really get excited about these arguments. Original sounding bands are often overlooked so we would all probably be better off discussing bands that are forging ahead not bemoaning those that are just doing what the majority of their fans just want them to do ( I guess).
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Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

Well we have to remember that artists sell albums for a living. There is only a promise that the music will be recognisable as that band. Beyond that it's just an opinion and really that applies to all bands. I suppose it is possible to update your sound a bit. I'm a big fan of IQ but they haven't produced anything really new since 1993. The Road of Bones is just an extended version of the Ever album to my ears but I still like it nevertheless. I can't really get excited about these arguments. Original sounding bands are often overlooked so we would all probably be better off discussing bands that are forging ahead not bemoaning those that are just doing what the majority of their fans just want them to do ( I guess).

Hi. I don't agree with you about IQ. They updated their sounding and technical abilities album by album. I die for "Frequency" and its the best of them IMO. I don't talked about "Style" or "Language" or "Touch" of the band. I talk about a band that moving around a center " Mastermind" (like a circle). And this "Mastermind (van leer)" didn't show even a very small progress! in his musical mind from 15-20 years earlier till now! 

Thanks for your time...
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Originally posted by O666 O666 wrote:

Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

Well we have to remember that artists sell albums for a living. There is only a promise that the music will be recognisable as that band. Beyond that it's just an opinion and really that applies to all bands. I suppose it is possible to update your sound a bit. I'm a big fan of IQ but they haven't produced anything really new since 1993. The Road of Bones is just an extended version of the Ever album to my ears but I still like it nevertheless. I can't really get excited about these arguments. Original sounding bands are often overlooked so we would all probably be better off discussing bands that are forging ahead not bemoaning those that are just doing what the majority of their fans just want them to do ( I guess).

Hi. I don't agree with you about IQ. They updated their sounding and technical abilities album by album. I die for "Frequency" and its the best of them IMO. I don't talked about "Style" or "Language" or "Touch" of the band. I talk about a band that moving around a center " Mastermind" (like a circle). And this "Mastermind (van leer)" didn't show even a very small progress! in his musical mind from 15-20 years earlier till now! 

Thanks for your time...

 

Frequency is great indeed and the introduction of Andy Edwards on drums made a big impact.
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Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

Originally posted by O666 O666 wrote:

Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

Well we have to remember that artists sell albums for a living. There is only a promise that the music will be recognisable as that band. Beyond that it's just an opinion and really that applies to all bands. I suppose it is possible to update your sound a bit. I'm a big fan of IQ but they haven't produced anything really new since 1993. The Road of Bones is just an extended version of the Ever album to my ears but I still like it nevertheless. I can't really get excited about these arguments. Original sounding bands are often overlooked so we would all probably be better off discussing bands that are forging ahead not bemoaning those that are just doing what the majority of their fans just want them to do ( I guess).

Hi. I don't agree with you about IQ. They updated their sounding and technical abilities album by album. I die for "Frequency" and its the best of them IMO. I don't talked about "Style" or "Language" or "Touch" of the band. I talk about a band that moving around a center " Mastermind" (like a circle). And this "Mastermind (van leer)" didn't show even a very small progress! in his musical mind from 15-20 years earlier till now! 

Thanks for your time...

 

Frequency is great indeed and the introduction of Andy Edwards on drums made a big impact.
100% Agree  Thumbs Up
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