FOCUS II [AKA: MOVING WAVES]

The music is more instrumentally based than the debut. Only two songs feauture singing ( well there´s some choir vocal parts in Eruption too) and that´s Hocus Pocus and Moving Waves and as usual the singing isn´t anything special. The exception is of course the strange yodelling parts in Hocus Pocus which is also one of the standout tracks on the album. The main riff is repeated too many times though and the song seems a bit repetitive IMO. There are some great variations between the main theme though. Le Chochard and the way too romantic Janis is not really my taste and the same can be said about the vocal based title track while Focus II is another highlight here for me. The 23:04 minute long Eruption ends the album. It´s one of the more interesting songs on the album. Especially the opening section where I´m almost reminded of Zappa. You´ll find both guitar, organ and drum solos in this song and about middle way through the song there is a classically inspired flute piece.

The musicianship is excellent. I especially enjoy the guitar soloing from Jan Akkerman but both the rythm section and Thijs van Leer´s keyboards and flute are also well played.

The production is good. Warm and pleasant. Note the drum sound which is outstanding IMO.

This is a good album even though I do get bored one or two times along the way. Focus has many of the elements I enjoy about progressive rock in their music but the most important element for me is still the compositions and how they are structured. I think the compositions are a bit weak here and they don´t really satisfy me much. The playing on the other hand is really great and it does make up for the lack of compositional skill ( they are skilled composers, but IMO they don´t use that skill very effectively). I can´t rate Moving Waves more than 3 stars when I feel that the most important element in music is missing. The generally romantic mood in the music doesn´t really move me either. It´s when Focus act most crazy that I enjoy their music the most.

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