FOCUS II [AKA: MOVING WAVES]

One of the seminal albums in my induction into the world of progressive rock music, I can never forget the first time hearing with awe the artistry and skills put on display by the radio friendly "Hocus Pocus." Amazing speed from all players, amazing guitar leads, amazing drum play, amazing flute play, and simply shocking display of yodelling. (Yodelling?! Yes! Yodelling!) Guts and innovation. The album that I bought out of this radio experience, was slightly disappointing except for the stunning beauty of the "Tommy" section of "Eruption." I think I was just a bit too new to complex and eclectic music making to appreciate the shorts on Side One. And then, while I wore out the grooves of my Side Two ("Eruption") twice (I still own three copies of "Moving Waves"), the song has not kept it's lustre for me over the years (though a recent listen surprised me with just how familiar and how adrenaline-pumping the song was to me). However, with age all of the songs from Side One have won me over to the point that I truly believe that these musicians were truly geniuses--virtuosi, too!--creating music that blended classical, folk, jazz traditions more cleverly, more deftly and certainly more skillfully than 99% of the bands out there. I mean this was 1971!

Everytime I hear the gorgeous "Le Clochard" (2:01) (10/10) I mistakenly think I'm listening to a Steve Hackett piece. "Janis" (3:08) (9/10) is equally gorgeous just not as technically impressive (though there are amazing flourishes there). "Moving Waves" (2:43) (8/10) is impressive for its English and classical feel--though I always felt singing with lyrics was an incongruous manouevre for this band. "Focus II" (4:04) is one of those classic beauties with its jazzy, YES-like in and out of focus tempos. It's only flaw for me was that it exposed (for me) a little of the weakness of the drummer (Who I've never been able to embrace with the praise and admiration that so many others do). (10/10) The side-long (over 23-minutes!) "Eruption" is one of the daring masterpieces of the classic era of progressive rock music. It has the ELP feel and classical structures to it but it has the added bonus of the presence and contribution of the great Jan Akkerman--perhaps the greatest guitarist of his generation.

A few years ago I rated this with only four stars but, no more, this is one of the unsung and seminal masterpieces of the progressive rock movement of the early 1970s.