Focus In The 1970s

The Music of Jan Akkerman and Thijs Van Leer

Stephen Lambe author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Sonicbond Publishing

Published:14th May '21

£14.99

Available to order, but very limited on stock - if we have issues obtaining a copy, we will let you know.

Focus In The 1970s cover

For a few short years in the 1970s, the unique music of Focus entertained the world. Build around the prodigious instrumental talents of Dutch masters Jan Akkerman (guitar) and Thijs Van Leer (keyboards and flute), the band produced three classic hit albums in quick succession, and scored two worldwide hits with 'Sylvia' and 'Hocus Pocus'. The latter piece is as ubiquitous as tunes from the 70s get, distinctive for Akkerman's famous riff and Van Leer's once-heard-never forgotten yodeling. Musical and personal tensions between the two lead to a split in 1976, the band limping on until 1978. However, the 1970s also saw seven solo albums each from these two hugely talented musicians, with Akkerman moving into jazzier territory while Van Leer had huge success with his Introspection series of light, classical flute-based albums. Stephen Lambe's enlightening book guides the reader through the band's early history year by year, dealing with all eight Focus albums song by song, while also giving the same treatment to Akkerman and Van Leer's lesser know solo work between 1970 and 1979. It makes for both an important potted history of the band and an insight into the tensions which lead to such a creative - if short lived - peak, but also acts as an essential guide to the astonishing music the two men made while at the peak of their powers.

ISBN: 9781789520798

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

144 pages