Focus in Milton Keynes October 2017

 

It was fun to be at a Focus Concert once again. I have seen them in The Stables. Milton Keynes before. It is a little sterile but it was good to see nearly 400 present. I ended up with a front side row seat just a few feet from Thijs van Leer himself. It was not a great spot in some ways but it gave certain advantages. We had the usual run - Focus 1, Anonymous, House of the King to begin; Eruption, Sylvia and La Cathedrale with Harem Scarem elsewhere; Hocus Pocus to close and Focus 3 with Answers Questions, Questions Answers as an encore. We also had All Hands on Deck, which I have heard before and, for the first time for me, P's March.

Being as close to van Leer as I was I observed how he mostly only used one hand to play the battered old Hammond organ he sat at most of the night. He also played the flute with one hand at times (sometimes combining flute and organ). He also played the haunting alto flute at the beginning, the simple melodica on Le Tango and did various things voice wise - scat, singing, whistling, yodelling, throat singing and oohs and aahs, usually with the vocoder. The high note on Hocus Pocuss are no longer possible but Thijs still has a very good singing voice.

I enjoyed all the solos from the band in the main, including new man Udo's six string bass. Still not sure about all of Menno's.

The evening began with an elderly heavy metal outfit called Burnt Out Wreck who were alright for what they were. After the main event the band happily signed autographs and chatted. I bought the latest offering (already purchased on itunes) and had it autographed. I also persuaded Pierre van der Linden to give me a signed drumstick.

Retro Album of the Week 19 - Trace

This week I want to feature the self-titled first album by the Dutch band Trace which came out in 1974. The rise of the band Focus in the seventies meant that some of us her in the UK began to look to see what else Holland had to offer in this field. We had heard of Ekseption and it was with the demise of that group and the departure of Pierre Van Der Linden from Focus that the line up for this album came about. Ekseption didn't want (the late) Rick Van Der Linden (a sort of Dutch Keith Emerson) for some reason and so Phillips gave him the opportunity to forma  new band. He tried working with the Ekseption drummer but that failed. Then with Pierre Van Der Linden (second cousin of Rick they now say; I had thought they were completely unrelated) and Jaap Van Eik (bass) forming a trio he got it together with this album. (They were to have been Ace but the name had been taken so someone suggested Trace). The album was no Moving Waves as far as success was concerned but I just loved it and still do. They did come to Cardiff but it was prayer meeting night so I didn't join my friends for that. What I like is the reworking of Bach, Grieg and folk tunes from Scandinavia and Scotland plus the obligatory solos for bass and drums. The synthesisers sound dated now but were state of the art then an can still sound good. Much later copies of the album add two bonus tracks. Two further albums were produced after this one with altered line ups. This is by far the best.

Focus in London

Focus were in town last night and I was able to see them. I enjoyed it on the whole. A nice mixture of old and new, they played for two hours and there was rarely a dull moment. The long tracks Eruption and Harem Scarem were a little uninventive and dull and Hocus Pocus slightly tame but otherwise it was good stuff. The first and second pieces (House of the King and Tamara's Move) stood out for me. We also had Focus 2, 3, 7, 9, Round goes the gossip, Sylvia, Aya Yuppie, etc. At one point Thijs gave few bars of Anonymus but it's not in the repertoire. It would be good to hear that and Hamburger Concerto next time. Pierre v d linden was on rocking form. His main solo was stunning. The support band Whimwise led by Nick Cave and featuring the keyboard player from Infusion were an eclectic 8 piece bunch playing nice stuff that might go well with a Tolkien movie.

Pierre van der Linden

Today is the birthday of (arguably) the world's greatest drummer, Pierre Van Der Linden. This short clip gives an idea of the man's prowess on the old skins. Hope to catch him playing next month in MK.