Blog of the Week 11

I'd quite forgotten to do this this week so perhaps this is the time to slip this one past you

Focus on Focus

Focus is the best of all bands

They are based in the Netherlands

Their mainstay is called Thijs van Leer

They play their music far and near

They play mostly instrumental

Sometimes rowdy, sometimes gentle.

The Dutch band Focus have been an obsession since I was a teenager and in 2007 I decided to make a blog, chiefly cataloguing their various tracks. My aspiration was to do something like Ian MacDonald did in Revolution in the head regarding the Beatles. I've never got near in reality but I continue to try and have added various other bits and bobs over the years. Perhaps the best thing is the way that it has opened up connections with other Focus fans. I think chiefly of Peet Johnson in Australia who has gone miles beyond me with a whole biography of Focus, which I have ended up giving editorial advice on. I think a new edition is due soon. See here. There is also Kjell Arne Nordli who very kindly sent me a stack of live recordings of Focus for free one time.

There are over 300 posts at present but I am conscious of many needing improvement and at least one series unfinished. There have been about over 67,000 views. It can be found here. Most popular post on the blog with over a thousand hits is one entitled Jan Akkerman - the classical element. You can find it here. .