365 Albums 61-75

1. Indelible Grace Side A Side B 2001 (Rerelease 2008)*
2. Revolver The Beatles 1966
3. Father of the Bride Vampire Weekend 2019
4. Scribbled in chalk Karine Polwart 2006
5. Diamond Life Sade 1984
6. Pictures at an Exhibition Emerson Lake and Palmer 1971
7. Fragile Yes 1972
8. Feels Like Home Norah Jones 2004
9. Solo Rick van der Linden 1981*
10. How to save a life The Fray 2006
11. The Home Concert 2008
12. Hommage aan Rogier van Otterloo Jacobs, van Leer, van Dijk, Jacobs 1990
13. Moving Waves Focus 1971
14. Les Deux Amis Les Deux Amis Plays Focus 1985*
15. Zooming into Focus Texel 2018

(* Suitable for Sunday playing IMHO)

Retro Album "of the week" 45 - Les Deux Amis plays Focus Classics

In 1985 Les Deux Amis (German classical guitarists and teachers Ansgar Krause and Thomas Müller-Pering) released a collection of 15 tracks arranged by themselves taking Focus tracks (sometimes more than one track) and giving them an attractive classical treatment. This sort of approach always holds the danger of producing muzack but that does not really happen here with quite inventive arrangements and brilliant music to draw on. You can hear Sylvia here.

The LP cover includes these words:

We have ... long been excited by the ideas of the Dutch group FOCUS which has succeeded in creating a symbiosis of classical and rock music. Ansgar Krause's adaptations prove the vagueness of the borderline between so-called U and non-U music. This is partly due to the fact that Krause makes use of the opportunities offered by polyphony and harmony (imitation, canon, repetition of themes, augmentation, etc.) created some 500 years ago in the Low Countries and further developed in the so-called Franco-Flemish School.

FOCUS has always fallen back on the use of classical or Renaissance themes and forms for their compositions. This gave us the idea of re-adapting their works back into classical guitar music. This musical encounter of various eras and styles, reaches its high point in the "Variations on Happy Nightmare". This amusing title encouraged us to include in our arrangement the well known Bourréé in E-Flat of perhaps the greatest composer of all time: Johann Sebastian Bach. We did this during the recording session which happened to coincide with the 300th anniversary of Bach's birthday, 21 March 1985. So FOCUS REMEMBERED is also a tribute to the great composers and to their world of sound, and for whom every living composer feels gratitude.

It also includes a comment from Jan Akkerman and Thijs Van Leer

"When we first heard our two friends playing FOCUS we were touched by this discovery. No superlatives are good enough to describe their virtuosity, their musicianship and their arrangements. It sounds so easy but we know what hard labor went into these microphones. We are extremely proud that they have chosen our songs which more than ten years ago were able to move millions of people around the world. This digital recording will get a place of honor in our homes."

Old Technology 03

Two things came together rather well last week. I managed to track down a copy of a 1985 vinyl record by a German guitar duo called Les Deux Amis playing Focus classics recently and it arrived the day after I brought my son home from Cardiff Uni with his little record player. So last week there I was doing something I haven't done in a while - playing an LP.

It soon came back to me. Carefully remove the piece of plastic from its cardboard cover and paper sleeve, making sure not to touch the surface. Pop the record on the turntable, place the needle and out comes the music.

There's quite a bit of crackle and the listening experience is not as good as CD and mp3 I think. You have no pause button so interruptions are a pain. I do like that thought - when side one finishes I'll make a cuppa. You also feel reluctant to skip tracks for fear of causing damage.

The album itself is very satisfactory. All the early Focus classics are given the classical guitar treatment with a little bit of Bach thrown in for good measure at one point.