Conference marvin::uk_music

	Yeah, he is still good. I bought the 'The Noise Of Art' CD from
	1990, not bad. I don't know the 'Puccini's Cafe' - how is it?
	Are there any others released since 1990? 

	On LP, I have 'Profile'(1972), 'Tabernakel'(1973) and 'Eli'
	(1976). 'Eli' is one of the more bizarre ones, featuring a gen-
	tleman named Kaz Lux...

	Together with Focus, I have 'At The Rainbow'(1973) and 'Mother
	Focus'(1977). 'Mother Focus' is really good. There was also a-
	nother strange thing, 'Focus Con Proby'(1977) with dinosaur
	P.J. Proby singing on it, but I don't think Jan A. was on play-
	ing on this one..

	Poul

    	Nice to hear from you,and good to know I`m not the only person who 
    	appreciates JA`s talents.
    	
    	Puccini`s Cafe is very good some excellent guitar playing AND
    	tunes,although he does I think hold back a bit instead of really
        letting rip!!
    
    	This as far as I know is his only release since `90,he mentions 
    	somewhat cryptically a car accident on the liner notes to P.C.
    	so that might explain his lack of output since `90.
    
    	Wasn`t Kaz Lux the singer with Brainbox,the band he was in before
        Focus(along with Ruiter and V.D.Linden)?By the way I think the
        music on Eli was among his best - although I`m not so sure about
        the vocals!..Profile was the first I heard and is still my
        favourite.
    
    	I have all the Focus lp`s plus the one they reformed to record in
        `86 which is interesting.I`d really like to get hold of live tapes
        of the original band,but failing that I do know that the original 
    	(and best)line up that recorded Moving Waves recorded a TV special
    	in `91 for Dutch TV.Now that would be worth hearing!
    
    	Try and get hold of Pleasure Point and Heartware which were two
        late `80`s releases by JA - they are both excellent.
    
    	Thanks for your reply - any others?
    
    	Tom
    
    
    	

    Yep count me in.
    
    I was a Focus 'freak' (as the fans of bands used to be known in the
    70's).  Everyone else seemed to be into Genesis or Led Zep or Black
    Sabbath, and there was me into Focus on my own (aaaaah).  I still play
    Focus 3 a lot, as well as Hamburger Concerto, and have JA' Profile and
    tabernackel, as well as TV Leers 'Introspection'... what has happened
    to the other members of Focus ??
    
    I recall trying to copy the drum solo on the track on Focus 3 that
    lasted 1.5 sides..cant remember the title..and our neighbours getting
    really hacked of with me....ahh they were the days eh ??
    
    I must admit to not hearing of the album from the reformed group ..what
    was the title, and what label was it on ??.  Is it worth getting ??
    
    With money a bit tight at present, I would like to hear the 2 JA album
    that I dont have, or have a 'review' of them, prior to buying them ...
    what style do they follow etc ..any chance of this ??
    
    Cheers
    
    Paul
    
    

    	Sorry I haven`t replied,but anyway I read your reply with interest.
    I wil send you a VMS mail with details of labels,ser nos. etc,but in
    the meantime.......
    	The CD released by the `re-formed` band is quite good,it`s not as
    rock oriented as you`d think,in fact some of it`s quite laid back,but
    the classic chord voicings are all there (hope that makes sense!)
    	Only JA and TVL remain from the original line-up,and are backed by
    Tato Gomez on bass from TVL`s prev band Pedal Point and a Linn Drum m/c
    The CD features extended versions of the tracks,I was pleasantly
    surprised as I had been listening to the vinyl for a couple of years.
    	The JA discs are excellent,Pleasure Point was recorded in `81,but
    not available here until a couple of years ago.My favourite track is
    Cool In The Shadow v.atmospheric,also Heavy Pleasure is a good one.
    	Heartware is a more polished affair from ~ `89,the title track is
    a standout for me,as is the opening track whose name ascapes me just
    now.
    	I`ll VMS mail you with more details on where to get them.
    
    	Sorry about the wait.
    
    	Tom. 

    OK I own up to being a fan of FOCUS and Jan Akkerman too.
    
    I've got all the FOCUS albums from 'In and out of Focus' apart from 
    Con.Proby.  Ship of Memories was excellent because it had some pre-release
    arrangements of tracks used later on released albums like Hamburger 
    Concerto.
    Mother Focus was a bit lame.
    
    I've heard JA's last album referred to in 1, and it is excellent. I believe
    its only available on Dutch import. I've got JA's
    Profile and Tabernakel and also a 1980 Live at the Montreaux Jazz 
    festival on LP, where he plays 'Tommy' from Focus 2 (the track that got me
    into Focus) which features Tom Barchal(?) saxophonist who wrote the
    piece originally. He used to be with the Dutch jaz rock band Solution.
    
    JA is one of the finest electric guitar musicians around, and some of
    the guitar riffs (eg. the splendid epic bit in the middle of
    Answers, Questions, Questions Answers from Focus 3) can only work if
    the player knows his instrument and music back-to-front.  
	
    Happy memories!
    tim

	Ship Of Memories is one of my favourites probably because it isn`t
as polished as all their other records.
	I have been collecting the CD reissues over the last year or two and
was pleased to find that a couple of `bonus` tracks have been included on a 
couple of discs.Hamburger Concerto has a demo version of Birth which - if
you listen to the intro chord changes - resurfaces on S.O.M as Can`t Believe
My Eyes and Crackers.Listen carefully and you`ll hear it.S.O.M also has a 
previously unavailable version of Hocus Pocus which was the U.S. single
version.Sounds like it may be a` live in the studio` recording.
	I`ve been listening to these a fair bit recently,and always find 
myself amazed at the - for then - standard of musicianship.BTW Con Proby
features some outrageous rock guitar playing by JA`s replacement,a guy called
Eef Albers who I never heard of again when they broke up.Philip Catherine is 
excellent also,but is more of a jazz player than rock. 
		

						Tom