Focus 3/Focus III | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | November 1972 | |||
Recorded | July 1972 | |||
Studio | Olympic "B" Studios (Barnes, London) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 70:25 | |||
Label | Imperial | |||
Producer | Mike Vernon | |||
Focus chronology | ||||
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Focus 3 or Focus III is the third studio album by Dutch rock band Focus, released as a double album in November 1972 on Imperial Records. Recorded after touring in support of their previous album, Moving Waves (1971), the album saw the band write extended pieces and is their first with bassist Bert Ruiter in the group's line-up.
Focus 3 received a positive reception upon its release. It went to No. 1 in the Netherlands for one week and reached No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 35 on the US Billboard 200. "Sylvia" was released as the album's sole single, which reached No. 4 in the UK and No. 89 in the US. The album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling in excess of 500,000 copies.
By 1972, Focus had stabilised with a line-up of organist and vocalist Thijs van Leer, guitarist Jan Akkerman, drummer Pierre van der Linden, and bassist Bert Ruiter. In July 1972, after touring in supporting their previous album, Focus II (1971), the band retreated to Olympic Studios in Barnes, south west London, to record their next album. [1] Initially a single LP was intended to be recorded but the group had written a considerable amount of new material, so the group opted to release a double album. Mike Vernon reprised his role as the record's producer with George Chkiantz assigned as recording engineer. [1] [2] Two versions of the album's sleeve design exist; its North American release features each member photographed during a performance on the BBC music television show The Old Grey Whistle Test with a black background. The second, designed by Hamish Grimes, depicts a close-up of van Leer playing the flute with the title over his face. [3]
"Round Goes the Gossip" features five lines from the poem Aeneid by the ancient Roman poet Virgil, sung in Latin by van Leer and its chorus hook, "Round goes the gossip", also sung by Vernon. [4] The five lines from the poem are printed on the album's sleeve in Latin and English [1] with the 1916 translation by Henry Fairclough. [5] "Love Remembered" is a track written by Akkerman, playing an acoustic guitar with van Leer's flute, which is based on a young couple's morning walk. [5] van Leer wrote "Sylvia" in 1968 when he was a cast member of Shaffy Chantant, a Dutch theatre production by singer and actor Ramses Shaffy. He was not fond of a composition that singer Sylvia Alberts was given to sing for her solo performance, [5] so he wrote the instrumental with a set of lyrics in English written by Linda van Dyck. Its original title was a long one: "I Thought I Could Do Everything on My Own, I Was Always Stripping the Town Alone", and concerned an independent young woman who fell apart after she met the love of her life. van Leer kept the music, re-arranging it as an instrumental track when it came to selecting material for the album. He renamed it "Sylvia" after Alberts "to tease [her] a little". [6] The track includes a guitar introduction written by van Leer's brother Frank. [6] Focus biographer Peet Johnson highlights several musical references and similarities that van Leer incorporates in "Focus III", including riffs from Bernard Hermann, "Don't Sleep in the Subway" made famous by Petula Clark in 1967, Tchaikovsky, and Schubert. [7]
"Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers!" was titled by Akkerman and features extended flute and guitar solos. Ruiter came up with its basic riff, with Akkerman coming up with the "second part". [8] Akkerman wrote "Elspeth of Nottingham" after driving around England for a holiday in 1967, stopping in a town in the Cotswolds where he first heard guitarist Julian Bream play the lute which inspired him to learn the instrument. Akkerman requested to include birdsong on the recording; Vernon suggested to include sounds of cows mooing and the song's title, the "Elspeth" being an old Scottish variant of the name Elizabeth. [8] [9] "Carnival Fugue" borrows from Johann Sebastian Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier before venturing into cool jazz territory, then culminates in a rock finale with piccolo improvisations and a hint of Calypso rhythms on guitar. "Anonymus II" borrows its theme from "Anonymus" from the band's first album (an extended jam based on the traditional tune "Dit le bourguignon,") and features a solo spot for all four members. At 26 minutes in length, it remains the group's longest recorded piece. [9]
The vinyl pressings of the album includes "House of the King", a track Focus recorded for their first album, Focus Plays Focus (1970), intended to fill up space on side four. The two former members who perform on the recording, bassist Martin Dresden and drummer Hans Cleuver, are not credited on the album sleeve. [10]
Released in November 1972, Focus 3 was a commercial success for the band, reaching No. 1 in the Netherlands for one week. [11] It reached a peak of No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart [12] in March 1973 during a 16-week stay on the chart. [10] In the US, it reached No. 35 on the Billboard 200. [13] "Sylvia" was released as the album's sole single, which reached No. 4 in the UK [14] and No. 89 in the US. [15] In November 1973, Billboard announced the album was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling in excess of 500,000 copies. [16] The album reached the same certification in the Netherlands and the UK. [10]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Rolling Stone | (not rated) [18] |
In his retrospective review for AllMusic, Ben Davies rates the album four-and-a-half stars out of five, highlighting the band's "jollier, more accessible tone" compared to their more serious sound on Moving Waves. He rates "Sylvia" a "classic" track that continues to be "one of the most loved and best remembered" songs from the band's catalogue. He concludes with: "To be frank, this LP has it all: diverse songs, astounding musicianship, one of the finest singles ever released — Focus III should unquestionably be ranked alongside the likes of ... rock's greatest". [17] Down Beat rated Focus 3 five stars out of five in 1972, citing it to be "a sincere, emotional mixture of classical, jazz, and rock."
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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1. | "Round Goes the Gossip" | Thijs van Leer | 5:16 |
2. | "Love Remembered" | Jan Akkerman | 2:49 |
3. | "Sylvia" | van Leer | 3:32 |
4. | "Carnival Fugue" | van Leer | 6:02 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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1. | "Focus III" | van Leer | 6:07 |
2. | "Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers!" | Akkerman, Bert Ruiter | 14:03 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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1. | "Anonymus II (Part 1)" | van Leer, Akkerman, Ruiter, Pierre van der Linden | 19:28 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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1. | "Anonymus II (Conclusion)" | van Leer, Akkerman, Ruiter, van der Linden | 7:30 |
2. | "Elspeth of Nottingham" | Akkerman | 3:25 |
3. | "House of the King" | Akkerman | 2:23 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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1. | "Round Goes the Gossip" | Thijs van Leer | 5:12 |
2. | "Love Remembered" | Jan Akkerman | 2:50 |
3. | "Sylvia" | van Leer | 3:31 |
4. | "Carnival Fugue" | van Leer | 6:09 |
5. | "Focus III" | van Leer | 6:05 |
6. | "Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers!" | Akkerman, Bert Ruiter | 13:48 |
7. | "Elspeth of Nottingham" | Akkerman | 3:10 |
8. | "Anonymus II" | van Leer, Akkerman, Ruiter, Pierre van der Linden | 26:24 |
Total length: | 67:12 |
Chart (1972-1973) | Peak position |
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Australian Albums (Kent Music Report) [19] | 36 |
Canada Top Albums/CDs ( RPM ) [20] | 54 |
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [21] | 1 |
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) [22] | 20 |
UK Albums (OCC) [23] | 6 |
US Billboard 200 [24] | 35 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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United Kingdom (BPI) [25] | Gold | 100,000^ |
United States (RIAA) [26] | Gold | 500,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Focus is a Dutch progressive rock band formed in Amsterdam in 1969 by keyboardist, vocalist, and flautist Thijs van Leer, drummer Hans Cleuver, bassist Martijn Dresden, and guitarist Jan Akkerman. The band has undergone numerous formations in its history; since December 2016, it has comprised Van Leer, drummer Pierre van der Linden, guitarist Menno Gootjes, and bassist Udo Pannekeet. They have sold one million RIAA-certified albums in the United States.
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Jan Akkerman is a Dutch guitarist. He first found international commercial success with the band Focus, which he co-founded with Thijs van Leer. After leaving Focus, he continued as a solo musician, adding jazz fusion influences.
Thijs van Leer is a Dutch singer and keyboardist, best known as the founding member of the rock band Focus as its primary vocalist, keyboardist, and flautist. Born and raised in Amsterdam among a musical family, van Leer took up the piano and flute as a child and pursued them at university and music academies.
"Hocus Pocus" is a song by the Dutch rock band Focus, written by keyboardist, flutist, and vocalist Thijs van Leer and guitarist Jan Akkerman. It was recorded and released in 1971 as the opening track of their second studio album Moving Waves. An edited version was released as a single on the Imperial, Polydor and Blue Horizon labels in Europe in 1971, but failed to chart outside of the Netherlands(NL#09).
Focus II is the second studio album by Dutch progressive rock band Focus, released in October 1971 on Imperial Records. Following the departure of original bassist Martin Dresden and drummer Hans Cleuver in 1970, the band recruited Cyril Havermans and Pierre van der Linden, respectively, and prepared material for a new album. Focus recorded Focus II in London in April and May 1971 with Mike Vernon as producer. The album features "Hocus Pocus" a hard rock song featuring keyboardist Thijs van Leer's yodelling, scat singing, and whistling, and "Eruption", a 22-minute track inspired by the opera Euridice by Italian composer Jacopo Peri.
Bert Ruiter was a Dutch bass guitarist, record producer, and composer. He was best known for being the bassist for Focus from 1971 to 1978.
Cyril Havermans is a Dutch musician, best known for being in the progressive rock band Focus.
Focus Plays Focus is the first studio album by Dutch rock band Focus, released in September 1970 on Imperial Records. It is the only album recorded by the group's original line-up consisting of organist and vocalist Thijs van Leer, bassist Martijn Dresden, drummer Hans Cleuver, and guitarist Jan Akkerman. It was renamed In and Out of Focus for the international re-release of the album from 1971 onwards which included their debut single "House of the King".
Hamburger Concerto is the fourth studio album by the Dutch progressive rock band Focus, released in April 1974. It peaked at No. 20 on the UK charts. The title track is based on Variations on a Theme by Haydn by Johannes Brahms. The composition also incorporates the first two verses of the Dutch Christmas carol O Kerstnacht, schoner dan de dagen at around 15 min. The first track is based on a Gaillarde of Joachim van den Hove of his work Delitae Musicae.
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At the Rainbow is the first live album from the Dutch rock band Focus, released in October 1973 on Imperial Records. The album was recorded at the Rainbow Theatre in London on 5 May 1973 by The Pye Mobile Unit, recording engineer Alan Perkins. A studio album was initially slated for release, but it was shelved due to disagreements within the band. At the Rainbow was released instead.
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Focus con Proby is the sixth studio album by the Dutch rock band Focus, released in 1978 on EMI Records. It features five tracks with vocals from American singer P. J. Proby. The record also features guitarists Eef Albers and Philip Catherine, drummer Steve Smith, as well as the two Focus members from previous albums. Smith and Albers would later go on to collaborate on the first two albums of Smith's band Vital Information.
"Sylvia" is a 1972 song by Dutch progressive rock band Focus. It was released on their 1972 album Focus 3 and as a UK single on 27 January 1973. The single became the band's biggest international hit, reaching number 4 in the UK Singles Chart and number 89 in the US Billboard chart.
Focus 11 is the thirteenth studio album by Dutch progressive rock band Focus, released in November 2018 on in and Out of Focus Records. It is their first album to feature bassist Udo Pannekeet, who replaced Bobby Jacobs in 2016.
Live at the BBC is a live album by the Dutch progressive rock group Focus, recorded on 21 March 1976, and broadcast on Radio 1 in the BBC Concert Series, but released only in 2004 by Hux Records, in CD format.
"House of the King" is an instrumental by the Dutch rock band Focus. It was released as a single in January 1971 and reached No. 10 on the Dutch charts and sold well across Europe. In the UK, it was issued on both the group's first album, In And Out of Focus and the 1972 double album Focus 3.