The “Golden Hits Of The 70s”
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FOCUS
“HOCUS POCUS”
(Thijs van Leer, Jan Akkerman)
Sire 704
No. 9 June 2, 1973
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They were a Dutch group whose goal was to perform a fusion of rock, jazz, and even the classics.
Drummer Hans Cleuver, bassist Martin Dresden, plus classically trained founder/frontman Thijs van Leer
(b. Mar. 31, 1948, Amsterdam) on organ and flute, banded together in 1969. Focus developed a strong
local reputation backing Cyril Havermans, Robin Lent, and other Dutch singers. They soon added
guitarist extraordinaire Jan Akkerman (b. Dec. 24, 1946, Amsterdam) and worked as the pit band for the
Dutch production of Hair. There they would often include amplified arrangements of pieces of work by
Bartok and Rodrigo. In 1971, Polydor issued In and Out of Focus, an LP of their music-merging
meanderings. Two years later, after Focus’ touring and charting success in England and in the States, Sire
Records would reissue the album.
By the time of the recording sessions for Moving Waves (1973), Cleuver and Dresden were gone. Their
replacements were bassist/singer Cyril Havermans and drummer Pierre Vander Linden (b. Feb. 19, 1946),
who had played with Akkerman in one of his former groups.
If Focus is recalled at all by–what once were–Top 40 listeners, it is for that near-novelty number, “Hocus
Pocus,” with its yodels, yelps, and manic guitar runs. But there was more to the band than just this song,
or so believed the devotees of Focus’ progressive sounds who liked to flow with the group’s long, stylized
improvisations. It was this following that snapped up offerings like Focus 3 (1973), Live at the Rainbow
(1973), Hamburger Concerto (1974), Dutch Masters (1975), Mother Focus (1975), and Ship of Memories
(1977).
Havermans left the fold in 1971, and was replaced by bassist Bert Ruiter (b. Nov. 26, 1946). Van Der Lin
den departed in 1973; his replacement was former Stone the Crows drummer Colin Allen, who himself
was replaced but two years later by David Kemper.
Havermans had his own LP (Cyril) issued in 1973 by MGM. Numerous solo efforts were issued by van
Leer during the ’70s–Introspection (1972), O My Love (1975), Nice to Have Met You (1978). Akkerman,
who left Focus in 1976, has gone on to create a fairly successful and critically acclaimed solo career, with
albums like Profile (1973), Tabernakel (1974), and Jan Akkerman (1978).
Focus’ last recorded work seems to have been the much-anticipated Focus Con Proby (1978), which
involved the addition of vocal sensation P. J. PROBY and Akkerman’s fill-in, Phillip Catherine.