Focus - 50 Years Anthology 1970-1976 (2020)

Focus scored two unlikely worldwide hit singles with ‘Hocus Pocus’ and ‘Sylvia’ and sold several million albums during this period (such as ‘Moving Waves’, ‘Focus 3’ and ‘Hamburger Concerto’).

50 Years: Anthology 1970-1976 is curated by Focus/Jan Akkerman archivist Wouter Bessels (he previously curated the 26CD Akkerman box and recently worked on the forthcoming Tangerine Dream box set), and features newly remastered versions of the first five studio albums all of which come with rare bonus tracks (single versions, alternates, rough mixes). Additionally, it includes 1973 live album At The Rainbow, the Ship of Memories compilation from 1976 (which features 11 bonus tracks), the complete BBC In Concert 1973 gig taken from the original stereo master tapes and a disc of unreleased live performances.



Tracks:

CD1 – FOCUS PLAYS FOCUS / IN AND OUT OF FOCUS
Original release: 1970

Focus (instrumental) 9.46
Why Dream 3.56
Happy Nightmare (Mescaline) 3.56
Anonymus 7.01
Black Beauty 3.05
Sugar Island 3.02
Focus (vocal) 2.43
BONUS TRACKS
House Of The King 2.23
Eruption (Live Lanx 1970) 37.31


CD2 – FOCUS II / MOVING WAVES
Original release: 1971

Hocus Pocus 6.41
Le Clochard (Bread) 1.59
Janis 3.06
Moving Waves 2.41
Focus II 4.03
Eruption (Orfeus – Answer – Orfeus – Answer – Pupilla – Tommy – Pupilla – Answer – The Bridge – Euridice – Dayglow – Endless Road – Answer – Orfeus – Euridice) 23.07
BONUS TRACKS
Hocus Pocus (single version) 3.27
Tommy (single version) 3.25
Focus I (Live Texel 1971) 14.11


CD3 – FOCUS 3
Original release: 1972

Round Goes The Gossip… 5.16
Love Remembered 2.48
Sylvia 3.32
Carnival Fugue 6.07
Focus III 6.05
Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers! 14.03
Anonymus II (Part 1) 19.33
Anonymus II (Conclusion) 7.34
Elspeth Of Nottingham 3.13
BONUS TRACKS
Sylvia (single version) 3.32
Love Remembered (single version) 2.49
Hocus Pocus (US single version) 3.25


CD4 – AT THE RAINBOW
Original release: 1973

Focus III 3.52
Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers! 11.26
Focus II 4.24
Eruption (Orfeus – Answer – Orfeus – Answer – Pupilla – Tommy – Pupilla) 8.40
Hocus Pocus 8.27
Sylvia 2.47
Hocus Pocus – reprise 2.48
BONUS TRACKS
P’s March (original mix – single version) 3.27
Ship Of Memories (original mix) 4.40
P’s March (original mix – full version) 4.03


CD5 – HAMBURGER CONCERTO
Original release: 1974

Delitiæ Musicæ 1.13
Harem Scarem 5.50
La Cathédrale de Strasbourg 4.57
Birth 7.45
Hamburger Concerto (Starter – Rare – Medium I – Medium II – Well Done – One For The Road) 20.23
BONUS TRACKS
Early Birth 2.56
Harem Scarem (single version) 3.08
Birth (alternate mix) 7.43
Harem Scarem (alternate mix) 5.51


CD6 – MOTHER FOCUS
Original release: 1975

Mother Focus 3.05
I Need A Bathroom 3.04
Bennie Helder 3.33
Soft Vanilla 3.04
Hard Vanilla 2.35
Tropic Bird 2.45
Focus IV 3.57
Someone’s Crying… What! 3.19
All Together… Oh That! 3.41
No Hang Ups 2.56
My Sweetheart 3.38
Father Bach 1.33
BONUS TRACKS
Focus IV (rough mix) 4.02
Bennie Helder (rough mix) 3.45
Vanilla (rough mix) 5.42
Mother Focus (rough mix) 3.02
All Together… Oh That! (rough mix) 3.42
My Sweetheart (rough mix) 3.46
Someone’s Crying… What! (rough mix) 3.18
Studio 55 Jam 6.56


CD7 – SHIP OF MEMORIES
Original release: 1976

P’s March 4.48
Can’t Believe My Eyes 5.22
Focus V 3.02
Out Of Vesuvius 5.51
Glider 4.40
Red Sky At Night 5.52
Spoke The Lord Creator 2.33
Crackers 2.42
Ship Of Memories 1.47BONUS TRACKS
Elektrisch Levenslicht (Neerlands Hoop in Bange Dagen) 3.09
The Shrine Of God (Ramses Shaffy with group Focus) 3.39
Watch The Ugly People (Ramses Shaffy with group Focus) 2.19
House Of The King (rough mix version 1) 2.27
House Of The King (rough mix version 2) 2.26
Focus III (unreleased single version) 4.37
Hocus Pocus (US single version – takes 14-17) 7.12
Glider (single version) 3.28
P’s March (single version) 4.07
O Avondrood 5.10
Crackers (vocal version) 2.31


CD8 – FOCUS BBC 1973

Focus III 3.54
Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers! 12.09
Focus II 5.06
Anonymus II 23.30
Focus I 4.27
Hocus Pocus 7.38
Sylvia – Hocus Pocus (reprise) 5.52
Produced and recorded by BBC Radio 1 In Concert, Paris Theatre, London, 17th January 1973.


CD9 – LIVE 1971 – 1975

Eruption (Live Rotterdam 1971) 46.37
Birth 11.38
Improvisation #1 8.35
House Of The King 3.02
Improvisation #2 6.23
Hocus Pocus 3.20
Track 1: Recorded by AVRO radio at the Newport Jazz Festival, Grote Zaal, De Doelen, Rotterdam, 29th October 1971. Track 2: Recorded at the Festival Hall, Osaka, 2nd July 1974. Track 3-6: Recorded at Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, 21st June 1975.


DVD1 – FOCUS SIGHT & SOUND VOL. 1 (audio only)

BBC The Old Grey Whistle Test (May 1972) 24.26
BBC The Old Grey Whistle Test (December 1972) 16.01
Focus At The Rainbow (May 1973) 47.28
BBC In Concert (April 1974) 36.18


DVD2 – FOCUS SIGHT & SOUND VOL. 2 (audio only)

NOS Van Gewest Tot Gewest (July 1970) 1.54
NOS Uit De Kunst (June 1972) 3.51
RTE The Music Makers: Focus at the Stadium (November 1973) 48.00
VARA Nederpopzien (December 1973) 34.22
AVRO Toppop: Harem Scarem (May 1974) 3.01
AVRO Toppop: O Avondrood (June 1976) 4.51
Veronica Goud van Oud (April 1990) 16.44
NCRV Classic Albums: Moving Waves (June 1997) 50.02