Thijs Van Leer - Introspection (1985)

In the 1970s, concurrent with his role as de facto leader of the progressive rock band Focus, Thijs van Leer released several solo albums, most notably the four Introspection albums, recorded in collaboration with Rogier van Otterloo (arranger/conductor), Letty de Jong (soprano vocalist), and Ruud Jacobs (producer).
The Introspection albums inevitably have many links with van Leer's work with Focus:
-they feature versions of the Focus tunes "Focus I," "Focus II," "Focus III," "Focus V," and "Brother";
-"Le tango," from the fourth entry in the series, would be re-recorded years later as a Focus tune (twice- on the 1985 Akkerman/van Leer pseudo-Focus album Focus, then again on 2012's Focus X, with lyrics, as "Birds Come Fly Over");
-"Introspection 5," from the belated fifth entry in the series, 1992's Introspection 92, would become, on 2006's Focus 9 / New Skin, "Focus 7";
-"Song for Eva" from Introspection 4 was cowritten with Focus bassist Bert Ruiter; a recording by Focus would appear on 2017's The Focus Family Album;
-Ruud Jacobs would produce and play bass on Focus, the 1985 Akkerman/van Leer reunion album;
-Jacobs's son (and van Leer's stepson) Bobby Jacobs would eventually be the longest-serving member of the revived, 21st century Focus.
But that's all trivia. In practice these are albums of extremely sleepy easy-listening-type classical crossover stuff, with lots of languid flute from van Leer and slurpy strings courtesy of van Otterloo. Unalloyed by Focus's jazz-rock muscle, this is unfortunately generic, forgettable stuff, as accomplished as the arrangements and performances are. This is music you'd want to have playing at a family holiday gathering or on a telephone hold, rather than something that really rewards active listening.
Surprisingly (or maybe not), and despite the band's popularity overseas, and despite their reputation to this day, van Leer's Introspection albums consistently outsold Focus's contemporary output in the Netherlands, charting higher and staying on the charts longer. This was obviously not a positive influence on the group's long-term stability.