Customer Reviews

Focus Con Proby

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Focus Con Proby, released in 1977, features a new guitar lineup for Focus. Jan Akkerman, a true virtuoso, was no longer in the band. However, this recording features further displays of guitar virtuosity from Eef Albers and Philip Catherine. Eef, a Dutch guitar genius who is still actively performing today, is featured on the first 3 cuts and is absolutely dazzling. In particular, his playing on "Wingless" is both beautiful and a technical tour de force. Philip Catherine, a brilliant French guitarist, is featured on several cuts and is particularly dazzling on "Maximum."

The nice thing about this recording is that while the playing is very technically advanced, it's also very tasteful and enjoyable to listen to.

Highly recommended.

At the time of release this one was killed by bad critics. Over time, it is still a hit & miss record, but the hits are right on the mark. Indeed a weird, but interesting combination of a jazzrock outfit around Thijs van Leer plus PJ Proby.
Although not always sounding sober his voice is impressing & in place in the Focus classic "Brother".
The song "Maximum" is a true Focus gem, though completely unnoticed it seems. This is how jazzrock should sound like!
Also Orion, Wingless, Eddy and Sneezing Bull add in their own jazzy flavor, making for a varied album full of surprises.
And the story about Tokyo Rose? Well, also PJ Proby deserved a drink after all the "hard" work, didn't he?

Focus was a progressive rock band best remembered for Hocus Pocus, though there was much more to them than heavy metal fused with yodeling. Vocalist P.J. Proby is best remembered by middle aged Brits for a couple of hit singles during the Mersey beat era of the early to mid 60's, though they probably remember him better for his tight pants splitting open on the BBC during a live performance. Jan Akkerman's wonderful guitar playing is not here, but the two guitarists featured here (Eef Albers and Philip Catherine) do a fine job. The only vocal cut here that I like is "Wingless". The other vocals come off as mediocre filler. I would have much prefered Thjis Van Leer's voice as instrument approach, minus the yodeling. He could also whistle like nobody's business. Overall, a well produced and well played album, but it lacks the playfulness of the earlier line up. Still worth the purchase, if you can get it.

The album overall has both the sound and feel of the traditional "guitar" band inherent with the time of it's release (1978). Some of the tracks are vaguely reminiscent of Jeff Beck. The first five are the best. "Orion" has an eerily slow, haunting sound to it. "Eddy" is a slow blues-based tune with a nice bass synthesizer line starting halfway through the track. "Sneezing Bull" has the "Van Leer" stamp to it (lead instrument is a flute) and sounds a lot like something Jethro Tull would do. Philip Catherine accompanies on acoustic, rythm guitar. My favorite track is "Night Flight". It is a fast chargin', hard rockin' tune with a somewhat jazzy tinge on the keyboard line.

On this album, I promise you'll find a great ammount of excellent guitar playing, especially on tracks such as "Wingless". But, mostly because of Focus' decision to work with Mr. Proby, the vocals on this album tend to get on my nerves. I feel that they sound false; laden with Las Vegas Casino-sounding cheese. I feel that at this point in their careers, Focus had lost most of their all-round weirdness that was so evident back in the "Hocus Pocus" days. But because of the great instrumentation, I still feel that this album is worth a listen.

Not sure why I am reviewing this album at this point, but the playing of Dutch guitarist Eef Albers on the opening track "Wingless" is probably in my top 10 list of all-time great guitar solos! I was despondent when I learned that Akkerman had left the group, but 1 minute into the cd, I was an instant Eef fan. Steve Smith (Journey,Vital Information) has many fine moments onn this cd also and many of the compositions are great launching pads for inspired jams. I agree that the first 3 tracks are the best, but I love "Brother" also. And I disagree with almost everyone else, I LOVE P.J. Proby's contributions vocally on this album, I think it is a fine fit! He sounds breathtaking on "Wingless" in particular. I think they could have gone a bit more "ape****" to use an Akkermanism on some of the material, it sounds a bit reigned in. Still, Albers' solos kill and Catherine plays great rhythm guitar. I wish Eef had taken all the guitar solos, Catherine is a fantastic jazz guitarist but to me sounds weak when attempting rock or fusion. All in all, this is one of my favorite Focus albums and has held up quite well. Eef Albers has a number of fantastic solo albums released, but, good luck finding them!

Perhaps one of the oddest and most unlikely pairings of musicians that you'll ever find; the addition of American vocalist P.J. Proby on this album is quite strange. That's not to knock Proby, because during his heyday in the early to mid-1960's, he was often compared to (and sometimes mistaken for) Elvis Presley because of his vocal similarities to The King. But he was known more for his onstage antics and attention-grabbing gimmicks, such as his infamous "split trousers" routine done live on BBC television in 1966, which caused much controversy in Britain at the time.

Proby's vocals sound completely out of place on this album, and at times, his voice can be a bit grating on the nerves. One listen to "Tokyo Rose" confirms this, with Proby going into a drunken, rhyming monologue, even inserting a couple of choice expletives for bad measure. From a musical standpoint, it's basically a hit-or-miss affair; at times showing flashes of brilliance ("Night Flight", "Brother"), but other times sounding uninspired and lifeless ("Eddy", "Maximum").

When I first heard this album a while back, I thought it was Jan Akkerman playing the Talkbox-guitar passages on "Brother" (Akkerman made ample use of this guitar effect on the previous "Mother Focus" album); as it turned out, Akkerman left the band after the poor showing of "Mother Focus", and was replaced by not one, but two guitarists: jazz/new age great Philip Catherine, and the more obscure Eef Albers, who plays a limited role instrumentally and who contributed one track to the album ("Night Flight"). Yet another surprise in the Focus lineup in 1978 was drummer Steve Smith, who would find massive fame when he joined Journey later that same year.

Many progressive rock bands of the 70's quickly found themselves falling out of favor after the arrival of punk and disco, and unfortunately, a similar fate fell upon Focus. The group disbanded following the release of this album, but the downward spiral had already begun with the lackluster sales of "Mother Focus", 1976's "Ship Of Memories", a ragtag collection of unissued B-sides and "experimental" tracks, but the real dagger in the heart was the departure of Jan Akkerman in early 1976; a move which the band never recovered from.

This album was not a great career-closer for Focus, but it does have some interesting moments (that is, once you get past Proby's intrusive vocals). Some believe that Proby was the real star and appeal of this album, but I really disagree with that; this was an "experiment" clearly born out of desperation, but one which unfortunately failed.

This is kind of a come back album for Focus. It came out 3 years after the previous album, Mother Focus. It went unnoticed. Jan Akkerman is no longer in the group. But, the group does feature vocalist PJ Proby.

PJ Proby is a pop singer from Texas, who had some success in Europe. PJ Proby is not his real name. On one of his albums, the back up musicians were the members of Led Zeppelin, before they formed Led Zeppelin.

This CD has 5 songs, 4 instrumentals and is 48 minutes long. The songs are blues oriented. Most of the songs are very good. Proby's voice is good, but not fantastic, and it fits well with the material. Tokyo Rose is an excellent anti-war number that has a bit of a funky side. Some of the songs have references to god snuck in them.

Replacing Akkerman on guitar are Eef Albers and Philip Catherine. Albers is a hack and most of his guitar parts are out of place. He plays a really fast, screaming guitar (reminds me of Gary Moore), but it is not very innovative and is all cliche's. Some of the guitar solos interrupt the flow of the songs. His instrumentals are not very interesting. There are some great guitar passages from Catherine, that really fit in well with the material.

This CD is unusual for Focus. The songs are the best thing on it. In the past, Focus was not much in the song writing and vocals department. Up until now, their deepest song was probably I Need A Bathroom.

I think Focus's best album is Focus III. I was just listening to it last week, and was reminded how stunning the musical compositions are.