Customer Reviews

Hamburger Concerto

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

After breaking big with the novelty song "Hocus Pocus" and several albums highlighting the musical dexerity of Van Leer and Akkerman, Focus settled down some for this album. HC is a collection of songs that range from Rockist agression in "Birth" to soaring beauty "La Cathedral de Strausberg." This gives the entire album a unity that the major piece "Hamberger Concerto" exploits to great effect.

I get the impression that this album was thought out more so than most Prog works of the same period; certainly I listened to it more than Yes's coeval attempts at extended dexerity. HC shows more understanding of music, more control of form than most other proggers could muster.

Tuneful, various, and not overblown despite it's lengeth, HC balances the line between rock and complexity.

If you've enjoyed this album on vinyl, you'll be thrilled to hear this CD release. I've had numerous vinyl version that all suffered from an incredibly poor pressing, especially during the finale on "Hamburger Concerto" (and Akkerman's leslie driven guitar!). The CD version (though quite a stretch to call it "remastered") was pre-mastered by Ian Gillespie and Mike Vernon in the very early 90s. It's far better than any vinyl versions, and includes the bonus track "Early Birth".

One of the best progressive rock bands ever. Easily up there, if not better than, Genesis, Yes, ELP et al. An effortless fusion of the classical, jazz and rock esthetics. Musical perfection in a nutshell. For my money, Focus second album Moving Waves is the perfect starting point for those interested in prime 70s melodic rock/retro-classic fusion, but Hamburger Concerto, although not quite as pristine as its predecessors has its far share of breathtakingly beautiful moments. Hamburger Concerto borrows heavily from the previous albums: Harem Scarem revives the Hocus Pocus potential hit formula by pitting Jan Akkermans fuzzbox-up-to-11 guitar against Thijs van Leers quirky wordless vocal acrobatics. Musicae Delitiae is a quiet guitar (or lute, I'm not sure) interlude reminiscent of Elspeth of Nottingham, while most of the title track revisits pastures already covered in earlier albums with Akkerman and Van Leer showing impressive musical diversity and instrumental prowess. The standout for me is La Cathedrale de Strasbourg. The bit where the drums come in the middle is sheer heaven.
To recap then, get Moving Waves or Live at the Rainbow first and then, if you like that, move on to Focus 3 or Hamburger Concerto. The great progressive rock revival is close at hand. Impress your friends by being one step ahead.

(My comments are as a result of purchasing the Japanese 20-bit K2 release in Tokyo, but it is the same album, and I don't emphasize sonic aspects of the particular pressing in my review--I only focus (no pun) on the nature of the music for those who have never heard Focus.)

This masterpiece opens with medieval instruments (lute, flute), then jumps into rocking boogie woogie 2nd piece, with syncopation and time siganture changes, piano & guitar with solid drums and bass behind, then in comes a Hammond organ. The instrumentals remind me a bit of Triumvirat crossed with a little straight-ahead Gentle Giant. Akkerman and Van Leer trade off between keyboards and guitars. Thougthful, well done (no pun intended).

The pieces sometimes have a Pat Metheny-esque light jazz feel that predates his arrival on the music scene by about 5 years, that mixes a jazzy guitar-driven chord structure with interspersed keyboard work (having renaissance, baroque, and medieval elements--harpsichord, lute, etc.) on "La Cathedral", then in comes a heavy drum beat and muted (somewhat funky) electric guitar exchanging riffs with a Hammond organ. Then, wafts of flute, almost Tull-ish in feel (on "Birth").

The song selection here in this Amazon web page is all buggled. The track listings are (as listed on the insert I have):

Delitae Musicae 1:13
Harem Scarem 5:52
La Cathedrale de Strasbourg 5:00
Birth 7:46
Hamburger Concert 20:20
Starter
Rare
Medium I
Medium II
Well Done
One for the Road
(these are *not* individual tracks on this CD)
Early Birth 2:54

This is really a great prog CD that strongly hints of different genres, some that won't evolve into ful-blown ones for another decade (the light jazz-new age movement that morphed into existence in the late 70s/early 80s with the likes of Wyndham Hill and Narada). But what these later blended genres don't have is a distinctly progressive rock underpinning. A bit of Tull, Gentle Giant, Triumvirat, but also a little bit of Pat Metheny, and others too numberous to name from the Wyndham Hill stable of artists of the 1980s (with the exception of Shadowfax, whose first W.H. album was released in 1976, I believe). Thoroughly confused?? Don't be. After all, it's a prog album from one of the unsung prog prioneers of the early 1970s. Akkerman and van Leer presage the evolution of Prog Jazz New Age crossover by almost a decade!

There is, of course, the yodelling and other vocal operatic devices (in the Concerto piece) that are characteristic of Focus, but they tend to add something unexpected and interesting, IMHO, and it's not overdone ad nauseam (another pun not intended). Enjoy!

This CD demonstrates how wonderfully versatile these musicians were (or are). Overall it sounds like a gentle fusion between rock, jazz and classical. The first cut..."Delitae Musicae" starts of the first 73 seconds of the disc with Akkerman on lute and Van Leer on recorder. It reminds me of a brief period piece from mideaval Europe. The next track (my favorite) is "Harem Scarem". This is a fast paced, charging tune with plenty of piano downbeats and Van Leer's "yeah yeah yeah" vocal augmentation in the background. There are also the sounds of rythmic handclaps in the background which I gather are supposed to mimic the gesture of a middle eastern man summoning a member of his harem (don't know where the "Scarem" reference comes in...possible reference to an unattractive member of the "Harem"?) The next tune is "La Catherdrale de Strasbourg"...a gentle, slower-paced tune craftfully performed with Van Leer singing in French towards the end. "Birth" is basically a seven and a half minute jam that depicts the essence of the band...nice harpsichord intro. The title track "Hamburger Concerto" is a 20 minute jam session that beautifully displays the bands musical range and versatility. Van Leer even briefly yodels in a short vocal passage which is obviously reminiscent of "Hocus Pocus". In a passage towards the end of the concerto, Van Leer can even be heard singing a verse in "a language other than english" (no surprise since they're from Europe). In a review of this album that I recall from '74 (when this work first came out) the person conducting the review thought he was singing in Danish...could be since I've never heard that language spoken before. The only interesting downside to this effort was the fact that the mellotron track was omitted on the digital version as a backdrop to Akkerman's guitar solo during "Haren Scarem" (yes, I also own the original LP). I wonder why it was taken out when this work was converted to digital? Possibly to better emphasize Akkerman as a guitar player with a unique conveyance of pathos.

This is one Focus album that plays well all the way through. The classical influence in this '70s prog rock album remains constant throughout this intelligent, entertaining work. I saw a review of this album claiming it is a Brahms rip off. Although I am not familiar with the Brahms piece in question, I would not doubt that one song (probably the title song) borrowed a certain influence (maybe even the intro is a rip off), and this should be mentioned in the album credits, the song in its entirety obviously contains a lot of original material (with preexisting classical music mixed in like Hamburger Helper). This is not a new idea. That sort of thing happened a lot in '70s European prog rock and there's nothing wrong with that. The music here is intelligent, casual and entertaining. The 20-minute title piece is a brilliant chunk of music that deftly mixes classical knowledge with a rocking edge that makes this album a monument that stands out in the impressive field of prog rock. Although the song Hamburger Concerto falls just a bit short of matching this group's earlier side-long opus "Eruption" from the Moving Waves album, it comes close....and given the fact that the rest of this album blows away the quality of the rest of Moving Waves, this is a far superior album overall. The opening tune is a short duet of Jan Akkerman on mandolin and Thijs Van Leer on flute with a decidedly medieval flare. Then comes a rocking tune that gets you up and bobbing your head to the beat. The third tune about the cathedral brings you back to a slower more classically oriented mood....then, the 7-minute song Birth gets you rocking again, with plenty of lead guitar and flute which is the proper way to bring you into the dynamite 20-minute title piece. All together, this is the Dutch band's greatest, most well-conceived and executed experiment. I only gave it 4 stars because they leaned a bit heavier on their nonsense vocals that became a trademark after the success of the song Hocus Pocus than I would have liked. They did not over-do the nonsense vocals on this album to any disastrous effect, but it was worth knocking off a Star. This is a great album though. I highly recommend this memorable monument of the prog rock era to any prog rock fan. The musicians are all exceptional on their instruments. And I would not argue with anyone who gave it 5 stars. It's a very worthy album!

This album was one of the first albums in the seventies that was my introduction to progressive rock. After serching for a while for a copy on CD, as I have a re-mix version on vinyl, I was delighted to finally get this copy from Amazon.
It seems to be the original mix and being digitally remastered, the quality is superb. I highly recommend this CD for anyone interested in early seventies classic rock, with exellent drums, fantastic lead guitar, and great analogue Hammond organ sound.

This cd is amazing.The songs here are very nice.Highest moments ith Hamburger Concerto e La Cathedral de Estrasbourg.It worths every cent.

This cd is very nice.My favourite songs are La Cathedral and Hamburger Concert.The work is so good,it should, last a bit more in total play time.All in all,a must have for all Focus fans.

Well,in my city,Salvador, in Brazil, just a few people like Focus,people with very nice taste.

One can (and at least one reviewer does) quibble that Focus failed to credit classical composer Johannes Brahms for many of the musical ideas found on "Hamburger Concerto". Granted, one would do well to check out the four Brahms albums linked by Eric A. Isaacson in his September 29, 2007 review if one wants to hear great classical music. If one is looking for exuberantly fun and quirky 1970's progressive rock with jazz flavorings, however, one would do well to check out Dutch band Focus's fourth studio album, namely 1974's "Hamburger Concerto". Given the often debated observation that the best rock consists of great musical ideas and styles that were pilfered from other musicians and then synthesized by the thieving rock artist(s) into new sonic experiences, "Hamburger Concerto" could well qualify as a worthy artifact to support said supposition. Not only did Focus, which in 1974 consisted of organist, flautist and eccentric vocalist, Thijs Van Leer, gifted guitarist, Jan Akkerman, driving drummer, Colin Allen and fluid bass player, Bert Reuter, generously borrow from classical composers but they also took ideas from popular musical genres and artists including the likes of Jethro Tull, Procol Harum, Manfred Mann's Earth Band and The Beatles. Today it's called sampling, but back in the heady days of the early 70's when progressive rock ruled the airwaves and our quadrophonic or stereo sound systems, we eagerly awaited the latest releases of our favorite bands to check out the stunning virtuosity and dig on familiar musical themes that would be given the progressive rock treatment. One of my favorite prog-rock bands was Focus. "House of the King" and "Hocus Pocus" were regular staples at late night rap sessions. Why "Hamburger Concerto" received less air play than earlier Focus albums was probably because radio dee-jays did not hear a sure fire hit, and after lots of undeserved bad press, the album sunk unceremoniously from the charts. Luckily, I stumbled across a copy of this album in my record store's cut out bin in May 1975 and I am to this day delighted that I bought this much misunderstood record.

The 20 plus minute sprawling eponymous centerpiece 'Hamburger Concerto' begins with an ostensibly ominous guitar hook lifted straight out of Abby Road-era Beatles "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" if you listen closely to "Starter". Then dig the swelling and winding Manfred Mann-esque organ and keyboard work of "Well Done". Just for laughs, Focus even sampled themselves in "Medium". Listen carefully to "Medium" and you'll hear Thijs Van Leer's signature and hilarious yodeling that he put to good use on the 1973 hit single "Hocus Pocus". It is all in good fun, but make no mistake, this is the tight sound of a group of talented musicians at the top of their form. That they were having a lot of fun playing this exuberant and quirky music makes this album sound fresh today--some 34 years after its' release. Never bombastic, and always bursting with joy, this album takes the listener on a wild and wonderful musical trip, and back in those days when we used to read by candle light (remember the oil embargo) and only astronauts and math professors used computers, this was heady entertainment. That this record holds up so well in 2008 is proof that great musical material can and should be pilfered and if it is played with verve, wit and if it is blended into new compositions that one can call ones' own, then the listener can hear and enjoy the formula for great (though maybe not commercially viable) rock music. The Red Bullet cd re-issue of this 70's progressive rock classic has spacious clear and crisp sound and if you sit back and let your mind roam, Focus will take you on a musical journey that you won't soon forget. And these musical 'hamburgers' wont make you fat either...ciao!