Customer Reviews

Profile

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Side 2 is for fans only, but Side 1 is one of the most extraordinary tracks I've heard: the 20-minute improvisation of 'Fresh Air'. Manic, raw, unfettered, full of unexpected melodic and harmonic twists, and thankfully not "cleaned up" or "improved" by producers, it's an exhilaratingly scary type of music from a forgotten era. For those who find Akkerman's guitar work on the excellent Focus albums not quite exploratory or challenging enough, this is just the thing. And it's not all wild - the anguished, heartfelt lyricism of 'Blue Notes for Listening' definitely stands up to the best of Akkerman or Focus. One of my all-time top 20 albums.

Too bad the limit is 5 stars. This is the album which convinced multitudes that Jan was the World's Greatest Guitarist in the early 70's. Only previously available in degraded recorded quality on the Talent's Profile double-CD, this features Fresh Air a progressive fusion rock magnum opus, as well as the minor gem Blue Boy. Jan noodles on the lute for much of the rest, exhibiting his strictly music-based ambitions. The sound quality is impressive. This CD sounds magnificent on a great stereo system!

Jan Akkerman is one of the most talented guitarists ever and this album is one of his best. I have a hard picking a favorite album as all of his music is exceptional. Best known for his work with the band Focus, which was an extraordinary band, he left and never looked back. His solo work has shown his versatility as an artist as Jan experiments with every genre of music including jazz, rock, fusion, progressive, classical, and blues. He crosses all the boundaries of music and blends it all together to make a masterpiece. I can listen to this album over and over and get lost in its different flavors. It's sad and melancholic in some songs, happy and joyful in others. I love the contrast that Jan relates in his music. There are few artists that I have to have everything they've ever recorded, but Jan Akkerman is one of those artists.

If you like the good Focus recordings, you will like this. It is like Focus 3 but much wilder guitar on the rocking pieces and refined Baroque lute pieces also. We played this once for an older friend and he said it reminded him of Bolivian Indian music, only slower. I thought he was joking until I heard proper Bolivian music. It's manical yet innovative. I am awaiting the arrival of a CD as I listen to a 25 year old record I dug out of the collexion. A good clean copy will make a good record better.

This album was orinally released in 1972. It is about 38 minutes long. The sound quality of this CD is very good. Any one who has come to this site must know that Jan Akkerman was the lead guitarist of the Dutch group Focus through the first 5 ablums, up until 1976. In 1985, he and Thijs Van Leer did one more album together, but the group was called Jan Akkerman and Thijs Van Leer and the album title was Focus (or maybe it was the other way around).

Akkerman is a great guitarist who plays in the continental European style, which is different than how guitar was played in the US or UK. They seem play up higher on the neck (I don't know the term for it) and do some fast strumming between picking during leads. (I'm not a musician, but I know what I like).

This may or may not be Akkerman's first solo album, depening upon how you are counting. It came out just after the Focus album Moving Waves.

Akkerman is accompanied on some songs by his old friends and members of Focus at that time, Bert Ruiter and Pierre van der Linden.

The first track was a side long suite of music. It is similar to the long, flowing pieces by Focus, like Eruption (there is even some riffs taken from a Focus instrumental). But, the music is a little harder and guitar oriented throughout. It is also a little sparser. It starts out a little slow, but then has some incredible passages. There is a 5 minute section that almost had be rate this CD 5 stars.

The rest of the CD is various short instrumentals played in various styles. Many of them are accoustic solos. I did not find most of them to be anything special.

If you like Focus, I would recommend this for a fantastic 20 minute track. I wouldn't buy this album for the rest of the material.

Everything I loved about the original vinyl, in digital sound. A wonderful journey back to the reasons I loved Focus and Akkermans playing, in particular.

As impressive as Akkerman's electric playing was, I was blown away by his nylon string work. It had an freedom and edge that few devoted classical players allow themselves. I'd had this album before I even knew who Diabelli and Carcassi were or heard anyone play their music. The little Carcassi etude is from his Guitar Method and is still one of my favorite pieces to play. The brooding Andante Sostenuto can be found in the anthology entitled something like "World's Favorite Classical Guitar Music Vol 2" (can't recall the publisher, maybe Alfred). "Kemp's Jig" sounds better on the lute but, lefty lutes being scarce, I worked out my own arrangement on guitar - Noad has one as well in his Renaissance Guitar anthology. I always wished Akkerman would do a album of solo pieces, but I suppose this is as close as he ever came.

when amazon recommended this to me, i had to grab it up! i used to have it on vinyl back in the day, and i loved it! hearing it again brought back great memories! the first tune is nearly 20 minutes long & took up the entire side 1 of the vinyl record. it starts with jan playing a mellow bit on a fender rhodes (electric piano) for a minute or two and then goes into a rocking guitar jam with a band that, although it is a studio recording, it almost sounds like a spontaneous concert jam with the old dutch prog-rock group he spearheaded, focus. this album was done around the time his group focus was big (the early '70s), and this side-long 20 minute jam clearly ranks up there with focus' side-long opuses like "eruption" and "hamburger concerto". the opening tune on this album "fresh air" starts with 2 minutes of mellow fender rhodes, then goes into an 18-minute rocking electric, jamming guitar jam that you really gotta hear if you like those drawn-out '70s, 'oops, i forgot to stop' guitar jams! i love stuff like that, and often played side 1 last when playing the album, just because it was a great way to end the listening experience! After that, side 2 was mostly short, acoustic guitar solo tunes, which is a great antithesis to side 1...you get both ends of the scale. the short, acoustic guitar tunes are very well done, and there are even a few short, electric band pieces (mostly with a strong blues element) to keep the side interesting. it's entirely instrumental, well-thought-out, with moments of classical mixed with the hard-driving rock of the '70s. i highly recommend this entire album! and i also recommend (even though it's on cd) playing the part with the short acoustic & blues jams first, and saving the grand, long rocking nearly-20-minute opus for last! believe me...your ears and your brain will thank you!

A "must"for progheads&guitarists.I waited for years to replace my scratchy LP with a CD.The vendor was prompt w/ deliverey.I'll be back! John Kolberg,Monona Wi.

They released it to cash in on his success with focus. The lute playing is fom a later period