Review of Focus' Moving Waves

Released 1971

"Moving waves, the wind has left you and you're still in commotion.
Moving waves, the wind has left you and you're still in commotion"

The Old Grey Whistle Test introduced me to several bands, including Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band and Wishbone Ash. With each of these I had heard of the band and was probably aware of an album or song title, such as Freebird. When Focus appeared, it was the first time I had come across them in any way shape or form. If you've never seen that particular performance, I've added the joyously bonkers rendition of Sylvia / Hocus Pocus below.


Surely it is impossible to watch this without smiling; ridiculous alto soprano yodelling, manic gurning, whirlwind mellotron and blisteringly fluid guitar, all delivered at a breakneck pace. Undeniably infectious, it is no surprise that their record sales rocketed in the days following its initial airing, several years before the late night repeat which sparked my interest.

I didn't purposefully set out to buy a Focus album, but when I stumbled across a second hand copy a week or two later, and I spotted that Hocus Pocus was the first track, it was an easy decision to part with my £3, even though it bore a terrible cover, had no lyric sheet and had minimal detail about the band. I hadn't yet encountered too many side long epics, so seeing that there was a twenty three minute opus made up for the dreadful packaging. A twenty three minute elongation of mad bug-eyed hammond abuse; I was enthralled.

The reason behind the lack of lyric sheet quickly became apparent. I had been unaware that this was a Dutch band producing predominantly instrumental work. Yes, I could have been more astute based on the TV appearance.

I maintain to this day that the recorded version of Hocus Pocus doesn't quite have the impact of the live spectacle. Perhaps it needs the sight of the flailing armed Thijs van Leer to bolster it's appeal? Still, it was a wonderfully explosive beginning to the album.

For the remainder of the first side, I was very confused. The pace slowed beyond measure, the lyrics, when present at all, were all but redundant and the inventive hammond was, more often than not, replaced with a very sedate piano. There were tinges of Jazz and pedestrian instrumental arrangements that would occasionally morph into horribly bland pieces, which I swore I recognised as the accompaniment to a US sitcom. At one point, I actually stopped the vinyl to check that I wasn't playing a compilation album on which the first track alone was by the band who had thrilled me on television.

I put the stylus back to the beginning and tried again.

Occasionally I began to see glimpses of potential. The flute and guitar work in Focus II, for example, was extremely pretty. The production was faultless also, and there was sufficient range of musical styles employed for me to comfortably label it as a prog rock album. The disparity between the frenetic Hocus Pocus and rest of the side still bothered me.

The second side - Eruption - was also a challenging first listen. The sixteen parts of the track felt as though they were stitched together, shifting between faster and slower sections all written by different members of the band, coming together in an ineffective compromise to keep all parties happy.

I know now, with twenty five years of hindsight, that it can take a while to appreciate the complexity of many of prog's finer moments. Now - with the possible exception of the drum solo - I see the genius of the collaboration and I appreciate the brilliant shifts in style and mood. Jan Akkerman's guitar sections, six and nine minutes in, never fail to raise goose-bumps on my neck.

There are several moments where my attention wanders on Moving Waves, and - call me a heathen - there are parts which I consider to be resolutely MOR. However, listening to it now as I type, there are flashes of brilliance which, even without the crazy yodelling which I had hoped for, still makes me smile. And, like any good album, I am still hearing new themes and nodding appreciatively at the cohesiveness of the playing, having heard it hundred of times. After all, any album with a mellotron is worth it's weight in gold in my book.