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I known this isn't Focus at the absolute top of their game, but boy, it is as close as it gets. I also have Focus 8 and IMHO this one is far superior. The only song I didn't really care for was the one with the excessive vocals so I left it off the disc when I burned it (I bought MP3 version). But other then that, if you love Focus then I have the feeling you will love this record.
Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2006
FOCUS once again shows the "old timers" are still the best! Great tunes, great soloing, tasty, with a sense of humor (one tune has Thijs Van Leer making a story out of the titles of old Focus tunes). Pierre Van Der Linden is back in the fold, with his best drumming and drum SOUND ever! NO ONE sounds like these guys, they still have a sound all their owm and instantly recognizable without being dated. Enjoy....
Com certeza não é o melhor do FOCUS. Comprei pela curiosidade, por ser o último lançamento, e por ter todos os discos oficiais do grupo. Segue a linha normal da banda, mas este não é excepcional.
Focus have progressed from Focus 8 to give an album which is less melodic and more "out there 'in its harmonic explorations. At times it pays homage to previous compositions by Thys van Leer. Personally I prefer their previous outing but still recommend it as a worthy addition to any contemporary progressive rock collection
No one does elegant, timeless Euro music quite like Focus. No one does unabashedly goofy quite like Focus does either. As always, you get a bit of both here. This is mostly instrumental music, clearly built-to-order for fans of the band's classic 1971-74 albums, or especially the superb out-takes collection Ship of Memories. In fact several of these new songs do sound like out-takes from the golden past, albeit very good ones that are a real treat to hear. They were recorded in 2005, but you'd hardly know it. Thijs van Leer sticks to Hammond, piano and flute - no synths thankfully - and his usual oddball vocalese. Almost-original drummer Pierre van der Linden returns for his first work with the band since 1973, and his distinct style & sound are a pleasure as they always were. Guitarist Niels van der Steenhoven is a near-perfect Akkerman clone, who manages to throw in some nicely unexpected twists just as Jan would have. The band really does sound in top form here, and will not disappoint.
Aside from the Focus' stately, Bach-inspired music, we get dollops of funk, jazz and rock thrown in to make things interesting. Van Leer has always had a special gift for blending these disparate styles together really seamlessly, unlike some of his prog contemporaries. It's even arguable whether Focus is quite prog at all, since their melodies and arrangements are much simpler and more straightforward than prog typically is. No tricky time signatures, complex layering or epic solos here.
If there were a lot of Focus albums, there would be no need for this one. But the original band faltered and faded before it had really peaked, and has rarely been heard from since its brief heyday. We are certainly not swamped with Focus back-catalogue. I received this CD in the mail a couple of Christmases ago, and it does feel like a welcome, nostalgic gift from the past.
Always refreshingly reassuring to see so called "old-timers" asserting a startling diversity, crisp interplay, and informed songwriting even if it all doesn't fly.
First off; if you like strong melodic themes and thoughtful arrangements, this largely instrumental band is for you. Depending on what side of Focus that the listener fancies, this is either a moderately successful attempt to keep current or, a showcase for neo-Classicisms and restrained melody or a romp in the field with Thijs and the boys whooping their way through. Or (you fill in the blank). With half the original line-up (Thijs and Pierre play superbly, not to take anything away from Niels and Bobby, but you feel the maturity in the formers' craftsmanship), one could be forgiven for expecting the controlled majesty mixed with fervent soloing that the 1970s LPs brought with such splendor. And here we do see Thijs in fine compositional form (perhaps him at his best is Dona Nobis Pacem, his side band project [by Pedal Point] of the early 80s, I highly recommend it). However, the more modern passages intermixed, funky and rocky, are not particularly up to former standards harmonically or ideawise, which I'm not altogether sure is Thijs' fault -- it often sounds like the band is just having fun riffing on whatever fell first from their collective hands. Niels does a creditable job on guitar, but as other reviewers have noted, he has large shoes to fill and needs a bit more of an instrumental voice. I have studied him on youtube and believe he is beginning to approach this threshold.
All in all, a very nice outing from a wonderfully unique band I feared had crumbled post-Focus 8.
Focus have always occupied a unique place in the progressive rock pantheon. They were the most jazz-influenced of the great progressive rock bands of the 1970s, and in this sense their music often displayed a stronger affinity with the great jazz-rock bands of the period, such as Steely Dan and Santana. On the other hand, the strong classical influence in their music placed them squarely in the 'prog' camp. Their commitment to (predominantly) instrumental music gave them an opportunity to create large-scale, extended compositions, which is clearly a characteristic of progressive rock. But their longer compositions were often free-form in structure, with solo improvisation playing an important role alongside the more 'arranged' sections. This is very characteristic of jazz, but less so of progressive rock which is usually based on relatively conventional song structures even when it experiments with longer form composition. The way Focus combined all these seemingly disparate elements in their music gave them a very original, distinctive sound.
For that reason alone, it's very good to have them back again, making quality albums as they did all those years ago. In fact, what is most striking about all their recent albums is how little their core trademark style has changed. In particular, their continued emphasis on free-form improvisation, in a context of strong melodic invention and disciplined structural development, provides an insight into how progressive rock itself might have evolved if it hadn't succumbed to commercial pressures in the early 1980s.
If you haven't heard the newer Focus albums, you will be pleased to learn that, whilst none of them contain 'hits' comparable to 'Sylvia' or the other songs that made Focus internationally famous in the early 1970s, they are all very definitely in the same class as those early albums, the obvious comparison being with 'Focus 3'. The key ingredients are all on virtuoso display: van Leer's seemingly effortless flair for melody, his unique organ sound, and of course his prominent use of the flute as a solo instrument. These essential elements are combined with taut electric jazz guitar improvisation to create an immediately recognisable sound which is very European and very unique. The quality and consistency of these newer albums is a very nice surprise, given how long most of these guys have been on the music scene.
In my opinion, Focus 8, 9, 10 are all great albums, but of the three I like Focus 9 the best. The material is very fresh, dynamic and exciting to listen to. Sometimes, the silly vocalising can seem ill-judged rather than humorous, and anyone who found that a problem with the early Focus albums will continue to find it a problem here. However, the main emphasis is on exciting, instrumental progressive rock, with superb solo improvisation balanced by unexpected shifts in time signature and a rigorous sense of structure. With all this going on, I can forgive the occasional vocal excesses. No-one else makes this type of music as well as Focus, so we can all be grateful that they're back on form again.
Browsing among Focus CD's I hadn't realised the bad had produced so many recent discs. I decided to buy Focus 9/New Skin with two new names in the line-up from the iconic four-piece I was familiar with in the 1970's . . . Thijs van Leer and Pierre van der Linden still surviving. You certainly get a lot of music for your money with this CD - but I fear it tries too hard! In trying to be all things to all people a lot of the tracks simply lose their way - none more so than 'Just Like Eddy' which ought not to appear on any Focus CD - so unlike them it sounds. In contrast a couple of tracks are so good they would not be out of place on Focus III - for my money the pinnacle of what Focus has ever produced . . . these are Black Beauty and Pim - both brilliant tracks. Unfortunately, these cannot lift Focus 9 from being an overall uninspiring effort. It's true that some of the tracks grow on you the more you hear them, but too many others sound like repetitive supermarket musak no matter how many times you listen to them - and for a band like Focus this is a sad indictment.
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