The album that boosted Focus into at least semi-fame outside of continental Europe, Moving Waves blasts off with their hit single, "Hocus Pocus." Built around a killer guitar hook by Jan Akkerman and a series of solo turns by the band, this instrumental replaced "Wipeout" as a staple of FM radio.
The bizarrely hilarious vocal and accordion solos by Thijs van Leer -- one of which absurdly concludes with rousing stadium cheers -- have to be heard to be believed.
After this over-the-top performance, the other tracks seem comparatively constrained: the gentle "Le Clochard" features some gorgeous classical guitar over Mellotron strings.
The album concludes with "Eruption," which while mimicking the multi-suite nomenclature of Yes and King Crimson, is essentially a side-long jam session.
Stop-time Emersonian organ solos alternate with languid sections of jazzy guitar redolent of Santana, while still other sections are flat-out electric blues-rock stomps.
It's impressive playing, though it comes off as a bit meandering after the tightly structured solos that began the album.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hocus PocusJan Akkerman, Thijs van Leer | Focus | Play | 06:41 | 15 MB | 41 MB |
| 2 | JanisJan Akkerman | Focus | Play | 03:08 | 7 MB | 16 MB |
| 3 | Moving WavesThijs van Leer | Focus | Play | 02:42 | 6 MB | 11 MB |
| 4 | Focus IIThijs van Leer | Focus | Play | 04:07 | 9 MB | 21 MB |
| 5 | Le Clochard (Bread) | Focus | Play | 02:01 | 4 MB | 8 MB |
| 6 | Eruption | Focus | Play | 23:06 | 52 MB | 127 MB |
| 41 mins | 95 MB | |||||
| 41 mins | 227 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jan Akkerman | Composer, Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic), Percussion, Performer |
| 2 | Colin Allen | Performer |
| 3 | Tom Barlage | Composer |
| 4 | Jerry Boys | Engineer |
| 5 | Focus | Primary Artist, Producer |
| 6 | Ian Gillespie | Pre-Mastering |
| 7 | Cyril Havermanns | Bass |
| 8 | Terence Ibbott | Design Photography |
| 9 | David Kemper | Performer |
| 10 | Bert Ruiter | Performer |
| 11 | Thijs van Leer | Composer, Flute, Flute (Alto), Harmonica, Keyboards, Organ, Performer, Synthesizer, Vocals |
| 12 | Pierre van der Linden | Composer, Drums |
| 13 | Mike Vernon | Liner Notes, Producer, Supervisor |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |