Dutch band Focus’s second album

Second album from the Dutch rock band Focus. The opening track Hocus Pocus was a hit single worldwide. It intersperses yodelling, whistling, a flute solo, and what sounds like a barrel organ in between guitarist Jan Akkerman’s riffs and solos. In stark contrast, the second track Le Clochard features Jan Akkerman on classical guitar with a string section like backing played on the mellotron. A bland track Janis is followed by Moving Waves which seems inappropriate on this album. On it, the keyboard player and flautist Thijs Van Leeer plays classical style piano over which he sings an Inayat Khan poem. The instrumental Focus 2 finishes what was side one of the original LP. The rest of the album consists of Eruption, over 22 minutes long and made up of a series of pieces. Very classical in its style of composition it was very sophisticated for the time, and still is. Some of the sections of Eruption are actually very good in themselves. One part of it, Tommy, was released as a single. In 1976, the main musicians Jan Akkerman and Thijs Van Leer went their own ways. Jan Akkerman has had quite a prolific career since then, producing a lot of very good music. He still plays Hocus Pocus and Tommy when he performs live.