Round goes the gossip

Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts

18/03/73 : Focus III - Focus


So I've gone from never having heard of Focus to listening to two of their albums in a week.  Last time I was thoroughly perplexed by the whole thing, especially the yodelling and the eefing (who could forget the eefing?) and I have absolutely no reason to suspect this is going to be anything different

Choirboys, flutes, jazz piano, lutes, birdsong, cows, Bach, a ridiculously long drum solo - this really does have it all.  I actually didn't mind "Sylvia" - it has a 70s Queen feel to it (and yes, I realise this isn't going to be a recommendation for absolutely every(/any)one).  There's no doubting the skill involved and my description for their last album "mostly instrumental soft prog" is still pretty accurate - this is maybe a bit jazzier than their previous offering, but it's not a million miles away.  It also felt like an extremely long album, but it's only 70 minutes - those extended (and I mean EXTENDED) solos didn't do it any favours for me.

We're at #10 in the charts on their tenth week of a fourteen week run, with it having peaked at #6.  The top five are Alice Cooper (a new entry), Elton John, Simon & Garfunkel, A Clockwork Orange OST (I'd still like to listen to this) and, surprisingly, Focus, with their previous album (they must have done something which resulted in a boost to their popularity).  There are no more new entries in the top ten, with Donovan being the next highest (#15) and Carly is once again the highest woman at #18.

Wikipedia has a surprising amount on the album, but most of it somewhat random - "Akkerman wrote "Elspeth of Nottingham" after driving around England for a holiday in 1967, stopping in a town in the Cotswolds where he first heard guitarist Julian Bream play the lute which inspired him to learn the instrument".  As you do.  It also tells me one critic loved it and one not so much - a very comprehensive review indeed.

"Customers also listened to" a very alliterative selection of Caravan, Camel, Curved Air and King Crimson - all of which I'm perfectly fine avoiding.  I'm glad I know a bit more about Focus now, but really only in a "there's no need for me to listen to any more" kinda way - although I still find it odd I'd never heard of them (but maybe that's just me not paying attention in class).

11/03/73 - Next!
25/03/73 - A forgotten/undiscovered classic?

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