antimusic.com: Comeback Special: Focus

Focus - X

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Chances are you don't think too much about Focus until their yodel-riffic classic rock hit "Hocus Pocus" comes on the radio. But founding member Thijs van Leer, the band's keys and flute player, continues to come forth with new Focus music and they're back with nearly an hour's worth here after a six year hiatus.

Because of the prominence of van Leer's flute playing in tunes like fast rocker "Father Bacchus" fans of '70s rock may upon first listen think the song is an early Jethro Tull number; "All Hens on Deck" and the minstrel-flavored "Talk of the Clown" also could be mistaken for Tull tunes.

But Focus has always had a very strong jazz bent and the rest of the album is packed with smooth instrumentals like "Focus 10" and "Message Music," piano-fronted trad jazz like "Amok in Kindergarten" and cool, Joe Jackson-recalling songs like the vocal number "Le Tango."