Focus And Friends
Focus 8.5 / Beyond the Horizon
In And Out Of Focus Records
2016
Focus are a pretty iconic but at the same time iconoclastic band, since they took the book of prog and threw it out of the window pretty much doing whatever the funk came to their minds, and gifting the world with such hits as “Hocus Pocus”, “Sylvia” and “House of the King” among others.
Focus did disband and reunited and following the release of the Focus 8 album, the band toured the world and with a line-up consisting of Thijs Van Leer, Pierre Van Der Linden, Bobby Jacobs and Jan Dum E. Every track on this album is a previously unreleased composition by the members of Focus or producer Marvio Ciribelli. The album features all-star Brazilian musicians including Arthur Maia and Mario Seve joining Focus on new recordings, and vice versa, plus a drum duet with Marcio Bahia as musicianship once again goes “Beyond the Horizon”.
In truth, the band’s quirky, jazzy, freeform quicksand prog fusion shifts and is here often intertwined with strong latin elements, on tracks like “Hola, Como Estas?”, “Inalta” or “Talking Rhythms” and just sounds awesomely “out there” anywhere else with mad jams like “Focus Zero” just blowing minds with their inventive parts. Far more interesting than the “atmospheric” new prog bores of recent years.
Focus did disband and reunited and following the release of the Focus 8 album, the band toured the world and with a line-up consisting of Thijs Van Leer, Pierre Van Der Linden, Bobby Jacobs and Jan Dum E. Every track on this album is a previously unreleased composition by the members of Focus or producer Marvio Ciribelli. The album features all-star Brazilian musicians including Arthur Maia and Mario Seve joining Focus on new recordings, and vice versa, plus a drum duet with Marcio Bahia as musicianship once again goes “Beyond the Horizon”.
In truth, the band’s quirky, jazzy, freeform quicksand prog fusion shifts and is here often intertwined with strong latin elements, on tracks like “Hola, Como Estas?”, “Inalta” or “Talking Rhythms” and just sounds awesomely “out there” anywhere else with mad jams like “Focus Zero” just blowing minds with their inventive parts. Far more interesting than the “atmospheric” new prog bores of recent years.