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Focus II (better known by its international title, Moving Waves) is the second studio album by Dutch progressive rock band Focus, released in October 1971 on Imperial Records. Following the departure of original bassist Martin Dresden and drummer Hans Cleuver in 1970, the band recruited Cyril Havermans and Pierre van der Linden, respectively, and prepared material for a new album. Recording took place in London in April and May 1971 with Mike Vernon as producer. The album features "Hocus Pocus" a hard rock song featuring keyboardist Thijs van Leer's yodelling, scat singing, and whistling, and "Eruption", a 22-minute track inspired by the opera Euridice by Italian composer Jacopo Peri.
The album was released to a mostly positive response and remains one of their most commercially successful albums, reaching No. 2 in the UK, No. 4 in the Netherlands, and No. 8 in the US. "Hocus Pocus" was released as a single in the Netherlands in June 1971, followed by its international release in 1973, where it reached No. 9 in the US and No. 20 in the UK.[3][4] The album is certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling 500,000 copies in the US.[5]
Hocus Pocus" is a rock song that features van Leer yodelling, eefing, scat singing, and whistling. The song was written as a rock parody, and it was recorded for the album as it lacked any "outright rock" tracks at that point. The group wanted to incorporate an element of humour in the track because they felt it was missing in the rock genre.[6] "Le Clochard" is French for "Tramp" and is fully titled "Le Clochard (Bread)". It is a melancholic classical guitar piece by Akkerman with van Leer backing on Mellotron. "Janis" is another Akkerman-penned ballad and features van Leer on the flute. "Moving Waves", a piano and vocal solo by van Leer, features lyrics by Sufi singer, poet, and teacher Inayat Khan. "Focus II" is a classical-jazz fusion instrumental.
Side two contains the 23-minute track "Eruption", a loose rock adaptation of the tale of Orpheus and Euridice from the opera Euridice by Italian composer Jacopo Peri. The track is in fifteen distinct sections, and the suite opens with an uncredited melody from the opera L'Orfeo by Monteverdi. "Tommy" features a guitar solo and was named and written by Tom Barlage of the Dutch fusion band Solution. "Euridice" is a classical lied which segues into the Gregorian-inspired "Dayglow" and followed by van der Linden's drum solo, "Endless Road". The suite ends with a return to its opening themes.
Release
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [7] |
| MelodicMusic | |
Moving Waves was released in October 1971 to mainly positive reception. It went on to peak at number 2 on the UK Albums Chart,[8] number 8 on the US Billboard 200,[9] and number 4 on the Dutch Album Top 100 chart.[10]
The single "Hocus Pocus" peaked at number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100.[11]
Moving Waves came in at number 24 in Q and Mojo's list of "40 Cosmic Rock Albums".[12]
Malesch is the debut album by German rock group Agitation Free. It was released in 1972 on the Vertigo Records [Germany] label. It was reissued on CD in 1992 by the Spalax label and in 2001 by the Garden of Delights label, with another reissue in 2008 by Revisited Records. The album was inspired by the group's travels through Lebanon, Egypt, Greece, and Cyprus.
Track listing
All songs written by Agitation Free.
- Side one
- "You Play for Us Today" – 6:15
- "Sahara City" – 7:51
- "Ala Tul" – 4:57
- Side two
- "Pulse" – 4:51
- "Khan el Khalili" – 5:34
- "Malesch" – 8:24
- "Rücksturz" – 2:11
Agitation Free's music is psychedelic, experimental krautrock with elements of spaced-out ambient, experimental electronic and drone. The music for the most part consists of driving organ-patterned drone-like rock; seamless psychedelic cosmic musical textures with intricate musicianship and musical variety; hard, driving rock similar to Amon Düül II; and jamming that occasionally invokes the interplay and styles of Garcia, Weir and Lesh of The Grateful Dead and hints at a blues rock base not unlike The Allman Brothers Band. Many of their songs have a trance-inducing, psychedelic feel with sections of driving rock fueled by fiery and melodic moving guitar lines and solid, propelling and intricate drumming and a prominent bass line. All of Agitation Free's songs are instrumental apart from some recitation on "Haunted Island".
Their first album Malesch features short interludes of recordings from Egypt. Their second, titled 2nd is more laid-back and upbeat, with longer structure, much more of an emphasis on traditional styled jamming like the Grateful Dead and a warmer and more straightforward sound. On Malesch the songs blend together to make a seamlessly flowing, tangential and uninterrupted musical journey, whereas on 2nd songs are more predictably structured, more varied in their sound and stand more as independent works.
Their sound is similar to, but fairly distinguishable from, other contemporary Krautrock bands such as Ash Ra Tempel, Amon Düül II, Guru Guru, Brainticket, Yatha Sidhra and Kalacakra, as well as the mixed-influence blues-based jam rock of The Grateful Dead and The Allman Brothers noticeable on 2nd, and slightly later and more symphonic bands like Asia Minor and Anyone's Daughter.
Even if I don't dig everything he's put out, Richard Barbieri is one of my favorite musicians in the world. He's carved out one of those niches that even the most amped-up, pyroclastic keyboardist can't fill. Barbieri's careful, methodical sound design adds an X factor to whatever he's a part of, most notably two rock bands with a devoted following: Japan and Porcupine Tree. In the case of the latter, you rarely hear Barbieri playing piano or organ, which is often delivered by frontman Steven Wilson. Instead, he brings textures which are harder to define, lending a cinematic boost to the vast majority of Porcupine Tree's discography.
His new solo album, Hauntings (KScope/Snapper), is as good a calling card as any for Barbieri's treatments and services. Some tracks have rhythmic drive, like "Anemoia," but Hauntings takes as much (or more) pleasure in dropping the listener into ambient interludes. Take the track after "Anemoia," "Victorian Wraith," which is little more than a cloud of sound. Rusty samples of clock chimes, thunder, and radio broadcasts decorate what may be my favorite cut, "1890."
Vocals are few and far between throughout Hauntings, since Barbieri isn't a singer. The track "Artificial Obsession" has some disquieting, sampled spoken-word stuff that may not be for everyone. "Perfect Toys" weaves some into the mix as well, on a more subtle level. There's something to be said about how instrumental music is leagues more difficult to sell than songs with vocals front and center. But, for some reason, I find Barbieri shines brightest on Hauntings without any decipherable words.
"Paris Sketch" is more of a full-blown Paris painting, as one of the most expansive tracks. There's even what the kids might call a "beat switch" near the end of the piece. How about that! Another great moment arrives at the album's conclusion, in the form of "A New Simulation." Hear the slide guitar? That's Porcupine Tree bandmate Wilson.
While I believe that Barbieri's Stranger Inside (2008) is his greatest solo album, this is in strong contention for the silver medal. His first LP, Things Buried from 2004, has a too-cold, too-lifeless approach. His albums between Stranger and Hauntings don't have too many memorable moments going for them. Between 2017's Planets + Persona and 2021's Under a Spell, there are only a handful of tracks I'd call all-time Barbieri works. His series of EPs, released from 2017-18 and referred to as "Variants," are a lot more rewarding.
Hauntings sees Barbieri present, with few frills, the flights of fancy he's best at arranging. The jazz and percussion tinges are there on compositions like "Snakes & Ladders," but they don't eclipse moods you'd swear were created from a director's chair. How can something be both opulent and sparse at once? Just take a listen.
Light to decent 7/10. Order here.
The peak of achievement from this uber-talented band from München, Bundesrepublik Deutschland: a 94-minute of
finely polished music. Just remember that there was at least another 94 minutes of excess music from these recording
sessions that was left on the cutting room floor or studio shelves gathering dust until someone saw fit to dust them
off and publish them on two albums, released in 1999 and 2002, respectively.
First album by this rather late Krautrock band was undoubtedly their very best one.
Actually the only point of criticism one could quote is the fact that it might have
sounded already a bit dated in its year of release. Being much in the vein of early
Tull, Iron Butterfly, Cream or The Doors the tracks presented here are a wonderful
demonstration of this early Art Rock or Proto-Prog style. The title song is the one
reminding the most to Tull with a soaring flute and heavy organ. It's a very powerful
and grooving one with a sort of psychedelic blues guitar play that's bringing Cream
back to mind. "Seasons Of Life" is even in a stronger psychedelic vein, kinda The
Doors meet Cream or Iron Butterfly, very groovin' stuff as well. This record doesn't
let your foot stand still only for one second. Though it might be not considered as
that much progressive for the year of 1974 "Desert Places" was nevertheless a
brilliant album in organ driven Art Rock typical for beginning seventies.
DEAF were an extremely obscure Swiss Krautrock outfit around 1970 and we can hear their "real"
soundscape only from their one and only compilation "Alpha" including the longest album-titled suite
and three live sessions. Of the whole album, such a mixture of heavy & peppery guitar-based kick and
drunken keyboard walk can notify us some fragrance of Krautrock.
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