Focus III CD - Import

 Still the best
Like nothing else i have heard.FocusIII and Answer?questions! are two songs that fill one side of the best music ever produce.This album is a must for everyone who has a open mind.
Submitted by patrick (Fl, USA)
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 excelent
excelent
Submitted by henri65 (São Paulo, Brazil) 
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 van leer...reunite with akkerman!!!
Answers? Questions?....etc...is like someone else said here one of the best instrumentals I've ever heard..also elspeth of nottingham and sylvia...
Submitted by tamer (toronto canada)
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 van leer...reunite with akkerman!!!
Answers? Questions?....etc...is like someone else said here one of the best instrumentals I've ever heard..also elspeth of nottingham and sylvia...
Submitted by tamer (toronto canada)
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 Still Focused
As a double set it could be easy to dismiss this album as an egocentric mess of virtuosos at play. But the four sides of this album complement each other and show a multi faceted band in action, which included the multi instrumental talents of Jan Akkerman, Bert Ruiter, Thijs van Leer and Pierre van der Linden. There are few artists or bands who release double album without a hint lazy repetition creeping in here or there, whether it be part of the concept or not but Focus deliver in producing an array of skills in an varying set of styles on Focus 111. Trying to compare this with it's predecessor, Making Waves/Focus 11 is pointless. There are completely different albums and hard to put one over the other but musically are very much in tune with each other. There are more lengthy pieces on this album and that is a success over the large piece ("Eruption") that covered the compete second side of the Making Waves album. Success in that there is a more cohesive element involved here, and though differently structured, the band are more at home and comfortable, but that is not to say they are simply being complacent with their obvious talent, but are by this stage are crafting, honing the art of experimentation at blending classical and medieval music in an electronic buzz of funky fusion with an occasional hard rock tendency. I would also go along with the feeling that this is more jazz/rock fusion that simply being a prog album, it's far too interesting to be a monotonous proggressive rock album and all that genre's trappings though Focus do stand on the edge of the prog movement but are completely open to it and other styles. Hard to just pick out a couple of highlights on Focus 111, But I personally did not go for the jaunty "Sylvia", though a good enough track, it is not as engaging as some of the other segments on offer and it only served as a distraction to be honest and almost gatecrashed the rest of the album, but this is a small complaint, it can be easy to get swamped on occasions but there is so much going on throughout that dedication is required on listening, but getting through, for example, both parts of "Anonymus II", which I might add is simply stunning in execution, is only part of the journey, and besides "Sylvia", the album throws up some good shorter cuts such as "Round Goes The Gossip" and "Carnival Fugue", all on the first side to ease the listener in gently. I would recommend Focus 111 to anybody with a high tolerance for double albums of good instrumental music of an eclectic quality such as this, a rare seventies gem of an album, quite unusual and very refreshing.
Submitted by philipbourke (Cork, Ireland)
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