Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Where is Sylvia??, 10 Jun 2004
By A Customer
Focus was just a slight sidestep in Philip Catherine's illustrious career as a jazz guitarist but it was a mild trauma for those of us who turned up for the '76 tour avid to see Jan Akkerman tearing up six strings like lightening on water and finding instead that he'd jumped ship at the last moment and this "chubby Andre Previn look-alike" as the NME I think called him was his frantically hauled-in replacement. The evening could never really recover from that first plummeting disappointment, especially when the band proceeded to jettison their rich heritage of compositions for some new pieces that sounded little more than uninspired watery funk. Ironically as it turns out, hearing the songs all these years later, it's the Catherine material that comes up best... Sneezing Bull, a perfect dynamic showcase for Thijs and his flute, and Angel Wings with its dramatically contorting guitar figure, are the finest things on it (and would be worth dusting off for van Leer's new Focus venture)... House of the King gallops along well too (though rather strangely co credited to George Flynn) and Hocus Pocus is fun, though it's a one man show for van Leer and Catherine risks no adventures into wild Akkerman territory (and indeed was still apparently learning the chords from the jukebox in Edinburgh University Student Union on the afternoon of the concert... a fortune in small change was used up, it seems)... a shame, because when he wants to he can rip the place up fairly well himself. And a pity that Sylvia wasn't on the jukebox too. And then there's the other stuff, occasionally pleasant at best, but, really, even now, you're hoping it's going to suddenly lead into Birth or Hamburger Concerto or Focus 3 or...well, anything rather that this rather dreary gutless dithering. But almost 30 years on things have not turned out badly for the three protagonists... Akkerman has produced a long series of excellent discs, including the recent highly listenable CU and a cherishable DVD; van Leer is born again with a fine bunch of young musicians for Focus 8; and Catherine is producing a delicious series of albums on the Dreyfuss label. Meanwhile, all things considered, I'd still like my money back for the concert...
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
"...we hope you like our new direction.", 16 April 2009
I also saw Focus on this tour (in Southport, in March 1976, a few days after this show was recorded) and, like everybody else, I felt miffed and slightly cheated by the Great Departure. Poor old Philip Catherine. He's a superb guitarist and did a masterful job of filling in for Akkerman (at 4 days' notice, apparently) but that doesn't alter the fact that he wasn't the man we'd come to see and this wasn't really a Focus gig. Goodness knows why the band spent what little time they had in rehearsing brand new material (surely it would have been just as easy to teach Phil the back catalogue) but the results left the patchouli-drenched masses feeling a little bewildered in 1976 and it's not hard to see why when you listen to this cd. "Hocus Pocus" and "House of the King" are the only recognisable Focus pieces; the rest is a largely uninspired mish-mash of noodly, aimless, unfinished jazz funk that is, at its worst, horribly reminiscent of Spinal Tap's "Jazz Odyssey".
As others have noted, it's ironically Catherine's songs that sound the best today (although I've still got a soft spot for the flawed gem that is "Maximum") and that's great if you're a Philip Catherine fan, but "Focus at the Rainbow" this ain't. It will bring back poignant memories if you were there but it's one for the completists only.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
CD reminds me of the 1976 concert., 9 Jan 2006
Like the previous reviewer I bought my ticket for Focus in 1976 expecting to see Van Leer and Akkerman ripping it up together. I was also very disappointed and, to be honest, can remember nothing of the concert (in Gt Yarmouth) except 'Sneezing Bull. This CD is much the same, '...Bull' is the standout track while the rest of the songs, with the exception of a rousing 'Hocus Pocus', are easily forgettable. However, the CD merits 4 stars due to the sheer rarity of being able to hear this stuff. Van Leer performs well, as does Akkerman's replacement Philip Catherine, and the Ruiter/Kemper rhythm section is on good form. It is great to hear real musicians on good form clearly enjoying themselves. If the material was better a 5 star review would be forthcoming, unfortunately this is not the case but it is still a must for Focus fans,
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