Album Review: In and Out Of Focus

Album: In and Out Of Focus

Artist: Focus

Label: Polydor

Release Date: 1970

Originally released as Focus plays Focus and re-released in the UK and USA once the band had gained some prominence in the progressive rock scene, Focus's debut album displays a far more pop orientated vocal approach mixed in with the progressive instrumentals for which they became better known later. In terms of sales, the album didn't perform particularly well originally, although it was critically acclaimed. The later re-pressings improved its sales performance but as an album it is one of their least recognised.

The first 3 songs are all in a fairly traditional verse and chorus pop style with vocal parts and no real hint at the band's instrumental proficiency. A flute solo on 'Sugar Island' is perhaps the only indication that the band's talent runs deeper than the first trio of songs might suggest. They're fairly catchy and inoffensive, I'd go so far as to say that they'd be a decent pop style band, had they continued to make less progressive music.

'Anonymous' is the first instrumental song on the album and unless you're aware of what's coming, it almost takes the listener by surprise with it's fast paced full band instrumentals and solos. The band move from section to section seamlessly, making the music more interesting than even the vocal songs preceding it. The longest song so far on the album, it almost effortlessly holds the listener's attention with the amount of things going on at once. 'House Of The King' provides another instrumental track, using the intro from Anonymous once again before taking off in a completely different direction. Its musical structure is more basic than that of the preceding track but it's a testament to the band's originality that both pieces are equally exciting and interesting.

An alternative cover for the album

'Happy Nightmare (Mescaline)' returns the album to vocal songs, although its instrumentation and style is a little more in keeping with the songs before it. It's lyrics deal with a somewhat psychedelic mescaline trip and the thoughts in a user's head, while the next song 'Why Dream''s lyrics almost seem to send a pessimistic message about the "current" state of the world. On closer inspection however, it's possible that the song is trying to send more of anti-pessimism message. However it was intended, just like the song before, it has more stylistic appeal and progressive rock flair than the first trio of songs.

The final song is an extended instrumental version of the first song on the album, 'Focus' which begins in much the same way as the vocal version but evolves to contain more of the band's instrumental prowess and ideas than the vocal version displayed. The vocal line is played by Akkerman's guitar which allows for little embellishments on the tune, and some interesting mini-solos.

On listening to In and Out Of Focus, you can almost feel the band attempting to infuse their vocal songs with the instrumental flair they show on tracks like Anonymous and House of the King. In a way there's something for everyone to enjoy, with some songs featuring a more pop oriented structure and others leaning much closer to progressive rock. Perhaps it's also fair to say that the band wasn't quite sure of the direction their music would take later on in their career. What is clear to see however, is the talent and compositional skill of all the musicians involved. This makes for an interesting listen, especially if you've heard other Focus albums to compare it to.

Rating 4.00/5.00

Album Review: Emerson, Lake and Palmer

Album: Emerson, Lake and Palmer
Artist: Album: Emerson, Lake and Palmer
Label: Island
Release Date: October 1970

Perhaps one of  the most classically influenced progressive rock releases, Emerson, Lake and Palmer's self titled first album begins with a rock arrangement of Bela Bartok's 1911 piano piece "Allegro Barbaro" with an abundance of hammond organ and overall flair. 'The Barbarian' as they call it immediately shows the intentions and direction of the band as a whole. Without any lyrics it still manages to captivate and entertain, which is an extremely important feature of instrumental progressive rock; there's no laziness or boredom.

'Take a Pebble' has a deep King Crimson feel to it at the beginning, which is unsurprising considering that it was written by Lake, the original bassist and vocalist of King Crimson. Following the vocal section there's folk guitar set atop watery sound effects, followed by a jazz piano section. At twelve minutes, this is the longest song on the album, and until the full band joins the piano at around 9 minutes, it can feel somewhat empty yet not unlike instrumental sections of King Crimson songs.

'Knife-Edge' is another classically inspired piece given the prog. rock treatment. Based on a Leoš Janáček’ piece with a great quotation from a Bach suite on organ in the middle of the piece, the lyrical sections are kept brief and the song itself is much like 'The Barbarian' in length in that it rocks hard for the short time that it plays.

'The Three Fates' features three prominent sections; the first for organ, the second for solo piano and the third for piano trio. Again it takes a particularly jazzy feel, mixed with classical elements and is the only track on the album not to feature drums or bass. As a result it feels a little out of place on the album and more like something off their subsequent "works" albums which featured solo compositions as well as band pieces.

'Tank' is a strange inclusion in a lot of ways, although not fully a drum solo piece (there's some clavichord at the beginning), the middle of the track features Palmer performing a drum solo. This sort of thing is usually restricted to live albums, and although the beginning and end of the track almost make up for the middle, with their instrumental additions to the piece, there's no escaping the fact that it's built around the solo.

'Lucky Man' is the only real conventional song on the entire album, the first song written by Greg Lake, aged 12. It wasn't received well by his band mates, and was only recorded to fill time at the end of the album. The song isn't particularly bad, but it feels as out of place on the album as it's Moog solo does on the track.

On the whole, the band are at their best when they're wreaking havoc on a classical tune in their own rock style. 'The Barbarian' and 'Knife-Edge' are both short pieces which demonstrate the band's skill at this. The more solo based pieces such as 'The Three Fates' and 'Tank' are musically interesting, yet lack the pace and dynamic feel of the other tracks. For a first album, there's a lot to take in and most of it is good.

Rating: 3.75/5.00

Album Review: Atom Heart Mother - Pink Floyd

Album: Atom Heart Mother
Band: Pink Floyd
Label: Harvest
Release Date: 2nd October 1970

With a fairly famous album cover which attempted to symbolise the band's wish to explore all types of music, rather than just the psychadelic tracks for which they were known at the time, Atom Heart Mother marks a significant point in Pink Floyd's history, five studio albums into their discography and the beginning of their most well known sound. The band already had a version of 'Us and Them' from 'The Dark Side Of The Moon' and parts of the album are precursors to the sound achieved on later album as a whole.

The first side of the record is the 23 minute title track, an instrumental piece and the band's most ambitious idea at that point in their career. Split into 6 sections, 'Atom Heart Mother' is a showcase of several musical ideas which the band were attempting to tie together with some success. Although all of the band members have expressed a dislike for the track and album as a whole in retrospect, there are several redeeming features including the main theme and the less experimental parts. The middle of the suite does feel a little too directionless and experimental, without any intentions of tying together the themes and ideas contained.

There are certain similarities between the experimental parts of the and 'Echoes' on the band's next album 'Meddle'. 'Funky Dung' is the most enjoyable part of the suite as it seems to be the best combination of the band's work and the orchestral arrangement. Overall as a piece, it has its moments but its quite easy to see why the band view it in less of a positive light than their later ideas.

The second side takes a different musical approach to the first, with a song each from Roger Waters, David Gilmour and Richard Wright before the final track which can only really be described as 'very experimental'. 'If' is a quiet, charming song which showcases some of Pink Floyd's lyrical style to be used on later albums. There's a nice guitar solo and it's all very relaxing on the whole if a little ordinary in comparison to the first side. 'Summer '68' seems as if it will continue in the same ordinary style as 'If', until picking up the pace to reveal a more complex side to the song with a much closer relation to 'Atom Heart Mother' from the first side. 

'Fat Old Sun' continues the trio of songs which start gently and quietly, and takes a while to lead into its long guitar outro which is set up by the vocal first half. It's hard to choose a favourite out of the three songs, with their similar but varied approaches to quieter songs. 'Summer '68' is the only one which develops fully into other ideas, whereas the other two stay somewhat safer in their explorations. 'Alan's Psychadelic Breakfast' is perhaps the only track I'd recommend avoiding from the album; it never really develops into anything noteworthy with a few murmured lines about cornflakes here and there, and the band playing musical interludes every now and then, none of which are really all that exciting. 

Overall 'Atom Heart Mother' doesn't work well as an album; it has moments of genius in the first track, surrounded all too often by moments of overexperimentation. The trio of quiet, evolving tracks begins the second side and are really the highlight of the album, despite the fact that only one of them really develops into anything noteworthy. After ending with a few guitar parts interspersed with cereal talk, the listener is left with somewhat of an empty feeling from the album; there's no doubt it has its moments but there's nothing to really dig into. The occasional glimpses of what's to come from the band are the main attraction here. 

3.25/5.00