Moshkiae
Focus Hamburger Concerto 1974
If there is an exceptional album that defines Focus, I think that "Hamburger Concerto" is the one.
Starting with a slight likely traditional piece that is acoustic and very pretty, and in the hands of Jan Akkerman, this is very nice and opens up the album, although it does not define it, but I think it is a hint that... we do other things!
From there to "Harem Scarem" is a really nice piece that drives the sound that we will associate with Focus more and more. It is a piece that really shines between Thijs and Jan and it is a nice rocker, probably in the idea of their hit "Hocus Pocus", but I don't think it has the fun that the famous piece did. It looks like it would be a super piece for Thijs and Jan to play, but while a wonderful listen, it does not bring up the excitement that you would want to have fun with it like you could with the previous piece.
"La Cathedral of Strasbourg" is probably one of the pieces that I love to listen to and it needs to be played on the air ... it has some nice stuff in it .... it seems like a sort of parade of what it would be like to see some of these old places, with some fun stuff in the piece. It starts solemn, as many of these churches usually look, with the organ giving it that ... well known thought that this is what the church gives us. Solemn words! And the fun starts ... a few light lyrics and a ding dong, give you a nice touch of how many folks feel about this place, as if you were a visitor and saw this ... let's call it, these are the vendors and folks around the church selling yo everything you can think of. It's low and kinda in the background and it is nice and ... I think it is just right, as I remember in various places in Portugal in my young days. It continues quietly and in a very pretty way design of the music that gives us an idea of what a lot of the baroque music might have been like. Just a really nice piece, that is more about the atmosphere of the whole place, than it is anything else.
"Birth" is next, and ... it seems to want to setup a special solo or moment in the music, and it breaks up into a nice guitar part, and later into a flute part ... and then they come together for a bigger and louder part that drives the rest of the piece. A nice piece for radio, but not a favorite one for folks that like this band, as it seems to not be as important as the other pieces, but in my ears this is nice, and it gets stronger as it goes along. I like this, and it helps the album nicely and along with the previous piece and the main piece, this already makes it a special album.
The real thing in this album is the main piece and title. A true concerto in that it is subdivided in parts by how you want your hamburger done ... Yeah ... you got it ... Starter, Rare, Medium 1, Medium 2, Well Done, and ... of course ... One for the Road! What makes this neat, and far out is hearing the cook singing along ... well ... Thijs really ... but you get the idea, besides the seriousness of the musical continuity and design, this piece is exceptional and well handled. It is one of those things that you will sit and listen to it in its entirety, as it goes through its many changes, but its continuity is special and makes this one of the highlights of the whole of FOCUS's material and life.
I suppose that a lot of folks don't like some fun stuff in the middle of serious music, and I suppose that did not appear a long time ago even in folks like Mozart ... but you can tell that this was done in gest, and made FOCUS a bit of a fun band to come and watch, but I have always wondered if this got in the way of the band's musical definition, which obviously they enjoyed having fun with several pieces, as almost all albums have some of it. But for the rock fan, this could be a problem. For the classic fan, this might be OK because it has a lot of really well done and defined touches that are specially classical in their approach, and they make the music a real nice portion of your evening. The "jazzy" side of this album are almost all in the hands of Jan Akkerman, in various moments, when they seem to be setting up a transition in th emusic, since it does not continue. But these, end up being really fine moments, and I never felt that they took away from the music at all, even if the majority of it is more oriented towards classical music with rock instruments. And loud and special, at that!!!
This is a magnificent album, in many aspects, though I'm not sure that someone that is a lover of hits, or specific specialties in music, will enjoy this ... but it is a highly recommended piece and it stands up beautifully and really well played all the way through it ... the keyboard work, in this piece is magnificent and they setup Jan Akkerman really well, something they did well since their first album, and it continued until they no longer played together.
This is one of the most recognized piece of theirs, other than the monster song of course, and it has been played by a group of folks from around the world, with Rachel Flowers and its arrangement was also faithful to the original and played to the max. In that sense, you want to see this in concert more often than not, unless you only came for the hits, in which case the other hall across the street is the one you want to go to, likely!
A very good album.
