Focus - The Paris Theatre - London 1972
Having vivid, exciting, and first hand memories of the punk revolution, that was the mid 1970's, I remain surprised that the expression 'progressive rock' remains, as a use-able tag. I suppose one of the saving graces of 'prog rock' from those heady late sixties and early seventies days, was the fact many of the performers were very capable musicians. From a very English perspective, I never really thought of Focus as 'prog rockers' , after all they were from Holland ! Those quirky alto flute riffs, accordion presence, 'different' guitar and drum solos, whistling, nonsensical vocals, falsetto singing, and yodeling, were a by product of being Dutch. Focus remain to this day, and appear comfortable with the 'prog rock' tag, however I would venture to say, that however much my collection of old 'prog albums' grows, I cannot say for certain they belong there. Rock they are, different they are, Dutch they remain, but their old music, h...