The album that boosted
Focus
into at least semi-fame outside of continental Europe,
Moving Waves
blasts off with their hit single,
"Hocus Pocus."
Built around a killer guitar hook by
Jan Akkerman
and a series of solo turns by the band, this instrumental replaced
"Wipeout"
as a staple of FM radio. The bizarrely hilarious vocal and accordion solos by
Thijs van Leer
-- one of which absurdly concludes with rousing stadium cheers -- have to be heard to be believed. After this over-the-top performance, the other tracks seem comparatively constrained: the gentle
"Le Clochard"
features some gorgeous
classical
guitar over Mellotron strings. The album concludes with
"Eruption,"
which while mimicking the multi-suite nomenclature of
Yes
and
King Crimson
, is essentially a side-long jam session. Stop-time
Emersonian
organ solos alternate with languid sections of jazzy guitar redolent of
Santana
, while still other sections are flat-out electric
blues-rock
stomps. It's impressive playing, though it comes off as a bit meandering after the tightly structured solos that began the album. ~ Paul Collins