Artist

Focus

Kingdom of the Netherlands • Formed 1969

Focus is a music group from Kingdom of the Netherlands, active since 1969. Their discography on Gatefold includes 24 records.

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Albums tracked

In collections

1969

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Biography

There is more than one artist with this name. 1. Focus is a Dutch progressive rock band formed in Amsterdam in 1969 by keyboardist, vocalist, and flautist Thijs van Leer, drummer Hans Cleuver, bassist Martijn Dresden, and guitarist Jan Akkerman. The band has undergone numerous line-up changes; since December 2016, it has comprised Van Leer, drummer Pierre van der Linden, guitarist Menno Gootjes, and bassist Udo Pannekeet. They have sold one million RIAA-certified albums in the United States.

The Arc of Focus

The pivots — what forced Focus to reinvent.

The Golden Peak
When Pierre van der Linden took over the drum throne for Focus II in 1971, the band shifted into overdrive. Producer Mike Vernon stepped in to harness their wild energy, resulting in the massive international breakthrough of Hocus Pocus. This era was defined by Akkerman's soaring, distorted guitar work and van Leer's hyperactive organ playing. You can hear the tight, relentless chemistry of this lineup across the sprawling double album Focus 3, where the jams became longer but the rhythmic foundation stayed rock solid.
The Symphonic Shift
By 1974's Hamburger Concerto, bassist Bert Ruiter had fully integrated into the band, and Colin Allen replaced van der Linden on drums. The sound became heavy, dense, and deeply indebted to European classical structures rather than the blues-rock jams of their early days. The title track utilized the organ at St. Mary's Church in Barnes, creating a massive, church-like resonance. It was their most ambitious conceptual work, but the internal tension between van Leer's classical aspirations and Akkerman's desire for jazz-fusion was starting to tear the band apart.
The Fusion Drift and the Vocal Experiment
Akkerman walked out during the rehearsals for what became Mother Focus, leaving the band to pivot into slick, American-influenced jazz-funk under producer Mike Vernon. The final nail in the classic era was 1978's Focus con Proby, where they hired controversial American pop singer P.J. Proby to sing lead vocals over Philip Catherine's fusion-lite guitar work. It was a bizarre, desperate move that alienated their core prog-rock audience. The record was a commercial dud, and the band folded shortly after, proving that without the Akkerman and van Leer friction, the Focus name was just a shell.

Influences

Johann Sebastian Bach — Thijs van Leer was classically trained on organ and flute, openly citing Bach as the structural blueprint for his songwriting. You hear this directly in the contrapuntal organ lines of 'Anonymus' and the keyboard fugues on 'Hamburger Concerto'. It gave their prog-rock a rigid, academic structure that separated them from British blues bands.
The Butterfield Blues Band — Jan Akkerman spent his youth woodshedding to American blues guitarists, specifically naming Mike Bloomfield as a massive influence on his early phrasing. That biting, aggressive attack is all over 'House of the King' and the heavy riffing of 'Hocus Pocus'. He took Bloomfield's fluid bends and sped them up with European classical precision.
Jethro Tull — Focus toured as an opening act for Jethro Tull in the early seventies, and van Leer frequently acknowledged Ian Anderson's aggressive flute technique as a green light for his own style. The vocalizations and heavy overblowing on 'Focus II' are a direct nod to Anderson's stage persona. It turned the flute from a delicate chamber instrument into a lead rock weapon.
Django Reinhardt — Before he picked up a Les Paul, Jan Akkerman was obsessed with Gypsy jazz and acoustic lutery, citing Reinhardt as his ultimate guitar hero. You can hear this acoustic gypsy swing directly on the track 'Elspeth of Nottingham' from Focus 3. It explains his unique, ultra-fast flatpicking style on electric guitar.
John Coltrane — Drummer Pierre van der Linden was heavily influenced by jazz drummers, stating in interviews that Coltrane's rhythmic sheets of sound shaped his approach to rock. His busy, polyrhythmic playing on 'Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers!' mimics Elvin Jones's work with Coltrane. It gave Focus a swing that most stiff British prog bands completely lacked.