''Focus II'' (better known by its international title, ''Moving Waves'') is the second studio album by Dutch

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

band

Focus Focus (: foci or focuses) may refer to: Arts * Focus or Focus Festival, former name of the Adelaide Fringe arts festival in East Australia Film *Focus (2001 film), ''Focus'' (2001 film), a 2001 film based on the Arthur Miller novel *Focus (2015 ...

, released in October 1971 on

Imperial Records Imperial Records is an American record company and label started in 1947 by Lew Chudd. The label was reactivated in 2006 by EMI, which owned the label and back catalogue at the time. Imperial is owned by Universal Music Group. Early years to ...

. Following the departure of original bassist Martin Dresden and drummer Hans Cleuver in 1970, the band recruited Cyril Havermans and

Pierre van der Linden Pierre van der Linden (born 19 February 1946) is a Dutch drummer, songwriter and member of the band, Focus. Early life Pierre van der Linden was born in Amsterdam in 1946. His father was Dutch actor Ab van der Linden, who was known in the Ne ...

, respectively, and prepared material for a new album. Recording took place in London in April and May 1971 with Mike Vernon as producer. The album features "

Hocus Pocus Hocus-pocus is an exclamation used by magicians, usually the magic words spoken when bringing about some sort of change. Hocus Pocus, Hokus Pokus, or variants may also refer to: Books * Hocus Pocus (novel), ''Hocus Pocus'' (novel), a 1990 novel ...

" a hard rock song featuring keyboardist

Thijs van Leer Thijs van Leer (; born 31 March 1948) is a Dutch singer and keyboardist, best known as the founding member of the rock band Focus as its primary vocalist, keyboardist, and flautist. Born and raised in Amsterdam among a musical family, van Leer ...

's yodelling, scat singing, and whistling, and "Eruption", a 22-minute track inspired by the opera '' Euridice'' by Italian composer

Jacopo Peri Jacopo Peri (20 August 156112 August 1633) was an Italian composer, singer and instrumentalist of the late Renaissance music, Renaissance and early Baroque music, Baroque periods. He wrote what is considered the first opera, the mostly lost ''D ...

. The album was released to a mostly positive response and remains one of their most commercially successful albums, reaching No. 2 in the UK, No. 4 in the Netherlands, and No. 8 in the US. "Hocus Pocus" was released as a single in the Netherlands in July 1971, followed by its international release in 1973, where it reached No. 9 in the US and No. 20 in the UK. The album is certified

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

for selling 500,000 copies in the US.

Background

Focus was formed in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

in 1969 by keyboardist, vocalist, and flautist

, bassist Martin Dresden, drummer Hans Cleuver, and guitarist

Jan Akkerman Jan Akkerman (born 24 December 1946) is a Dutch guitarist. He first found international commercial success with the band Focus (band), Focus, which he co-founded with Thijs van Leer. After leaving Focus, he continued as a solo musician, adding ja ...

. After releasing their debut album '' Focus Plays Focus'' (1970), the group suffered a setback when Akkerman requested that van Leer fire Dresden and Cleuver so his former Brainbox bandmate, drummer

, could join the band. Van Leer reluctantly agreed, and the trio subsequently recruited bassist Cyril Havermans. After a series of gigs, the group travelled to London to record a follow-up album. Session took place from 13 April–14 May 1971 at

Sound Techniques Sound Techniques was a recording studio in Chelsea, London that was operational between 1965 and 1976. Housed in a former dairy, it was founded by recording engineers Geoff Frost and John Wood. The studio became well known as the place where ma ...

and

Morgan Studios Morgan Studios (founded as Morgan Sound Studios) was an independent recording studio in Willesden in northwest London. Founded in 1967, the studio was the location for recordings by notable artists and bands such as The Cure, Jethro Tull, the Ki ...

with Mike Vernon as their producer.

Songs

" is a rock song that features van Leer yodelling,

eefing Eefing (also written eeephing, eephing, eeefing, eefin, or eefn') is an Appalachian (United States) vocal technique similar to beatboxing, but nearly a century older. NPR's Jennifer Sharpe describes it as "a kind of hiccupping, rhythmic wheeze tha ...

scat singing Originating in vocal jazz, scat singing or scatting is vocal Musical improvisation, improvisation with Non-lexical vocables in music, wordless vocables, Pseudoword#Nonsense syllables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. In scat singing, t ...

, and whistling. The song was written as a rock parody, and it was recorded for the album as it lacked any "outright rock" tracks at that point. The group wanted to incorporate an element of humour in the track because they felt it was missing in the rock genre. "Le Clochard" is French for "Tramp" and is fully titled "Le Clochard (Bread)". It is a melancholic

classical guitar The classical guitar, also known as Spanish guitar, is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string (music), string instrument with strings made of catgut, gut or nylon, it is a precursor of the ...

piece by Akkerman with van Leer backing on

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...

. "Janis" is another Akkerman-penned ballad and features van Leer on the flute. "Moving Waves", a piano and vocal solo by van Leer, features lyrics by

Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

singer, poet, and teacher

Inayat Khan Inayat Khan Rehmat Khan (; 5 July 1882 – 5 February 1927) was an Indian professor of musicology, singer, exponent of the saraswati vina, poet, philosopher, and pioneer of the transmission of Sufism to the West. At the urging of his students ...

. "Focus II" is a classical-jazz fusion instrumental. Side two contains the 23-minute track "Eruption", a loose rock adaptation of the tale of Orpheus and Euridice from the opera ''Euridice'' by Italian composer

. The track is in fifteen distinct sections, and the suite opens with an uncredited melody from the opera ''

L'Orfeo ''L'Orfeo'' (Stattkus-Verzeichnis, SV 318) (), or ''La favola d'Orfeo'' , is a late Renaissance music, Renaissance/early Baroque music, Baroque ''favola in musica'', or List of operas by Claudio Monteverdi, opera, by Claudio Monteverdi, with a li ...

'' by

Monteverdi Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string player. A composer of both secular and sacred music, and a pioneer in the development of opera, he is considere ...

. "Tommy" features a guitar solo and was named and written by Tom Barlage of the Dutch fusion band

Solution Solution may refer to: * Solution (chemistry), a mixture where one substance is dissolved in another * Solution (equation), in mathematics ** Numerical solution, in numerical analysis, approximate solutions within specified error bounds * Solu ...

. "Euridice" is a classical

lied In the Western classical music tradition, ( , ; , ; ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German and Dutch, but among English and French speakers, is often used interchangea ...

which segues into the Gregorian-inspired "Dayglow" and followed by van der Linden's drum solo, "Endless Road". The suite ends with a return to its opening themes.

Release

''Moving Waves'' was released in October 1971 to mainly positive reception. It went on to peak at number 2 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

, number 8 on the US ''Billboard'' 200, and number 4 on the

Dutch Album Top 100 The Dutch Album Top 100 or Album Top 100 is a weekly hit list of music albums, compiled by Dutch Charts. It shows the 100 best-selling music albums of the moment in the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, i ...

chart. The single "Hocus Pocus" peaked at number 9 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. ''Moving Waves'' came in at number 24 in '' Q'' and ''

Mojo Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in Hoodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Mojo'' (2017 film), a 2017 Indian Kannada drama film written and directed by Sreesha Belakvaadi * '' ...

s list of "40 Cosmic Rock Albums".''Q Classic: Pink Floyd & The Story of Prog Rock'', 2005.

Track listing

Personnel

Focus *

–

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

, Harmonium, vocals (including yodeling, scat singing, whistling),

soprano flute The soprano flute (also called a third flute or tierce flute) is a type of flute, a musical instrument in the woodwind family. It is pitched in E, a minor third above the concert flute, and is one of the few members of the modern flute family th ...

alto flute The alto flute is an instrument in the Western concert flute family, pitched below the standard C flute and the uncommon flûte d'amour. It is the third most common member of its family after the standard C flute and the piccolo. It is chara ...

, piano *

– acoustic and electric guitars, bass guitar * Cyril Havermans – bass guitar, vocals on "Eruption" *

– drums, percussion Production * Mike Vernon – producer *Jerry Boys – engineer *Dennis Kloeth – sleeve design (original pressing) *Janos Barendsen – cover photograph

Charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1971 albums Focus (band) albums Albums produced by Mike Vernon (record producer) Albums recorded at Morgan Sound Studios Imperial Records albums EMI Records albums Sire Records albums I.R.S. Records albums