Talk:Focus (band)

Did they lead the way for Queen?
"The band leaves a small but significant contribution to the rock scene of the early 1970s." Considering "Hocus Pocus" and also some of their other classical experiments, I wonder if Queen ever saw or acknowleged this band as an influence? Verne Equinox 00:54, 19 February 2006 (UTC) You can see Brian May, guitarist of Queen, in a short Youtube interview, stating that Jan Akkerman was the first truly technical guitarist to work in rock music, and that "Hocus Pocus" was a huge influence on his guitar playing. Ritchie Blackmore, guitarist of Deep Purple, has also stated in interviews that Jan's guitar work in the centre of "House of the King" was also a huge influence upon him. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.187.214.210 (talk) 21:21, 6 November 2014 (UTC)
 * I would say The Beatles were a much bigger influence than Focus, but anything is possible. --cholmes75 (chit chat) 21:53, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

Too many opinions
This article contains an awful lot of statements that sneak opinions in by way of "many consider them to be" and similar language. If you could at least cite specific quotes from reviewers, I think that would be a bit more suitable for an encyclopedia entry. 74.67.181.191 19:03, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

Recent changes to this article
Congratulations to whoever has recently recast this article; it's a great improvement on what was already a much-improved entry. I have added some minor amendments, principally the date that Colin Allen was replaced by David Kemper and the date of Akkerman's departure. It's my first attempt at editing so I hope I haven't cocked it up for you all! Wessexboy 20:22, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Re: Recent changes to this article
Thanks, Wessexboy - there was some good material here, but it badly needed a lot of reworking and adding to. And yes, there were a few too many unsubstantiated "many consider this to be"s, although I left some subjective opinions in the "Music" section that I hope won't rankle the feathers of too many Focus fans.

Thanks also for the correction on when Kemper joined the band and when Akkerman left.

BennieHelder 09:50, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

I also made a minor change to the article in the singles section regarding Hocus Pocus. I added that Hocus Pocus II was the US flipside of Hocus Pocus (I know this to be true because I got the US single of this in my record collection) and that Janis was the UK flipside. If I find out any more info, I will post it on the article. Frschoonover (talk) 15:31, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Merge from Cyril Havermans
Please merge any relevant content from [ Cyril Havermans] per Articles for deletion/Cyril Havermans. Thanks. —Quarl (talk) 2007-02-08 21:51Z 

Former Members
What is this "(b)" notation used in the infobox? Also, the band is listed under Polydor Records, was it once so? I T A L  19:58, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

(almost) dead and irrelevant extern link
The link to http://www.nostalgiacentral.com/music/focus.htm seems irelevant, photos are not displaying, there's no content. The only thing I can see is ads... If it's more than a temporary failure, please remove that link.

--JocelynDelalande (talk) 13:42, 6 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Five months later, not a temporary failure. I've removed the link. Isidore (talk) 18:04, 16 September 2010 (UTC)

There's another external link which seems hardly relevant: http://www.progboard.com/en/Focus/64 All text is in what seems to be Polish or a related slavic language. Not much use for English speaking readers!

I'd suggest this one instead: http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=658 progarchives is a highly respected prog database in English. --Alvanx (talk) 21:13, 9 February 2013 (UTC)

House Of The King on ABC TV?
I believe I remember hearing "House Of The King", the Akkerman composition, being used as the theme song for ABC-TV's program "Wide World Of Sports", or maybe another similar sports program, circa 1980-82. Hmmmm... YouTube and the Wikipedia page cover the Wide World of Sports theme, and it's not that- maybe as a bumper? -Tzf (talk) 21:03, 31 May 2013 (UTC)

External links modified
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Ship of Memories / The Focus Family Album / Golden Oldies
Editors at Wikipedia removes «Ship of Memories» from the discography over and over again. Why? Ship of Memories, Golden Oldies & Focus Family Album is a compilation STUDIO album. Compilation albums is "greatest hits", like "Hocus Pocus" (1994) & "Best of Vol. 2" (2011). No greatest hits compilations here, but compilation studio albums is OK. Do not remove "Ship of Memories from the discography section on this page page. Thank you. --NRKfan (talk) 18:23, 6 July 2018 (UTC)

Red Sky at Night & Avondrood
The article currently states: To solve the issue, he and van Leer returned to Morgan Studios and put down "Red Sky at Night" and "Avondrood", the latter featuring the two singing in Dutch. These are in fact the same song; "Avondrood" being the vocal version of "Red Sky at Night". Muijz (talk) 09:28, 13 September 2020 (UTC)

Crackers/Avondrood
"Avondrood" was released as a single with "House of the King", not with "Crackers". "Crackers" was released in 1977 as a Jan Akkerman single, with "Wings of Strings" on the B-side.

Muijz (talk) 09:57, 13 September 2020 (UTC)