ON FANS
ON FANS
27 Sep 1999 Text-by: Per Arntzen email: [email protected] country: Norway divulge-mail: YES acquaintance: SURFING THE WEB comments: Hello fellow focus fans! I've been a fan of Focus since they gave two concerts in Oslo back in 1974. I was only 12 years old then, but that first concert made me discover not only their music, but classical music as well as their style sometimes was close to classical. I was present at Jan Akkerman's concert with his own group in 1976, but the magic was all to Focus with their mix of styles. It's really fun to notice that their popularity is still there. I thought they were forgotten, more or less. But considering it, qulity will aleays survive, or what? Immensely greetings to you who spread info on this wonderful band! A great fan aftert many years, Per Arntzen
14 Sep 1999 Text-by: Alex Castro email: [email protected] country: USA divulge-mail: YES acquaintance: SURFING THE WEB comments: Hello ! My name is Alex Castro, and I'm writting from Los Angeles. I got this email from the band site. I'm not sure if this is an official site or not. So, let's go straight to the point. In case this is not an official band site, I'll appreciate if you can help me getting in contact with the band. Me and my friend Greg Walker (owner of the Progressive Rock Label Synphonic) are working on the organization for Progfest 2000. As we heard that Focus is getting back together, we would like to know if the band is interested in performing the festival. Possible date will be august 2000 (not confirmed yet). We are plannig to have a 2 days event, with 6 killer bands (3 each day). Focus is one of our favorite bands and it will be a great pleasure having them in the cast. Any questions, please let me know. Waiting for your reply. Best regards, Alex Castro
26 Aug 1999 Text-by: Estev�o Kalaany email: [email protected] country: Brasil divulge-mail: YES acquaintance: SURFING THE WEB comments: Ol� Rodrigo ! Parab�ns pela Home Page ! Encontrei muitas informa��es que procurava h� tempos. Sou tamb�m guitarrista (da banda de progressivo Nave) e sou um grande f� do grupo. Gostaria de ter algum v�deo, especialmente o Live at Rainbow. Voc� saberia como posso arrumar uma c�pia ? Se voc� tiver, eu estou muito interessado em comprar. Se poss�vel passe-me as informa��es via e-mail. Muito obrigado, Estev�o Kalaany
17 Aug 1999 Text-by: ANDRES ULISES email: country: USA divulge-mail: NO acquaintance: SURFING THE WEB comments: CONGRATULATIONS, THIS PAGE IS AMAZING. THIS IS MY FAVORITE GROUP. ANDRES ULISES
16 Aug 1999 Text-by: gustavo henrique r. cortez email: www.agudosnet.com.br country: brasil divulge-mail: NO acquaintance: SURFING THE WEB comments: i need two lyrics from "in and out of focus", that are "black beuty" and "sugar island". Please, but i don't miss.
06 Aug 1999 Text-by: Agnaldo Magrini Lopes email: [email protected] country: Mogi das Cruzes-SP-Brasil divulge-mail: YES acquaintance: THE GEOCITIES comments: Gostei muito desta home page e estou satisfeito com as informacoes nela contida. necessito saber onde encontrar CD do focus em Sao paulo. Eu tenho o Hanburguer concert e o Focus III e gostaria de montar colecao completa.
03 Aug 1999 Text-by: Guinevere email: country: Brasil divulge-mail: NO acquaintance: SURFING THE WEB comments: De vez em quando sinto saudade de m�sicas da minha adolesc�ncia. Cheguei mesmo a olhar pro Moving Waves, que tenho ainda em L.P. (adoro a m�sica Orfeus - � maravilhosamente marcante) e resolvi procurar por uma p�gina deles, ou dedicada a eles. Copiei uns arquivos MP3 e R.Player. Coloquei sua p�gina nos meus favoritos. Espero poder voltar sempre. Obrigad�ssima!!. Guinevere
08 Jun 1999 Text-by: COURTNEY FARREN email: [email protected] country: USA divulge-mail: YES acquaintance: SURFING THE WEB comments Focus was always my favorite band during the disco-erazoic (1970's) and pre-rappazoic (1980's) periods. I've discovered Frank Zappa during the past decade, so after almost 20 years Focus was moved to the #2 slot. Not a bad record for a group that only had 7 standard albums (In&Out, MW, F3, Rainbow, HC, MF and Ship). I also have solo albums, the 1980 TVL/JA CD and Con Proby, but don't regard these as 'standard'. Besides, PROFILE is more of a Focus album than CON PROBY. Of course, being a Focus fanatic only needed SEVEN RECORDS in the house! But because of low-grade LP's, you had to buy SPARES, just in case... which was easy, since brand-new Focus records were selling as cheap as 50 cents during the late 70's (post-disco-erazoic period). One time Focus was in town (circa 1974), but by the time I found out about it, the concert was already over. Then one of my friends called me on the phone and reminded me about it, which depressed me EVEN MORE. To make matters worse, after I was done talking to him, I turned on the radio to listen to WMMS (Cleveland) because they had live performances on tape every Sunday night. Just as I tuned in, Focus was playing... but I already missed half of the on-air concert! It wasn't a complete disaster, though. For the first time, I was able to hear "Anonymous II" live. The amazing part was that right at the part of JA's was suppose to do his guitar solo, they broke into PROFILE, and it was excellent!!! Meanwhile, I was scrambling for a tape, but was only able to capture the encore "Hocus Pocus" on the LOW-FI cheezy plastic microphone on my ever-so-mono cassette recorder. Here's my Focus collection; "standard issue" and "not-so-standard-but-too-hungry-for-anything-even-slightly-related-to-Focus" issue: In & Out of Focus (2 LPs, 1 CD)* Moving Waves (4 LPs, 3 CD)***** Focus 3 (4 double LPs, 3 CD)**** Live at the Rainbow (4 LPs, 2 CD)**** Hamburger Concerto (2 LPs, 2 CDs, and maybe an 8-track buried somewhere!)***** Mother Focus (2 LPs, 2 CDs)*** Ship of Memories (2 LPs, 1 CD)**** Dutch Masters (1 LP) - no ratings for compilations Con Proby (1 LP, 1 CD)* TVL & JA: Focus (1 CD)** JA: Profile (2 LPs ... is this ever coming out on CD?)*** JA: Eli (1 LP)* JA: Jan Akkerman (1 LP)** JA: Tabernacle (1 LP)*** JA: Jan Akkerman Live (1 LP)** TVL: Introspection 2 (1 LP)** TVL: Nice To Have Met You (1 LP, about the same line-up as FCP, with another HP track)* * - Stinks! I only bought it because I wasn't warned in advance! ** - Average, but very many notches above 'Stink' and only a few below the next level. *** - Must buy more than 1 copy **** - Isn't that amazing? ***** - The favorites ...as you can see, my rating is more on a Logarithmic scale. CMcF PS: Will the new '90's Focus (Thijs Van Leer, Bert Ruiter, Hans Cluever & that other guitar-guy) ever have a CD out? I heard that Jan Akkerman has a CD out with a lot of old Focus material that was mainly written by TVL (10000... something)?
04 May 1999 Text-by: Alexander Perlis email: country: USA divulge-mail: NO acquaintance: SURFING THE WEB comments: Hello. I was delighted to discover the Thijs van Leer solos page. I heard Introspection as a child and have been searching for many years to find these recordings. It seems that few have heard of it! Finally, in seeing your page, I trust that my search is soon over. Please accept a most sincere THANK YOU for putting that page together. You can hardly comprehend how happy it makes me to rediscover important music from my childhood. Alexander Perlis
30 Apr 1999 Text-by: Antonio Alberto Gati Mietto email: country: Brasil divulge-mail: NO acquaintance: SURFING THE WEB comments: Ol� , Rodrigo!! Muito legal o seu site do Focus!! Esses caras s�o uns monstros!!! Volto a "ligar" qdo tiver menos trampo por aqui... Forte abra�o, Antonio Alberto Gati Mietto Compaq ASE
28 Apr 1999 Text-by: peretti jean email: country: france divulge-mail: YES acquaintance: SURFING THE WEB comments: je suis � la recherche de vid�os sur focus. join me to : 0321533873
10 Apr 1999 Text-by: J�lio Marcelo de Almeida Laub email: country: Brasil divulge-mail: NO acquaintance: SURFING THE WEB comments: Caro Rodrigo, Sou f� do Focus desde os anos 70, de onde guardo ainda hoje um vinil do Hamburger Concerto e Pop Giants Focus. H� tempos que procurava uma p�gina do Focus, e achei a sua p�gina �tima. Parab�ns!!! J�lio Marcelo de Almeida Laub Cuiab�-MT
4 Apr 1999 Text-by: Rodrigo Moreira email: [email protected] country: Brasil divulge-mail: YES acquaintance: SURFING THE WEB comments: Eureka, I found it! Procurei no Alta Vista e no Yahoo e n�o achei um site como esse, inteiramente dedicado ao Focus, sua hist�ria, suas gl�rias e suas brigas! O grupo era muito bom e seus "Focus at the Rainbow" e "Focus 3" s�o meus favoritos. Gostei tamb�m das fotos, embora Van Leer, Akkerman e Van der Linden tenham beleza inversamente proporcional ao talento musical! Mas valeu, gente. Continuem o trabalho sobre o grupo, pois o site de voc�s � muito bacana e importante. Tchau!
2 Apr 1999 Text-by: Courtney Farren divulge-mail: NO acquaintance: SURFING THE WEB comments: Yeah, I myself am torn between which album was better, MW or HC. For starters, they are SISTER albums... they both seem to have the same format; MW has Hocus Pocus, and HC has Harem-Scarem. MW has Eruption , and HC has Hamburger Concerto. Hamburger Concerto is one of those albums you HATE at first, then it grows on you, and finally becomes your favorite. Those are usally the best kind. Moving Waves had an instant appeal, but to this day I go back and forth... which is BETTER? It doesn't matter! They are both great albums. So let your daily mood decide. Jan Akkerman: Jan Akkerman is probably one of the greatest guitarists in the world (better than Hendrix, or all those other guys). He was totally hyper. I heard him on playing Hocus-Pocus on TV back in 70's, and his fingers were moving so fast, his entire hand looked like a BLUR. A big Focus Fan, CMcF
8 Feb 1999 Text-by: Dave Miller email: [email protected] country: USA divulge-mail: YES acquaintance: SURFING THE WEB comments: I really appreciate the work you have gone to to make this information available. I've been a big fan for many years, but had no access to the group's music or news where I live. Thanks.
19 Jan 1999 Text-by: ADRIAN CACCIATORE email: [email protected] country: Argentina divulge-mail: YES acquaintance: SURFING THE WEB comments: Hola...soy un argentino fanatico de FOCUS a quienes escuche por primera vez en el a�o 1972. Desgraciadamente en Argentina nunca hubo mucha informacion ni difusion del material de FOCUS, y era (y todavia lo es) dificil acceder a sus discos y videos. Admiro profundamente a Thijs van Leer, de quien segu� sus trabajos solistas y como musico de sesion. Felicito a la gente que colabora con esta pagina...y quisiera que me manden informacion sobre la reunion de FOCUS, sobre discos nuevos o reediciones, o cualquier noticia acerca del grupo. Del mismo modo, quisiera que cuenten conmigo para cualquier intercambio de informacion en la que les pueda ser util. Felicitaciones por la pagina, y espero noticias....hasta la vuelta!!!!!! ADRIAN CACCIATORE-Argentina
15 Jan 1999 Text-by: willem van klaveren email: [email protected] country: nl divulge-mail: YES acquaintance: MAGAZINE comments: he jan, speel je nog wel eens met peter banks? draagt hij nog steeds een petje?
2 Jan 1999 Text-by: Leigh email: [email protected] country: UK divulge-mail: YES acquaintance: SURFING THE WEB comments: I am interested in obtaining ANY information on the FRAMUS AKKERMAN guitar, especially copies of the handbook, adverts, reviews etc etc. Also, if anyone has one for sale, please let me know.