Review Summary: This is a pleasant live album. A great performance of early Focus.
“Live At The Rainbow” is the debut live album of Focus that was released in 1973. The line up on the album is Jan Akkerman, Thijs Van Leer, Bert Ruiter and Pierre Van Der Linden.
Focus is a symphonic progressive rock Dutch band formed in Amsterdam in 1969 by the vocalist, keyboardist and flutist Thijs Van Leer, the bassist Martin Dresden and the drummer Hans Cleuver. With the addition of the guitarist Jan Akkerman, the group achieved their basic musical form and released their debut studio album “In And Out Of Focus”, in 1970. Later, Martin Dresden and Hans Cleuver were replaced by the bassist Cyril Havermans and the drummer Pierre Van Der Linden and the band released their second studio album “Moving Waves”, in 1972. In the following year, the band suffered another change on their line up. The bassist Bert Ruiter replaced Cyril Havermans and then they released their third studio album “Focus 3”, in 1973. This was the line up of the band when they released “Live At The Rainbow”.
These four members are very talented musicians. Thijs Van Leer is the front man, songwriter and the multi talented performer who showcased his talents on vocals, keyboards and flute. Jan Akkerman is one of the greatest and finest guitarists with an innovative and unique guitar technique. He was named the World’s Best Guitarist by Melody Maker, in 1973. Bert Ruiter and Pierre Van Der Linden are considered two of the finest players on their respective instruments.
“Live At The Rainbow” is an album with seven tracks. The first, second and sixth tracks, “Focus III”, “Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers!” and “Sylvia” are all tracks from “Focus 3”. The third, fourth, fifth and seventh tracks, “Focus II”, “Eruption”, “Hocus Pocus” and “Hocus Pocus (Reprise)” are all tracks from “Moving Waves”.
About the tracks, “Focus III” belongs to the Focus series. Like the other Focus9 themes, it’s a great piece of music, gentle, very symphonic and very emotional. This is Focus at their best. “Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers!” is another great song. It’s mainly an improvised song with great keyboard, flute and guitar solos. It’s a jazzy oriented song, very pleasant to hear. “Focus II” is an interesting melodic piece of music. This is a song that continues the Focus’ series, with good song writing and a great individual performance, as usual. “Eruption” is originally divided into fifteen parts. However, the version performed on “Live At The Rainbow” is only an excerpt of the original with only seven parts: “Orfeus”, “Answer”, “Orfeus”, “Answer”, “Pupilla”, “Tommy” and “Pupilla”. “Eruption” is really a magnum opus. This is a magnificent piece with great moments that reminds me the classical Baroque music. It’s entirely an instrumental suite with several developed improvisations. “Eruption” is full of virtuosity and high quality, really. “Sylvia” became one of the classic Focus’ songs. It’s a melodic song conducted by the electric guitar of Akkerman that shows the melodic side of Focus. “Hocus Pocus” is a legendary track. It has great intensity and is astonishing. We may say that there is a kind of a beautiful insanity on it. It always was one of my favourite progressive tracks ever.
About the live performance, “Live At The Rainbow” was recorded at the Rainbow Theater in London and presents the Dutch at the absolute peak of their career. The Dutch masters control their program confidently and atmospherically. This is an atmospherically dense and impressive concert. The played tracks represent the band’s silverware and are excellently presented. Alternating between dynamic force and rapturous indulgence, the highlights of the second and third Focus’ studio albums are celebrated here. It’s a real pleasure to witness this very well preserved sound. After the elegiac opening in the form of the title “Focus III”, the emotional fireworks from “Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers!”, in which Jan Akkerman elicits almost every conceivable nuance from his guitar, are amazing. It shows once again how unjust this world is. Jan Akkerman on guitar was always a misunderstood genius. By the other hand, Thijs Van Leer on organ and flute refined this great moment in elegant melody arches in the sound cosmos of the band from the land of tulips and windmills. The band keeps the balance between the rock improvisation and well composed parts.
Conclusion: “Live At The Rainbow” is a great live album, a great testimony with some fantastic moments and a nice selection of tracks. The album was released at the peak of their form and fame and features some of the band’s best and most well known songs. It’s true that much of the songs are close to their original studio form but it’s also true that some songs are also drastically changed. For instance, “Hocus Pocus” is almost unrecognizable, because it’s multiple times faster than its studio version, making it virtually a new song. Those like me who love the song and are used to the studio version are certainly astonished, in shock and certainly amazed with this new live version. The last three tracks, “Hocus Pocus”, “Sylvia” and “Hocus Pocus (Reprise)” are the great highlights on the album and its live performance is fantastic and unforgettable, really. So, we have an amazing live performance with unique and incredible moments.
Music was my first love.
John Miles (Rebel)
