"Fragile: Definitive Edition CD/BLU RAY" by YES (November 2015 Panegyric Reissue - Steve Wilson Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Heart Of The Sunrise..."

Featuring the album "Fragile" from 1971 (UK)

The fifth release to date to receive the twinkle-fingers jiggery-pokery remix-magic of Porcupine Tree's Steve Wilson – 1971's "Fragile" was always going to inject a flying-jalopy flutter into the Prog Rock trousers of YES fans – make their scaly Schindleria Praematurus Space Ark hearts beat a little faster (if you get my fishy drift). And you have to say that the dapper gent has done another sterling job - even if I personally find the remixes just a tad too squeaky clean (1971's "The Yes Album", 1972's "Close To The Edge", 1973's double "Tales From Topographic Oceans" and 1974's "Relayer" are the other four Wilson revamps).

Firs up there are two versions of this November 2015 'Definitive Edition' Reissue for "Fragile" – the CD and DVD-A variant on Panegyric GYRSP50009 (Barcode 633367900722) and its bigger brother – the CD and BLU RAY Version – the one we are about to dance a jig too. There is a mountain of detail to be crossed, so onwards into the Heart of the Sunrise…

UK released Friday, 6 November 2015 - "Fragile: Definitive Edition CD/BLU RAY" by YES on Panegyric/Atlantic GYRBD50009 (Barcode 633367900821) is a 2-Disc Reissue (CD and BLU RAY) with New 5.1 Surround, Stereo and Instrumental Album Remixes and Remasters by Steve Wilson – it plays out as follows:

CD Definitive Edition (64:38 minutes):

2015 STEREO MIXES

1. Roundabout [Side 1]

2. Cans And Brahms

3. We Have Heaven

4. South Side Of The Sky

5. Five Per Cent For Nothing [Side 2]

6. Long Distance Runaround

7. The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)

8. Mood For A Day

9. Heart Of The Sunrise

Tracks 1 to 9 are their fourth studio album "Fragile" - released 26 November 1971 in the UK on Atlantic Records 2401019 and 4 January 1972 in the USA on Atlantic SD 7211. Produced by EDDIE OFFORD - it peaked at No. 7 in the UK and No. 4 in the USA and was the first Yes album to use Roger Dean's artwork (something that became synonymous with the band's image)

ADDITIONAL TRACKS:

10. Roundabout (Rehearsal Take, Early Mix)

11. We Have Heaven (Full Version, Steve Wilson Mix)

12. South Side Of The Sky (Early Version, Steve Wilson Mix)

13. All Fighters Past (Steve Wilson Mix)

14. Mood For Another Day (Previously Unreleased Take)

15. We Have Heaven (Acapella, Steve Wilson Mix)

All tracks mixed and produced from the original multi-track tapes by STEVE WILSON

BLU RAY Definitive Edition:

2015 STEREO MIXES

Tracks 1 to 9 as per CD - LPCM Stereo (24bit/96khz)

5.1 SURROUND MIXES

Tracks1 to 9 as per CD - LPCM and DTS-HD MA (24bit/96khz)

ORIGINAL STEREO MIXES

Tracks 1 to 9 as per CD - Flat Transfer from Original Master - LPCM Stereo (24bit/192khz)

ADDITIONAL TRACKS

1. Roundabout (Rehearsal Take, Early Mix)

2. We Have Heaven (Full Version, Steve Wilson Mix)

3. South Side Of The Sky (Alternate Take, Steve Wilson Mix)

4. All Fighters Past (Steve Wilson Mix)

5. Mood For Another Day (Previously Unreleased Take)

6. We Have Heaven (Acapella, Steve Wilson Mix)

Tracks 1 to 6 LPCM Stereo (24bit/96khz)

BLU RAY EXCLUSIVE

1. Roundabout (Early Rough Mix from "Fragile" 2003 CD Reissue)

2. South Side Of The Sky (Early Take)

3. Roundabout (Headphones Mix for Vox Overdubs)

Tracks 1 to 3 LCM Stereo (24bit/96khz)

2015 STEREO INSTRUMENTAL MIXES

Tracks 1 to 9 as per the CD - LPCM Stereo (24bit/96khz)

ORIGINAL 5.1 MIX

Tracks 1 to 9 as per CD (with 6 and 7 as one track) plus "America" as Track 10

Mix from the Rhino DVD-A release - LPCM Stereo (24bit/96khz)

NEEDLE-DROP

A1/B1 (Matrix) first -pressing UK original vinyl LP transfer

Tracks 1 to 9 as per the CD - LPCM Stereo (24bit/96khz)

10. Roundabout (US Single Edit)

11. Long Distance Runaround (US Single Edit)

YES was:

JON ANDERSON – Lead Vocals

STEVE HOWE – Electric and Acoustic Guitars and Vocals

RICK WAKEMAN – Organ, Grand Piano, Electric Piano, Harpsichord, Mellotron and Synthesizer

CHRIS SQUIRE – Bass Guitars and Vocals

BILL BRUFORD – Drums and Percussion

PACKAGING: Using a Mini-LP replica gatefold sleeve (slightly oversized compared to the CD variant) – you get the original Roger Dean artwork - gatefold sleeve with the lyrics on one side and the album credits on the other with the mini booklet of the original LP now detached) - as well as archive material (evolution of the Fragile logo) and new Roger Dean front-cover images used on both discs (they are housed in plain black card sleeves). Noted Progressive Rock writer and enthusiast SID SMITH provides new liner notes in the 16-page booklet and there are Audio Source notes about the Transfers, Remixes and BLU RAY Set-up (Headless Operation) and so forth.

The booklet also has the usual original/reissue credits, the lyrics to the four worded tracks, repro's of a UK, USA and French original 1971 LP labels (a white label promo for the American issue on Atlantic SD 7211), period colour photos of each band member, concert tickets for the October 1971 Tour (Jonathan Swift was the support act), photos of the rare and unique artwork to French, Dutch, German and Spanish edited singles for "Roundabout" (called "Carrusel" in Spain) most with "Long Distance Runaround" as its flipside - as well as a Melody Maker magazine full-page advert for the album. Sid Smith interviews Rick Wakeman, Steve Howe, Roger Dean and others and of course discusses the sad passing of original Bassist Chris Squire in 2015 only months before the reissue – noting quite rightly that the big man and the unique Bass sounds he made came from a mere 23 year-old back in August and September 1971. The whole shebang is nicely presented and feels substantial – especially the sheer amount of material on the BR disc. If I were to criticise - I'd say that some of the BLU RAY 'Exclusive' material is mildly superfluous whilst other parts of it should have been made available on the CD too (the single edits would easily have fit). But others would argue that if you buy this BR version – then you know what it is that you're getting - and fair enough. To the music...

The album "Fragile" consisted of four centrepieces – the short "Long Distance Runaround" and the long "Roundabout", "Heart of the Sunrise" and "South Side Of The Sky". But realising they hadn’t enough material, each was sent off to write a solo piece - and they did. Personally I find Bruford’s "Five Per Cent For Nothing" (named after a dodgy publishing deal) and Wakeman’s "Cans And Brahms" both superfluous to anyone’s requirements. The individual stuff is saved by Chris Squire’s ingenious "The Fish" where every sound is from some sort of Bass Guitar, Howe’s delightful Spanish guitar piece "Mood For A Day" and Anderson’s voice-crescendo "We Have Heaven".

What is fascinating though (apart from the staggering clean audio provided by Wilson – disarmingly perfect almost) is the unexpected quality of the extras which are thankfully worthy of the moniker Bonus and not just reissue padding. Apparently found at the end of one of the master tapes whilst Steve Wilson was researching the reissue - the snippet "All Fighters Past" turns out to be a work-in-progress abandoned at the sessions. But on hearing it fans will immediately recognise that it was used for passages in both "Siberian Khatru" on 1972's "Close To The Edge" and in parts of "The Revealing Science Of God" on Side 1 of 1973's double-album "Tales From Topographic Oceans". The piano-to-the-fore/at-the-beginning of the Early Mix for "South Side Of The Sky" almost makes me wonder did the boys make an arrangement mistake. I can understand why the clever finished version was chosen but there’s something about this Rick Wakeman led cut that I find a hundred times more endearing than the released version. The two versions of Anderson's beautiful vocal tour-de-force "We Have Heaven" are fascinating - but although the 'Headphones Mix' on the BLU RAY is a trip - I thought the rehearsal variant of "Roundabout" on the CD didn’t seem radically different.

YES broke American with "Fragile" in January 1972 when an edit of "Roundabout" was played on US Radio and its angular yet funky rhythms caught the listener's fascination. The album eventually made No. 4 there – better than they did in their native Blighty. YES had truly arrived and with a different kind of music made on their own terms – an amazing achievement.

"…Mountains come out of the sky…" – Jon Anderson sang on the opening musical carousel "Roundabout". Well, having loved "Fragile" back in those heady days - I'm so pleased to report that this superb-sounding 2015 reissue warrants another ride on the 1971 Space Ark. Letting in the sunshine indeed...

"H To He Who Am The Only One" by VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR (May 2005 Virgin/Charisma 'Expanded Edition' CD - Peter Hammill and Kathy Bryan Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...The Emperor In His War-Room..."

Features the album "H To He Who Am The Only One" from 1970 (UK), 1971 (USA)

Named after the American Engineer Robert Van De Graaff's surname and his particle accelerator device for creating static electricity - Van Der Graaf Generator's second studio album for 1970 came hot on the heels of their January debut - "The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other". Released December 1970 by the newly formed Charisma Records - home of Audience, Rare Bird, Everyone, Merrill Moore, Atomic Rooster, (Keith Emerson's) The Nice and that other huge British Progressive Rock band Genesis – VDGG’s second platter expanded the experimental musical horizons laid down by their acclaimed debut.

Equal to its predecessor's quirky moniker - "H To He Who Am The Only One" is reckoned by Prog Rockers and VDGG fans alike to be up there as one of the Manchester boys wildest and best outings – a boundary pusher resplendent with mad Paul Whitehead artwork (a fave of the Genesis lads too). And this rather brill little 2005 CD Remaster (complete with two lengthy bonus cuts) bears that out. Here are the Houses with No Doors...

UK released 30 May 2005 - "H To He Who Am The Only One" by VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR on Virgin/Charisma CASCDR 1027 (Barcode 724347488825) is an 'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue and Remaster with Two Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows (71:29 minutes):

1. Killer [Side 1]

2. House With No Door

3. The Emperor In His War-Room Part 1. The Emperor Part 2. The Room

4. Lost Part 1. The Dance In Sand And Sea Part 2. The Dance In Frost [Side 2]

5. Pioneers Over C

Tracks 1 to 5 are their second studio album "H To He Who Am The Only One" - released January 1970 in the UK on Charisma Records CAS 1027 and March 1971 in the USA on Dunhill/ABC Records DS 50097.  Produced by JOHN ANTHONY - Track 1 was written by Peter Hammill, Hugh Banton and Stratton Smith, Tracks 2, 3 and 4 written by Peter Hammill with Track 5 written by Peter Hammill and David Jackson.

BONUS TRACKS:

6. Squid 1/Squid 2/Octopus [15:24 minutes]

7. The Emperor In His War-Room (First Version) [8:50 minutes]

VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR was:

PETER HAMMILL - Lead Vocals, Acoustic Guitar and Piano on "House With No Door"

HUGH BANTON - Vocals, Hammond and Farfisa Organs, Piano, Oscillator and Bass on "House With No Door" and "Killer"

DAVID JACKSON - Vocals, Alto, Tenor and Baritone Saxophones and Flute

GUY EVANS - Drums, Tympani and Percussion

Guests:

NIC POTTER (of The Misunderstood) - Bass on "Killer", "The Emperor In His War Room” and "Lost"

ROBERT FRIPP (of King Crimson) - Guitar on "The Emperor In His War-Room"

The 20-page booklet is a pleasingly thorough affair with new liner notes from MARK POWELL - soon to be head honcho at Esoteric Recordings over at Cherry Red UK - home to all things Avant Garde, Left Of Field and Proggy. There are period photos of the four-piece hairy men live, loitering in parks and outside French cafes, lyrics, the inner gatefold of the original release repro'd on the centre pages, trade adverts and their 9-album strong catalogue of Virgin/Charisma Remasters listed on the last page next to the extensive re-issue credits. It's all very tastefully done.

All four members of the band had a hand in Remastering consultation (including principal songwriter PETER HAMMILL) with the tape transfers done by KATHY BRYAN at Abbey Road Studios. I had this album on one of those early 'Pink Scroll' Label Charisma pressings with Audio that was always good but never great. Here the instruments have real power and even the two Bonus Cuts sound like they could have made the grade. Let's dance in the Static Sea...to the music...

We're informed by the opener "Killer" that someone who lives at the bottom of the sea is lonely – a solitary predator made manifest by earnest men with saxophones and doom-laden churchy organs. The 8-minutes of Side 1's "Killer" is in fact more Atomic Rooster than VDGG in my books. Things become very melodic on "House With No Door". That hissy beginning is still there, but there's warmth and clarity in the bass now and the piano feels less muddled than it did on the LP. It's a dark song actually - a home with no roof that lets in the rain and cold at night - Hammill's hurting vocals at times sounding like a melancholic David Bowie circa "The Man Who Sold The World".

Things get deathly heavy with "The Emperor In His War-Room" - a tin-pot dictator cradling his gun in his chamber of ghosts (dig those cascading flutes and chunky organ stabs) - Robert Fripp's very King Crimson guitar notes sailing into "The Room" just when the piece needs some Prog uplift. Speaking of KC - the 11-minutes of "Lost" is probably the most Crimson-sounding piece on the album - ideas and had-all-my-chances lyrics falling over each other as instrument piles on instrument. Album No. 2 ends with nearly fourteen minutes of "Pioneers Over C" - VDGG stretching out everywhere and thinking intergalactic travel will be commonplace in 1983 and they have the Bass Lines. Sexy Saxophones and Fiery Keyboard sounds to prove it.

In truth VDGG were never nearly as commercial or frankly as good as Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett and Co over in Genesis – but there is a lot to like in this adventurous and challenging album.

"...One last brief whisper in our loved one's ears..." – Hammill sang on tone of the lovelier passages in "Pioneers Over C" - David Jackson's saxophone slipping in soft at first and then going solo mad after that. Mad after that – a bit like VDGG and their music really...

"Hocus Pocus Box: Complete Album Collection + Bonus CD" by FOCUS (July 2017 Red Bullet 13CD Box Set of Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Yaddy Ya, Yaddy Ya, Yadda Ya... Bom! Bom!"

Featuring their debut album "Focus On Focus" aka "In And Out Of Focus" from 1970

Bit of a Dutch Prog Rock beast this. Tons of info to get through – so once more my hairy friends unto the yaddy-ya, yaddy-ya, yaddy-ya, bom, bom! And that’s just your Hocus Pocus my giddy young son...

UK released Friday, 14 July 2017 - "Hocus Pocus Box: Complete Album Collection + Bonus CD" by FOCUS on Red Bullet RB 66.307 (Barcode 8712944663075) is a 13CD Clamshell Box Set containing 12 albums (11 studio, one a double and one live album) and a Bonus Thirteenth CD called "Best Of Focus". 

CDs 1 to 8 and CD13 are Remasters done by IAN GILLESPIE at Tape One in London in 2001 (old Red Bullet reissues) – CDs 9 to 12 are later dates (1985 to 2012) and are the masters of the time. There is a mention in the liner notes of 'Peter Brussee Remasters' done at Q Point Studios in Holland - but it doesn’t specify what has been upgraded or why. As is - the box set plays out as follows:

CD1 - "In And Out Of Focus" from 1970 and 1971 (36:04 minutes):

1. Focus (Vocal) [Side 1]

2. Black Beauty

3. Sugar Island

4. Anonymus

5. House Of The King

6. Happy Nightmare (Mescaline) [Side 2]

7. Why Dream

8. Focus – Instrumental

The Dutch band's debut LP was originally released mid 1970 in Holland as "Focus Plays Focus" on Imperial Records 5C 054-24192 with a seven-track line-up (CD Tracks 1, 7, 6 and 4 made up Side 1 with Tracks 2, 3 and 8 making up Side 2). However, Polydor UK and USA decided to relaunch the debut as "In And Out Of Focus" in both countries with a rejiggered track line-up and the Dutch non-album single "House Of The King" tagged onto the end of Side 1 thereby making an 8-track LP. This variant initially had a gatefold 'dotted blue' sleeve (Polydor 2344 003 in the UK and Sire SAS 7404 in the USA) – but confusingly this was also replaced at some time in late 1971 with a single ‘picture of the band photo’ sleeve in the UK and the same 8-track line-up (same catalogue numbers too, the US artwork differed yet again). It is this late 1971 British variant that is used in this CD box set (artwork and track list as above). This is the 2001 Remaster done by Red Bullet.

CD2 - "Moving Waves" from 1971 and 1973 [aka "Focus II" in Europe] (41:40 minutes):

1. Hocus Pocus [Side 1] (Album Version at 6:42 minutes)

2. Le Clochard

3. Janis

4. Moving Waves

5. Focus II

6. Eruption [Side 2]

Tracks 1 to 6 are their second studio album "Moving Waves" - released October 1971 in the UK on Blue Horizon 2931 002 and January 1973 in the USA on Sire SAS 7401. It was re-launched on Polydor 2931 002 in the UK November 1972 and this version peaked on the UK charts at No. 2 (peaked at No. 6 in the US charts in January 1973). The CD remaster is 2001 by Red Bullet.

CD3 - "Focus III" from 1972, 2LP set (67:08 minutes – see NOTE):

1. Round Goes The Gossip [Side 1]

2. Love Remembered

3. Sylvia

4. Carnival Fugue

5. Focus III [Side 2]

6. Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers!

7. Elspeth Of Nottingham

8. Anonymus II [see NOTE re Sides 3 and 4 and playing times]

Tracks 1 to 6, 8, 7 and Track 5 on CD1 (in that order) make up the original double-album "Focus III" [aka "Focus 3"] - released November 1972 in the UK on Polydor 2659 016 and April 1973 in the USA on Sire SAS 3901 (in different artwork). It peaked at No. 6 in the UK and No. 35 in the States.

NOTE: on the original double-album "Anonymus II" was broken into two parts "Anonymus II (Part 1)" and Anonymus II (Conclusion)" and in fact spread across Side 3 and 4 of the 2LP set - Part 1 on Side 3 and the Conclusion at the beginning of Side 4. Here the 19:28 and 7:30 parts have been combined into one song at 26:24 minutes. Also the last song on Side 4 was "House Of The King" (sequenced 'after' "Elspeth Of Nottingham" on the original double) - but as it is featured on "In And Out Of Focus" CD - it's not included here. The remaster here is 2001 by Red Bullet.

CD4 - "Focus At The Rainbow" (1973 Live Album) (42:34 minutes):

1. Focus III [Side 1]

2. Answers" Questions! Questions? Answers!

3. Focus II

4. Eruption (Excerpt) [Side 2]

5. Hocus Pocus

6. Sylvia

7. Hocus Pocus (Reprise)

Tracks 1 to 7 are the live LP "Focus At The Rainbow" - released October 1973 in the UK on Polydor 2442 118 and November 1973 in the USA on Sire SAs 7408. It peaked at No. 23 in the UK and No. 132 in the USA.

CD5 - "Hamburger Concerto" from 1974 (43:07 minutes):

1. Delitiae Musicae [Side 1]

2. Harem Scarem

3. La Cathedrale De Strasbourg

4. Birth

5. Hamburger Concerto [Side 2]

6. Early Birth

Tracks 1 to 6 are their fourth studio album "Hamburger Concerto" - released August 1974 in the UK on Polydor 2442 124 and in the USA on Atco Records SD 36-100 (same month). It peaked at No. 20 in the UK and No. 66 in the USA.

CD6 - "Mother Focus" from 1975 (37:14 minutes):

1. Mother Focus [Side 1]

2. I Need A Bothroom

3. Bennie Helder

4. Soft Vanilla

5. Hard Vanilla

6. Tropic Bird

7. Focus IV [Side 2]

8. Someone's Crying...What!

9. All Together...Oh That!

10. No Hang Ups

11. Father Bach

Tracks 1 to 11 are their fifth studio album "Mother Focus" - released October 1975 in the UK on Polydor 2302 036 and September 1975 in the USA on Atco Records SD 36-117. It didn't chart in the UK, peaked at No. 152 in the USA. 

CD7 - "Ship Of Memories" from 1977 [unused 1973 material] (40:03 minutes):

1. P's March [Side 1]

2. Can't Believe My Eyes

3. Focus V

4. Out Of Vesuvius

5. Glider [Side 2]

6. Red Sky At Night

7. Spoke The Lord Creator

8. Crackers

9. Ship Of Memories

10. Hocus Pocus (U.S. Single Version)

Tracks 1 to 10 are a compilation album of older material "Ship Of Memories" recorded in England and Holland (mostly 1973, some 1970) - released June 1977 in the USA on Sire Records SAS 7531 and September 1977 in the UK on Harvest Records SHSP 4068. It didn't chart in the UK and peaked at No. 163 in the USA. It was released 1976 in their native Holland hence the copyright date of 1976 on the labels.

CD8 - "Focus Con Proby" from 1978 (48:11 minutes):

1. Wingless [Side 1]

2. Orion

3. Night Flight

4. Eddy

5. Sneezing Bull

6. Brother [Side 2]

7. Tokyo Rose

8. Maximum

9. How Long

Tracks 1 to 9 are the album "Focus Con Proby" - released January 1978 in the UK on Harvest Records SHSP 11721 and February 1978 in the USA on Harvest ST-11721 (didn't chart in either country). Five of the nine tracks feature English Vocalist PJ PROBY (Tracks 1, 4, 6, 7 and 9) and the band has PHILIP CATHERINE as its principal guitarist instead of Jan Akkerman. The album was released first in the Netherlands in 1977.

CD9 - "Jan Akkerman and Thijs Van Leer - Focus" from 1985 (59:34 minutes):

1. Russian Roulette [Side 1]

2. King Kong

3. Le Tango

4. Indian Summer

5. Beethoven's Revenge (Bach-One-Turbo-Overdrive) [Side 2]

6. Ole Judy

7. Who's Calling

Tracks 1 to 7 are the album "Jan Akkerman & Thijs Van Leer - Focus" - released August 1985 in the UK on LP and CD on Vertigo 824 524-1 and -2

CD10 - "Focus 8" from 2002 (59:12 minutes):

1. Rock & Rio

2. Tamara's Move (Allegro-Adagio-Allegro)

3. Fretless Love

4. Hurkey Turkey

5. De Ti O De Mi

6. Focus 8

7. Sto Ces Raditi Ostatac Zivota?

8. Neurotika - Rehearsal Take

9. Brother

10. Blizu Tebe

11. Flower Shower

Tracks 1 to 11 are recorded with Thijs Van Leer and a Focus tribute band who become the 'new' Focus - it was released as a 500-only signed private pressed LP in Holland in 2002 and reissued on CD by Red Bullet in 2006 (Red Bullet 66.252)

CD11 - "Focus 9 – New Skin" from 2006 (79:54 minutes):

1. Black Beauty

2. Focus 7

3. Hurkey Turkey

4. Sylvia's Stepson - Ubatuba

5. Niel's Skin

6. Just Like Eddy

7. Aya-Yuppie-Hippie-Yee

8. Focus 9

9. Curtain Call

10. Ode To Venus

11. European Rap(sody)

12. Pim

13. It Takes 2 2 Tango

14. Brazil Love

Tracks 1 to 14 are the album "Focus 9 - New Skin" - released September 2006 in the Netherlands on CD on Red Bullet RB 66.253

CD12 - "Focus X" from 2012 (49:39 minutes):

1. Father Bacchus

2. Focus 10

3. Victoria

4. Amok In Kindergarten

5. All Hens On Deck

6. Birds Come Fly Over (Le Tango)

7. Hoeratio

8. Talk Of The Clown

9. Message Magique

10. Crossroads

Tracks 1 to 10 are the album "Focus X" - released November 2012 in the Netherlands on CD on 4Worlds Media EW0123CD

CD13 - "The Best Of Focus" from 2001 (76:31 minutes):

1. Hocus Pocus [6:42 minutes Full Album Version]

2. Anonymus

3. House Of The King

4. Focus - Instrumental

5. Janis

6. Focus II

7. Tommy

8. Sylvia

9. Focus III

10. Harem Scarem

11. Mother Focus

12. Focus IV

13. Bennie Helder

14. Glider

15. Red Sky At Night

16. Hocus Pocus (U.S. Single Version)

Tracks 1 to 16 are the CD compilation "The Best Of Focus" - originally released June 1993 in the UK as "Hocus Pocus - The Best Of" on EMI CDP 8281622 (Barcode 724382816225) and reissued 2001 in the Netherlands as "The Best Of Focus - Hocus Pocus" on Red Bullet RB 66.194 (Barcode   8712944661941).

Once you get into the clamshell box - you notice with some irritation that "Focus 3" (their most successful and pivotal album) is a single card sleeve and not a gatefold, "Anonymus" is in the wrong place and suddenly one-track instead of two parts and the "Houses Of The King" song at the end of Side 4 is missing entirely from the CD (see NOTE above). Sure it's on both "In And Out Of Focus" and "The Best of" discs - but it wouldn't have taken a lot to sort this out - and playing time is not an issue here. The card sleeves for "At The Rainbow" is a single when it could have been a fold-over like the original and "In And Out Of Focus" takes a similarly lazy route - using the single-sleeve band-shot photo artwork for the reissue instead of the gatefold 'blue dots' original (see my separate review for the Japanese SHM-CD reissue of this - use Barcode 4988002565375 to locate the issue).

The Remasters are mostly the Red Bullet variants done in 2001 by IAN GILLESPIE at Tape One Studios in London (CDs 1 to 8 and CD13) - but there is an extra mention of PETER BRUSSEE at Q Point Studios in Hilversum in Holland for 'Remasters' without explaining what has done to what. Having said that they do sound good and at times - like on "Moving Waves", "Focus III" and "Mother Focus" - they sound spectacular. The stuff after 1985 is all recorded professionally anyway - so no problems audio wise there. And although that 13th disc does seem a tad superfluous to requirements when you've got CD 1 to 12 - it's handy to have it as a play-alone. The 40-page booklet features detailed Liner Notes by T J LAMMERS giving a breakdown of all albums - line-ups, track-by-track annotation and so on - all nestled amidst photos of the LPs and CDs, period Tour posters and photos, trade adverts, press clippings and so on. All you would need to know is here.

I'll admit that 1975's "Mother Focus" - I lost interest and don't know much of the later material. But then Focus were always about the mighty "Moving Waves", "Focus III" and "Hamburger Concerto" - all fabulous Prog Rock albums. That's not to say that the debut or the live set are slouchers - they're not. It's also odd for to hear "Anonymus" as one 26:24 minute track and not reach for that "Conclusion" on Side 4! Something like "Elspeth Of Nottingham" is hissy with the lute and birdsong - but still beautiful. And the 14-minute "Answers? Questions!..." is fantastic Prog Rock with Funky licks thrown in. As is that cool Akkerman guitar break 9-minutes into "Hamburger Concerto" that lasts for nearly eight more minutes – all of it sounding suitably chunky and awesome (his solos on both tracks justify his Best Guitarist award in the 1974 Melody Maker over other axe-Gods such as Jeff Beck, Rory Gallagher and Jimmy Page).

The Chipping Norton studios material recorded by Blue Horizon's label boss and producer Mike Vernon for the "Hamburger Concerto" album was shelved at the time as it was deemed not good enough (40 minutes of it) only to resurface as "Ship Of Memories" on Harvest Records along with outtakes that stretched as far back as the first LP from 1970. But I'd say that the 6-track issued LP is one of the great forgotten 'instrumental music' albums of the mid-70ts - a record made under serious duress with Akkerman and Van Leer having to be recorded in separate rooms lest they actually talk to each other. The funky Rock of Hamburger Concerto's "Harem Scarem" is an obvious ape of "Hocus Pocus" but still works on its own terms - Akkerman and Van Leer playing off each other like gooduns - replacement drummer Colin Allen coming up with the song title. "La Cathedrale De Strasbourg" has nice counter-point vocals that play off against sweet piano chords. Thijs gets to go all clavinet mad on the seven-minute "Birth" (a Funky-Rock gem in my book) - but the LP belongs to another "Anonymus" side-long type monster - the twenty-minute six-part title track "Hamburger Concerto". All ELP in its scope, you get Classical influences, Baroque and slinky Funky Rock - guitarist Akkerman and keyboardist Thijs Van Leer sharing the writing credits on this showstopper. After the slightly odd Pop album "Mother Focus" - we get the equally odd but quite wonderful collaboration album with singer PJ Proby where the little blighter sings his guts out on songs like "Wingless" and "Brother". Of the later stuff - I'd truly surprised at how good "Focus 8" is - Thijs Van Leer working with a Focus covers band whom he liked and ended up employing as - well Focus! "Fretless Love" and "Focus 8" show that old magic. And on it goes...

For sure there is way more Focus here than any average punter needs and you can't help feeling that with a bit better thought and presentation - this could have been a solid 5-star release. For the moment - I'm digging re-visits to old friends and discovering that they made some ones I should acquaint myself with in the later years too.

Yaddy ya, yaddy ya, bom, bom! Both Tommy and Sylvia would approve... 

"In The Land Of The Grey And Pink" by CARAVAN (February 2001 Universal/Decca 'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue - Paschal Byrne Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review Along With 100s Of Others Is Available in my

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THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT 1971... - Exceptional CD Remasters  

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Thousands of E-Pages - All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs 

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"...Grumbly Grimblies..."

Featuring the album "In The Land Of Grey And Pink" from 1971

It seems strange even now that in midst of spring 1971 (April to be exact) when all things Prog Rock really began to explode - that the release of Caravan's third and most beloved of album's "In The Land Of Grey And Pink" effectively tanked.

In fact Canterbury's finest (and Decca for that matter) would have to wait until album number seven "Cunning Stunts" to see some chart action - and even then it did so for one week in August 1975 at No. 50 and then buggered off again (they made a similarly anaemic entry in the States managing only No. 134 with the same LP). The band had played huge festivals in Europe after their second delightfully-titled platter from September 1970 "If I Could Do It All Again, I'd Do It All Over You" and built up a steady and fiercely loyal following at home in Blighty.

And while the Side Two 23-minute opus "Nine Feet Underground" is most definitely Proggy in nature - parts of Side One are more Pop than Avant Garde and even (dare we say it) 'pleasant'. Which is I suspect why the album has stuck in so many people's hearts ever since and remained on Decca and Universal's catalogue for nearly five decades now. So a little like Camel – Caravan have always skirted around the danger zones of success instead of kicking the doors in like Yes, ELP and Genesis did in those halcyon years of the early Seventies.

So what do you get? This quietly uplifting album still sounds poignant and wonderfully eccentric in a very English kind of way – here given a storming CD Remaster, genuinely decent Bonus Tracks and a hefty playing time. As the original Deram LP sleeve note royally pronounced on the 'Deluxe Edition' gatefold inner (the boys ambling over some hill somewhere with their hands raised in the air like some drugged-up pied-pipers) - "...Those of you who haven't heard the group before are in for a very enjoyable initiation." Amen to that baby - let's get to the grumbly grimblies...

UK released February 2001 - "In The Land Of Grey And Pink" by CARAVAN on Universal/Decca 8829832 (Barcode 042288298328) is a Reissue CD Remaster of their third album from 1971 with Five Bonus Tracks and plays out as follows (74:45 minutes):

1. Golf Girl [Side 1]

2. Winter Wine

3. Love To Love You (And Tonight Pigs Will Fly)

4. In The Land Of Grey & Pink

5. Nine Feet Underground [Side 2]

A 22:40-minute track consisting of the following sections:

Nigel Blows A Tune/Love's A Friend/Make It 76/Dance Of The Seven Paper/Hankies/Hold Grandad By The Nose/Honest I Did!/Disassociation/100% Proof 

Tracks 1 to 5 are their third studio album "In The Land Of Grey And Pink" - released April 1971 in the UK on Deram SDL-R 1 and July 1971 in the USA on London PS 593. Produced by DAVID HITCHCOCK – it didn’t chart in either country.

BONUS TRACKS:

6. I Don't Know Its Name (alias "The Word")

7. Aristocracy

8. It's Like To Have A Name Next Week (Instrumental of "Winter Wine")

9. Group Girl (First Version of "Golf Girl" with Different Lyrics)

10. Disassociation/100% Proof (New Mix)

Tracks 6 to 10 are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

CARAVAN was:

RICHARD SINCLAIR - Bass  and Acoustic Guitar and Vocals

PYE HASTINGS - Electric and Acoustic Guitars and Vocals

DAVID SINCLAIR - Organ, Piano, Mellotron, Harmony Vocals

JIMMY HASTINGS - Flute, Tenor Sax and Piccolo

DAVE GRINSTEAD - Cannon, Bell and Wind

RICHARD COUGHLAN - Drums and Percussion

The 12-page booklet features all the relevant original LP/reissue CD details these Decca reissues do - illuminated even further by superb MARK POWELL liner notes (he runs the Prog and Avant Garde specialist reissue label 'Esoteric Recordings' for Cherry Red) alongside Trade adverts for the album, a Scarborough concert poster from December 1971 with guests Hookfoot and DJ Compere John Peel, period photo and a repro of the inner sleeve's liner notes. Powell's liner notes detail the band's history from 1968 up to the fourth album "Waterloo Lily" and includes contributions from band members Pye and Hastings. It's all very well done - as is the wonderfully clear and meaty Remaster from original tapes by PASCHAL BYRNE. Those Sinclair keyboard flourishes as you get into the first nine-minutes of the epic "Nine Feet Underground" over on Side 2 are really punchy - the notes rising and falling with clarity as they sail out of your speakers. To the music...

The opening salvo of Canterbury whimsy "Golf Girl" was used as a Caravan representative track on the superb 2002 Universal Box Set "Legend Of A Mind - The Underground Anthology" (see separate review) and it's easy to hear why. With his preppy voice and lyrics about girls handing out cups of tea as he fancies a swing at her putting area - it's five minutes of cool swinging Mellotron-Rock-Pop. The acoustic guitar and vocal combo that opens the near eight-minutes of "Winter Wine" is gorgeous (a great transfer) and when the band kick-in - the punch is huge. Dragons roamed the land and knights in armour saved damsels in distress - "Winter Wine" has always been a smoking dream of a tune - nymphs dancing as the high-hats patter - young men dreaming of things to come (and don't you just love those piano roles as he sings 'you're close to me' followed by that brilliant-sounding organ solo). The 3-minute ditty "Love To Love You (And Tonight Pigs Will Fly)" is alarmingly Pop - like Caravan had suddenly become Marmalade by way of Sparks and 10cc.

Those mumbling voices that open the title track "In The Land Of Grey & Pink" are a little clearer now - Acoustic Guitars then introducing nasty grumbling grimblies climbing down your chimney - a lovely piano solo soothing your worst 'there are monsters in the stacks' fears. Speaking of which - you would think that a 22:40-minute song consisting of large amounts of keyboard soloing would test even the most committed - but the monster that is "Nine Feet Underground" confirms the flashes of brilliance evident in the instrumental passages of "Winter Wine" and more on Side 1. And it just has that 'Caravan' sound that I love so much - brilliant stuff.

I'm amazed at the quality of the Unreleased Material - great saxophone work on "I Don't Know Its Name..." - a six-minute ambler tune similar to "Winter Wine" recorded December 1970 at AIR Studios in London. "Aristocracy" opens with a few words of studio banter - another outtake recorded 14 December 1970 - falsetto vocals making them sound like The Moody Blues sniffing helium gas. But for me (and fans) the instrumental variant of "Winter Wine" is so damn cool - Sinclair humming the melody in lieu of actual lyrics - clashing symbols and shivering notes trundling along as they flesh out the tune - a fab keyboard solo awaiting you as it boogies to a finish. It's eight minutes of Caravan composing - at work - and its genuinely fascinating stuff.

Great album, fond memories, kicking audio and a cheap-as-chips price tag. Yummy. In the pink on this one - yes...

The UK and Europe 2000 to 2002 Universal CD

'Extended Edition' Reissues and Remasters for CARAVAN include:

1. "Caravan" (February 1969 Debut LP)

Released April 2002 on Universal/Verve Forecast 8829522 (Barcode 042288295228) - features Mono and Stereo LP Versions and A Bonus Track

2. "If I Could Do It All Over Again, I'd Do It All Over You" (September 1970)

Released February 2001 on Universal/Decca 8829682 (Barcode 042288296829) with Four Bonus Tracks

3. "In The Land Of Grey And Pink" (April 1971)

Released February 2001 on Universal/Decca 8829832 (Barcode 042288298328) with Five Bonus Tracks

4. "Waterloo Lily" (May 1972)

Released February 2001 on Universal/Decca 8829822 (Barcode 042288298229) with Three Bonus Tracks

5. "For Girls Who Grow Plump In The Night" (October 1973)

Released February 2001 on Universal/Deram 8829802 (Barcode 042288298021) with Five Bonus Tracks

6. "Caravan & The New Symphonia" (April 1974)

Released February 2001 on Universal/Decca 8829692 (Barcode 042288296928) with Four Previously Unreleased

7. "Cunning Stunts" (July 1975)

Released February 2001 on Universal/Decca 8829812 (Barcode 042288298120) with Three Bonus Tracks

8. "Where But For Caravan Would I"

A 2CD Anthology Covering 1968 to 1975 - released July 2000 on Decca 524 755-2 (Barcode 731452475527) includes Previously Unreleased material