When you talk about Focus, you come away with an appreciation of enviable talents, extraordinary music, and a respect for the cohesive skills the members of Focus arrived at to give the world great albums.
On November 13, the Dutch label, Red Bullet, will release an expansive boxed set for Focus called 50 Years: Anthology 1970-1976. It will explore the world of Focus from their first 7 albums newly 24-bit remastered for this set, and add in a batch of bonus tracks that include B-sides, alternate takes and mixes, single edits, and unreleased tracks. in addition, there will be a CD of unreleased concert performance tracks from 1971-1975, and a previously unreleased BBC concert from 1973. 2 DVDs will be packed in featuring the full 1973 film of Focus At The Rainbow. The film is newly remastered for this set. Finally, an 80-page book will be included with photos, new notes and essays, and memorabilia from the period represented here.
The albums are collected and remastered by famed archivist, Wouter Bessels, who has been previously involved in the two Tangerine Dream archival box sets.
50 Years: Anthology 1970-1976 – Focus
CD1 (Focus Plays Focus/ In and Out of Focus [1970])
01 Focus (instrumental)
02 Why Dream
03 Happy Nightmare (Mescaline
04 Anonymus
05 Black Beauty
06 Sugar Island
07 Focus (vocal)
Bonus Tracks
08 House Of The King
09 Eruption (Live Lanx 1970) 37.31 (Previously Unreleased)
CD2 (Focus II/ Moving Waves [1971])
01 Hocus Pocus
02 Le Clochard (Bread)
03 Janis
04 Moving Waves
05 Focus II
06 Eruption (Orfeus – Answer – Orfeus – Answer – Pupilla – Tommy – Pupilla – Answer – The Bridge – Euridice – Dayglow – Endless Road – Answer – Orfeus – Euridice)
Bonus Tracks
07 Hocus Pocus (single version)
08 Tommy (single version)
09 Focus I (Live Texel 1971) 14.11 (Previously Unreleased)
CD3 (Focus 3 [1972])
01 Round Goes The Gossip…
02 Love Remembered
03 Sylvia
04 Carnival Fugue
05 Focus III
06 Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers!
07 Anonymus II (Part 1)
08 Anonymus II (Conclusion)
09 Elspeth Of Nottingham
Bonus Tracks
10 Sylvia (single version)
11 Love Remembered (single version)
12 Hocus Pocus (US single version)
CD4 At The Rainbow [1973])
01 Focus III
02 Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers!
03 Focus II
04 Eruption (Orfeus – Answer – Orfeus – Answer – Pupilla – Tommy – Pupilla)
05 Hocus Pocus
06 Sylvia
07 Hocus Pocus – reprise
Bonus Tracks
08 P’s March (original mix – single version) (Previously Unreleased)
09 Ship Of Memories (original mix) (Previously Unreleased)
10 P’s March (original mix – full version) (Previously Unreleased)
CD5 (Hamburger Concerto [1974])
01 Delitiæ Musicæ
02 Harem Scarem
03 La Cathédrale de Strasbourg
04 Birth
05 Hamburger Concerto (Starter – Rare – Medium I – Medium II – Well Done – One For The Road)
Bonus Tracks
06 Early Birth
07 Harem Scarem (single version)
08 Birth (alternate mix)
09 Harem Scarem (alternate mix)
CD6 (Mother Focus [1975])
01 Mother Focus
02 I Need A Bathroom
03 Bennie Helder
04 Soft Vanilla
05 Hard Vanilla
06 Tropic Bird
07 Focus IV
08 Someone’s Crying… What!
09All Together… Oh That!
10 No Hang Ups
11 My Sweetheart
12 Father Bach
Bonus Tracks (Previously Unreleased)
13 Focus IV (rough mix)
14 Bennie Helder (rough mix)
15 Vanilla (rough mix)
16 Mother Focus (rough mix)
17 All Together… Oh That! (rough mix)
18 My Sweetheart (rough mix)
19 Someone’s Crying… What! (rough mix)
20 Studio 55 Jam
CD7 (Ship of Memories [1976])
01 P’s March
02 Can’t Believe My Eyes
03 Focus V
04 Out Of Vesuvius
05 Glider
06 Red Sky At Night
07 Spoke The Lord Creator
08 Crackers
09 Ship Of Memories
Bonus Tracks
10 Elektrisch Levenslicht (Neerlands Hoop in Bange Dagen)
11 The Shrine Of God (Ramses Shaffy with group Focus)
12 Watch The Ugly People (Ramses Shaffy with group Focus)
13 House Of The King (rough mix version 1)
14 House Of The King (rough mix version 2)
15 Focus III (unreleased single version)
16 Hocus Pocus (US single version – takes 14-17)
17 Glider (single version)
18 P’s March (single version)
19 O Avondrood
20 Crackers (vocal version
CD8 (Focus BBC 1973 – Paris Theatre, London January 17, 1973) Previously Unreleased
01 Focus III
02 Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers!
03 Focus II
04 Anonymus II
05 Focus I
06 Hocus Pocus
07 Sylvia – Hocus Pocus (reprise)
CD9 (Live 1971-1975)
01 Eruption (Live Rotterdam 1971) [AVRO radio at the Newport Jazz Festival, Grote Zaal, De Doelen, Rotterdam, 29th October 1971]
02 Birth [Recorded at the Festival Hall, Osaka, 2nd July 1974]
[Recorded at Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, 21st June 1975]
03 Improvisation #1
04 House Of The King
05 Improvisation #2
06 Hocus Pocus
DVD1 (Focus Sight & Sound Volume 1) [Previously Unreleased]
01 BBC The Old Grey Whistle Test (May 1972)
02 BBC The Old Grey Whistle Test (December 1972)
03 Focus At The Rainbow (May 1973)
04 BBC In Concert (April 1974)
DVD2 (Focus Sight & Sound Volume 2) [Previously Unreleased]
01 NOS Van Gewest Tot Gewest (July 1970)
02 NOS Uit De Kunst (June 1972)
03 RTE The Music Makers: Focus at the Stadium (November 1973)
04 VARA Nederpopzien (December 1973)
05 AVRO Toppop: Harem Scarem (May 1974)
06 AVRO Toppop: O Avondrood (June 1976)
07 Veronica Goud van Oud (April 1990)
08 NCRV Classic Albums: Moving Waves (June 1997)