Sorry Martin, I'm not trying to put down Focus. In using the term
novelty song, I was describing how it came across to me - the feelings,
reaction, and limited understanding of the loutish youth that I was in
the mid 1970s. From your statement, it obviously appeared much earlier
than. I didn't have the discernment to have appreciated the finesse of
the performances on the track. I could listen to it now, and probably
be able to appreciate the capability and effort involved, but not back
then. And the yodeling would still put me off.
This list, and the previous, are the only forums that I've heard anyone
mention Focus in a positive light (or any at all, for that matter) since
their glory days of mid-western American airplay on FM radio. There was
no one recommending that I listen to this band and as a result my
curiosity about them was never piqued. It has been now, and though I
have a feeling that it still won't be my cup of tea, I'll give them a
fair listen. If you (or anyone) have any recommendations, I'll do my
best to track them down.
And if by some miraculous stroke of fate (or conspiracy), Yellow
Submarine were the only Beatles track I had ever heard, I would still be
walking around today, wondering what the fuck all the fuss was about ;-)
best,
johnb
tronbros@aol.com wrote:
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>
> Hocus Pocus may be a novelty song (as is Yellow Submarine and quite a
> few by the Who) but you can't stop at that. The playing on Hocus is
> wonderful and it should have made you enquire more! When Focus played
> that song on BBC back in '71, the entire Polydor pressing plants were
> turned over to producing Moving Waves. The live performance was
> astonishing, funny and impressive.
>
> Best,
>
> Martin
>
> *Streetly Electronics - All Things Mellotronic
> www.mellotronics.com <http://www.mellotronics.com/>*
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>
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