Focus - Sylvia {extremely rare, surprise ending} (Old Grey Whistle Test 1972)

Focus the Band home page:
www.focustheban...
Jan Akkerman home page:
www.janakkerman...
Facebook:
/ 197272485986

[@larryshepherd5380]

Jan's guitar playing is so clean and smooth. One of, if not, the best guitarist ever.

[@TheBadger1957]

Remember seeing them on WT as a 14 year old, went and bought the album the next day, first one i'd ever bought, still have it, very well used.

[@jameskeenan3990]

Where has the originality gone in rock, exciting times, love the memories and the time of discovering bands like this.

[@shangri-la-la-la]

Where it always has been. In the underground.

[@jameskeenan3990]

@@shangri-la-la-la where would you suggest I look?

[@acrobaticcripple8176]

Money money money, and brain deterioration. Not forgetting Simon Cowell!!!

[@ferruccio4531]

it's not the originality that has gone, it's your youth.

[@MrSpankee02]

There’s a lot of good jam bands out there, also interesting new prog stuff . Check out king gizzard and the lizard wizard.

[@lazycalm41]

At one time in the 70's Jan was voted best guitarist in the world in the music papers and rightly so. I used to love watching the Whistle Test back then. Great, wonderful, creative bands the likes of which we will definitely NOT see in this century!

[@totaltwit]

Indeed, Jan was very skilled. That's why I could never "get" any of the other "guitar heros" at the time. Then as my musicanship skills got better, I realised the other guys were also very skilled! yikes!

[@BorislavVeselinov]

Gojira and vampire weekend are just as great.

[@mickeymouse6360]

Good times gone mate 👍🏻 loved Whistle Test 👍🏻

[@rockdinosaur666]

Spot on as the crap masquerading as music these days is throwaway, disposable, instantly forgettable trash. The wannabees of this millenium would actually have to learn to play an instrument correctly. No chance of that.

[@lazycalm41]

@@rockdinosaur666 I totally agree with you on that 100%

[@dietmarsimon]

'Focus' and 'Yes' set the fundaments of my musical education that had been widened by 'The Allman Brothers Band'. Still love them all until today.

[@ksjoyjespeace]

Remember that Jan Ackermann guested on Peter Banks' solo lp "Two Sides of Peter Banks" 1973, so good !!!!

[@ksjoyjespeace]

Jan Akkernann !!!

[@terrypussypower]

Jan Akkerman was the first player I’d seen that had added a Filtertron pickup to a Les Paul. It looked so out of place, yet sounded so great, that it stuck in my head. That was back in the 1970’s when “The Old Grey Whistle Test” was first on BBC 2!

[@entubadao]

Gracious goodness... 50 yrs back this great band came to us... Time is fainting smoke...

[@worldnotworld]

Stumbled upon this, and for the first minute or so I thought this was a cover or a rip-off of some long-forgotten piece from my childhood... until I realized it was _exactly_ that long-forgotten piece from my childhood!

[@wmrxb15]

Awesome! What a feeling that must've been!

[@worldnotworld]

@MichaelKingsfordGray Why, thank you, Shakespeare

[@mickscan2]

I used to watch the Whistle Test every week religiously. I have vivid memories of seeing Focus's performance. I spent all my pocket money on the Focus at the Rainbow vinyl. 40 odd years later I'm here still enjoying their music. Life is good😀

[@cafeamrcan]

what a legend you are mate. i am at my 20s and i found them on my local cd shop and till this day i am proud i found out about them. Akkerman is top guitarist for me and van leer for me is very talented men i still wished if i was born back then to go to their live preformances :(

[@paulmcpherson8512]

Weren't the 70s just great .

[@johanstaelens5194]

There will never be another decade as good and creative as the seventies, so lucky i was a teenager back then !

[@Wilantonjakov]

And it's only ever got worse and worse.

[@Chazthefurr]

@@johanstaelens5194 except maybe the 60s?

[@paulroberts9675]

Not just great,the 70s were the best!

Of course they were...no doubt about It...👍👍

[@stewartgray4301]

I remember watching this on the whistle test. Next morning I bought Focus 3.

[@Omega21456]

Stewart Gray So did I!

[@mickscan2]

Me too😀

[@russcoleman2338]

Focus 3 Great double album....

[@johnsurrey7426]

Just as well they weren’t called Lamborghini...

[@paulwestwell7160]

I played it so much that I wore it out and had to buy a second copy. How many of today’s bands could produce a quality double album?

[@stephenhudson7039]

Saw them in Sheffield 1972. Awesome.

[@paullee5573]

I saw them live about that time, at a music festival. It was at a racecourse and I cannot, for the life of me, remember whether it was Kempton or Sandown. But I do remember that one of the grandstands, a temporary affair made out of scaffolding, collapsed injuring a number of people.

[@CUTTHORPE]

So did I :)

[@probablygraham]

Fell in love with Sylvia the first time I heard it, and Hocus Pocus was one of the most unique tracks of all time. I would love to have seen Whispering Bob's reaction to this. I expect he put a tiny smile on his lips and raised an eyebrow a thousandth of an inch.

[@Eleventhearlofmars]

Anything progressive and he was all for it.

[@josephdavidcairns1917]

I caught them live a while back Van Leer and Pierre Van Der Linden were really approachable. Van Leer even introduced me to his wife (she was selling merchandise) wonderful gig just a shame that Jan wasn't with them but the young guitarist they had with them (Menno Gootjes) was superb.

[@thepub245]

Beautiful tune. First heard it back in the early 70's when I was just a kid.

[@ngumbao6252]

Always Jan can tell a whole story with his guitar, but the group was so much in front of her time

[@manfred747]

I was at London University in the early 70s. A friend came back from Amsterdam raving about this new group and when they came to England we saw them several times at the Marquee and elsewhere. Akkerman was amazing. My friend smuggled a tape recorder in to the Marquee with the microphone up his coat sleeve - wish I could find the tape!

[@johnsulistyo9856]

Always love 70's rock music since the beginning.....

[@roycraggs2058]

Now that's the sort of "focus group" I can relate to. Glad to be born in '58.

[@jameskeenan3990]

Me too, nice timing for us, those days are gone my friend, except in our memories.

[@hubertmantz1516]

Absolutely super!!👍🏽 one of my favourite Focus tunes 👏🏼

[@TheMrmartind40]

Still in my top 5 favorites. This Van Lear and Jan Akerman were brilliant.

[@SaveWithCrypto]

The first gig I ever went to: Focus, Victoria Hall, Hanley, Staffs. January 19,1973. I was 11 years old!

[@Soundchaser2010]

In a interview with Rolling Stone, when they asked Eric Clapton who was the best guitarist, without hesitation he said Jan Akkerman....I really enjoy his latest stuff, as well as his album The Noise of Art

[@jamesallen6220]

I have the Noise of Art, superb album.

[@thepub245]

Hmm... I have seen this comment before when Clapton was allegedly asked the same question and he replied Prince. Another time it was someone else. Seems he changed his mind a lot. Or this is a bullshit comment.

[@oldbatwit5102]

@@thepub245 Don't know about that but Hendrix seemed to pick a different guy every time he was asked the same question.

[@GreenDistantStar]

@@oldbatwit5102 Hendrix didn't nominate anyone, just lots of people saying he did, and a different guitarist every time.

[@oldbatwit5102]

@@GreenDistantStar You may well be right. He was never shy of praising other guitarists.

[@RonMcKenzie-bw7iq]

Remember playing this in my band. (hammond organ B3 and Leslie 122). Absolutely love the key changes and modulations jumping through F to G to A and back.

[@paulbush8881]

Jan Akerman brilliant guitarist went on to make some great solo albums

[@jean-pierrejipi5720]

👍

[@bigal1863]

Sylvia! My favorite Focus tune. Jan Akkerman is great!

[@erezcohen5453]

Great band playing a masterpiece!

[@goldenbollox2713]

I saw these guys open at the Oval music Fest 1972? A day to remember with ELP & Wishbone Ash closing.

[@gregthomas1346]

Not all Dutch masters were painters. Great stuff ( however brief )

[@flyboysteven9979]

some were cigars

[@MrToontuber]

great drummer

[@jongilbertson2106]

@@flyboysteven9979 Your joke was perfecto!

[@mgw9562]

Ok that explains it! Thank you

[@marceibel1131]

Brilliant comment..

[@johnjackman7946]

Wow...how did I miss this band growing up. I love these guys.

[@joycegeertsma7115]

Was waiting for the surprise ending.. never expected it to be a bum note from Jan!! And the look on Thijs's face.. A surprise ending indeed. Never seen this footage before. Thanks for the upload. Love Focus. Also Earth & Fire and Kayak. The 70's were the golden age for Dutch (progressive) rock.

[@synthonaplinth5980]

Finch, Solution, Pantheon, Groop 1650, Supersister and Ekseption weren't bad either....

[@johno4521]

Obviously not the take that was aired; a bit chaotic with Jan trying to tune his guitar half way through!

[@onyertod]

Glasgow 10 Jan 73. The small venue was Clouds, basically a dance hall. Unforgettable.

[@dodibenabba1378]

The great Jan Akkerman hitting a bum note! Didn't happen often. Great track.

[@fmtfniuprog8029]

On guitar solos he gave and continues to give a lot of "bum notes", but he will always be one of my favorite guitarists...!

[@onemoremisfit]

I think he had trouble with a string slipping out of tune, he was interrupted to grab a tuning machine at 1:39 then train wrecked about 22 seconds later on a simple 3 notes on the same tone passage, it sounded like the 3rd note just slipped way out of tune.

[@totaltwit]

Not wishing to over analyse every breath. I noticed when Jan messed, he smirked to Pierre vdL whom I gather was a friend, kinda cutting Thijs out of the joke. Anyway it does not matter. We want the best for all of them.

[@dodibenabba1378]

@@fmtfniuprog8029 "A lot" is pushing it, you aren't recognised as a guitar great and had a career for over fifty years if you hit "a lot" of bum notes! 🙄😂

[@Fexobs]

@@dodibenabba1378 A lot of `Jazz' notes maybe, not exactly `wrong'

[@malcolmlane-ley2044]

After 27 years apart I met up with my teenage best friend again just before his 50th birthday in 2010, I wanted to give him something special so I gave him my 1973 pressing of Focus at the Rainbow, we were both massive fans; he's mysteriously fucked off again somewhere as usual but hopefully he still cherishes it!

[@kipling1957]

Shockingly, I had forgotten about this track that I was nuts about as a teenager.

[@jimmcgonigal]

When I saw Focus a few years back, we were staying in the same hotel and had drinks after the gig. Thijs was talking about this OGWT recording. He said the tiny room size doesn't come across on screen, e.g. the amp cabinets - stuck right next to each other, Jan's guitar neck close to the organ.

[@davidwilkinson6949]

Saw them in Whitby last year they are playing again in November there will be going subject to corona virus

[@LeeRaldar]

I was a merchant seaman during the seventies and think this is the only TV program I watched when on leave during that decade.

[@cecim2111]

Recuerdo mis quince años escuchando este tema..espectacular...sublime!! La buena música nunca pasa...esta ahí para escucharla...

[@monstersince]

my sisters focus export e.p. is not just rare its unique as she left it in a car and it warped in the sun. priceless

[@eddyforest3060]

i like the rock songs of the 70 👍

[@caeserromero3013]

One of those tunes you hear from time to time on TV. I tracked it down a few years ago and then forgot it. It came into my head again last night and I couldn't remember who it was by, but managed to find it again. I've saved the video this time.

[@ricklime5392]

Haven't heard this in decades - thanks for the upload!

[@christopherbentley5216]

Who remembers Focus at Friars- Aylesbury. November 1972? Then a 12 mile walk home for me

[@magiccat4316]

My first single

[@peterlorimer3552]

Mine was Paranoid by Black Sabbath. ... would that we could turn the clock back.

[@SteveChiverton]

A few days ago I was chatting to a friend about shows we'd like to see brought back and at first we agreed on The Old Grey Whistle Test, but then sadly realised that there is not a single band around today worthy of appearing on it!

[@5762dg]

Nor without Whispering Bob Harris

[@kenderen3736]

I used to listen to this group group way back. still do. It's nice to see this.

[@jasenwright1178]

I got my parents to go to bed so I could watch the OGWT. Focus were introduced and this was the outcome ! I'll never forget! As soon as I had some money I bought the album. Skint but happy days!

[@seanmcconkey72]

Today's chart musicians aren't even worthy of drinking the artists who appeared on the OGT's piss. True story.

[@robgrainger5314]

Important to remember though that this wasn't exactly chart music back then either. Top of the Pops did the charts and singles. The Whistle Test showcased more interesting works.

[@tonywalton1464]

@@robgrainger5314 Interesting enough to reach No. 4 in the Singles Chart. Us boomers had taste 😉

[@alnwill]

One of my favourite bands, and one of their best songs. I prefer their studio recordings because Jan gets a bit excited during live performances, and the songs can sound very different from the studio recording, but I really do admire his guitar work.

[@troublesomecorsair]

Another gold nugget!

[@JT-gm4fk]

Seriously? They're all over the place, theres no continuity

[@Aengus42]

Focus were so underrated! I had Focus-Live at the Rainbow on cassette until I wore it out!

[@onazram1]

There it is, of course...

[@thedolphin5428]

I love how TVL's head is bobbing at quaver speed, not the simple 4/4 that most musos would be tapping their foot to keep inner time. Shows his fast his mind is driving his music.

[@alangeorgebarstow]

Do you mean TVL's head? [Typo van Leer?] :•)

[@onemoremisfit]

His head is bobbing eighths instead of quarters, in time with the drummer's hi-hat.

[@thedolphin5428]

@@onemoremisfit Yeah, sorry, you're right. Eighths.

[@jenniferlang1393]

I just thought he was being eccentric!!🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

[@scottbusby9321]

This was in the pop charts!!!! Did I dream it!!!!? Jan Akkerman maybe the greatest guitarist ever…… maybe. Just tuning up how he did in this is a sight to behold.

[@tonywalton1464]

No dream - it reached No. 4 in the UK Singles Chart. People had taste back then!

[@raemenp]

:-) marvellous- still - 50 yrs later

[@grahammaguire404]

The 70s was a decade when everyone and everything in the ROCK GENRE broke out of the CHRYSALIS and blew everything away like never before ...after so very much special nuturing.....mother nature gave us a magical decade that still rings true in 2021 and beyond.....👍 .."Play at maximum volume"and more !!!!! "EPIC and Outstanding"

[@jeffj9322]

Happy Birthday Jan Akkerman born on December 24, 1946. He is a Dutch guitarist. He first found international commercial success with the band Focus, which he co-founded with Thijs van Leer. - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Akkerman

[@mikelawrence6840]

this track had a deep effect on me when i was 13 i was spellbound!

[@sergeantcrow]

" Focus !" The missus often says that to me.... I'll send her this excellent track by an excellent band...

[@luxien7681]

Teenage memories from the 70's.

[@krugmeister7301]

A Very Underrated Band ...They WERE AWESOME.!

[@vano758]

My goodness!!!! Van Leer's as high as a kite!!!!))))) So funny to see it. Thanks for posting.

[@jimbrown5552]

Watching from Ireland

[@malcolmgregory9882]

How brilliant to hear again. Oh to be back there again watching this on Whistle test

[@dambuster6387]

Great guitarist , pace, expression and timing.

[@ieuandavies4134]

I remember doing circuit training to this at school!

[@pmould0007]

Power cuts were common place in the early '70s. We always kept a box of candles in the house.

[@maddog8621]

It was kind of exciting for a 12 year old. But a travesty to do it during Sylvia

[@caduamvf2009]

Thank you !

[@IThinkYouLookLarvely]

Wow, this is rare (and I have the Focus Anthology DVD). Great clip, thanks for posting. This must be just before the definitive performance which went into the "We'd like to wish you a Merry Christmas" version of Hocus Pocus :D

[@user-ky6vw5up9m]

was a No. 1 Single UK In 1972 for some weeks

[@Steeyuv]

Now I know where Al diMeola got his strumming technique!

[@garybrockwell2031]

Remember this, haven't herd it for to long?? Great stuff cheers🙏💯🇬🇧🎵🎶☠️🤬

[@peterturley1331]

Dutch Masters Indeed 💜😪💔

[@BrianBurberry-ku7xl]

Saw this group at Guildford in 1973 Superb group

[@seabud6408]

Ritchie Blackmore hardly ever complimented any contemporary guitarists apart from Jeff Beck but he thought Jan was great. Spot on Ritchie ... he is. Saw them on their first big U.K. tour. Fantastic ... a largely instrumental group who really got a crowd going through sheer infectious energy, talent, spontaneity. No one sounds like Jan Ackerman.

[@cecilkeebler4254]

When I saw Deep Purple on their Perfect Strangers tour, the one of the songs being played over the PA before Deep Purple took the stage and things getting sorted after the opening act was House of the King by Focus which I got a big kick out.

[@jamessim1858]

Thank F..K for that HaHa

[@Jadykov]

brilliant focus!!

[@felixfelix7447]

I love these whistle test run throughs. I enjoyed watching Alice cooper doing under my wheels over and over.... fascinating 😊

[@robertdevoy3119]

When Hocus Pocus was a hit on the radio I bought their Moving Waves Lp....fantastic album. So naturally I bought Focus 3 when it came out. It gets my vote for the greatest fusion album ever made. Followed by GoodGod with their one and only album on Atlantic Records 1972. Recorded at the great Sigma Sound Studio in Philadelphia.

[@regendier]

thanks

[@philipodowd227]

Remember it.Good God but im a serious auld fella now with a ton of years and memories and all sorts of what notts no one is interested in but i can now listen to this on a park bench with ear phones,amazn.

[@sammyrothrock6981]

Jan is one of the greatest prog rock fusion guitarists ever

[@oscarmorel9815]

Temazo buen grupo recuerdos a montones buenos momentos

[@raymondvaughan6262]

When music was music no auto tune saw focus years ago brilliant live all brilliant musicians have to work hard to get somewhere not like today just 10 a penny famous with no talent at all 70.s had some great bands saw jan akkerman also guitar show brilliant guitarist 👍

[@pinkponyofprey1965]

thijs van leer would probably be one among a very few actually passing the actual whistle test? :D mr akkerman's guitarisms should never be overlooked! o_0

[@shanefunnell542]

Beautiful track love

[@YouDummy]

So rare it's not even on KZbin

[@paulbuxton1326]

The best 🙏🇬🇧🎼

[@TheBudgie29]

I would be lucky to be able to stay up till early hours (Dad worked nights), and watch these great shows. And others like "Lift Off, The Dolly Parton show, Bobbie Gentry show, Kasey Kasum's Billboard hot 100, and loads of others (Mostly wiped now). I would write down the music I heard, and race to the record shop on the Saturday, and order them, They used to still be able to order brand new copy's of old records, from the 50's, 60's and early 70's called "Old New Stock". I still have them, and some are now worth a Lot of money (so I am told) great times.

[@Still1Going2Strong]

happy sound

[@footofjuniper8212]

Didn't realize they stopped because this was just a rehearsal or camera test or something. At first I thought they were just being artsy and different, and I was actually kind of impressed.

[@kirkhunter146]

They stopped because Jan's guitar was out of tune, he tries to retune the top e as he's playing then hits a clunker and they stop playing

[@markroffe3967]

What a GREAT band! Pierre Van Der Linden!

[@tero748]

great drummer

[@drumdad54sdl47]

Absolutely. Pierre VanDerLinden is still the drummer in Focus to this day.

[@bernardjharmsen304]

Attentive listener and eye contact always. Combines rock, jazz and latin rhythms with a swinging, driving power. Very dynamic too; soft and loud.

[@aaddrriiaannful]

FANTASTIC

[@thomasdugdale424]

Give me this instead of today's videos

[@roflized]

Couldn't agree more

[@michaelmccartney8506]

Yes. It’s a bad dream.

[@geraldfriend256]

Man I was just thinking about how'Hocus Pocus' their biggest song by far was toungue in cheek satire of the very same prog rock genre they are known for...so I am already convinced that this was quite intentional.Guys on that level aren't going to end on a clam note yet stop at precisely that moment.This is some brilliant sctuff that doesn't take itself too seriously.Oh, and Jan's tone..Gretsch filtertron pickups on a Gibson Les Paul.. Just wow.

[@RO8s]

Hocus Pocus was a studio jam. They were mucking about, warming up for a session. They liked it so much they kept it.

[@bethkelly6126]

Just keep playing. People will like it no matter what.

[@xtenkfarpl]

Right. It's not a mistake, it's jazz.

[@stephensmith799]

Made sure of watching this … colour TV being still new at the time…

[@deanevangelista6359]

European progressive rock and fusion from the 1970s is grand!

[@JonnyTheLeprechaun]

Lucky lucky girl, that Sylvia.

[@sunlion8866]

INCREDIBLE individual talents here sporting THE favorite Focus lineup of all-time--Jan Akkerman, Thijs van Leer, bassist Burt Ruiter and drummer Pierre van der Linden.