Dutch rock band Focus have been a household name around the world for 50 years with hits such as ‘Hocus Pocus’, ‘House Of The King’, ‘Sylvia’, ‘Tommy’ and many more.
In honor of this massive band, Red Bullet Productions will release a new box set on November 13: Focus – 50 Years: Anthology 1970-1976, consisting of 9 CDs and 2 DVDs with remasters and previously unreleased material, including “Focus At The “Rainbow Party” movie from 1973.
This box set contains the entire work of Focus between 1970 and 1976, the years in which the band included four very talented musicians from the Netherlands in the 1970s: guitarist Jan Akkerman, keyboardist Thijs van Leer, bassist Bert Reuter, and drummer Pierre van Linden Abbey. .
During 1970-1976, Focus were the first continental European rock band to reach an international audience, touring extensively in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia and Japan. The band scored two international hits, sold millions of albums, and was the first Dutch rock band to win the 1972 Brightest Hope award from Melody Maker. A year later, Focus reached the US Billboard charts with two singles and two albums simultaneously.
“Focus – 50 Years: An Anthology 1970-1976” is compiled by Focus/Jan Akkerman, archivist Wouter Bessels, and collects new versions of their first seven albums, plus single releases, b-sides, alternate mixes, demos, raw studio mixes and Something before live recordings were released. Additionally, the two DVDs contain over 4 hours of audio-visual material from the archives of global television broadcasters, as well as the highly anticipated first official release of the 1973 “Focus At The Rainbow” concert film, meticulously remastered from the original film. 16 mm.
Contents:
- First 7 albums – released between 1970 and 1976 – 24-bit remastered from the original tapes
- Single versions, B-sides, alternate mixes, demos and previously unreleased bonus tracks
- CD containing the first official release of BBC In Concert 1973 – in stereo from BBC archive tapes
- CD containing 80 minutes of previously unreleased Focus concert recordings from 1971 to 1975
- Two DVDs containing the 1973 Focus At The Rainbow concert film – restored and remastered from the original 16mm film, two test broadcasts of BBC Old Gray Whistle from 1972 and BBC In Concert from 1974. Plus rare footage of Focus Live in Dublin 1973, and various clips, the “Goud van Oud” reunion from 1990 and the “Focus 2 Classic Albums” documentary from 1997
- An 80-page booklet containing a history of the band, liner notes and assorted memorabilia.
Focus – 50 Years: Anthology 1970-1976 is available from November 13 at all major retailers, such as Bol.com.
