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Progressive Rock CD Reviews

Focus

Focus 12

Review by Gary Hill

Focus is an act that has quite a legacy. It seems they have been around forever. During that tenure they have continued to release exceptional material. This new album continues he tradition. This is a fully instrumental set that lands most often near fusion, but there is a range here. There are some really strong pieces here, and nothing is weak.

This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2024  Volume 3 More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2024.

Track by Track Review
Fjord Focus
This drives right in with some absolutely smoking hot fusion jamming. This is so classy and works through a number of changes.
Focus 13

Starting with some less intense music, that holds the track for a while. This powers out into some more driving fusion as it continues. There are some guitar-led jam band styled parts later. There is some scorching hot guitar work on this thing.

Béla

Jazz piano starts this and holds it for a while. Eventually we get more of a full group treatment that has elements of fusion and jam band sound built into it. It's sort of a mid-tempo piece that works quite well.

Meta Indefinita

Perhaps more purely jazz based, this cut has some fusion angles. It's got a nice balance between mellower and louder modes. The flute brings some magic, and this gets exploratory and artsy at times.

All Aboard

Now this is a big contrast. It's still very artsy. It has plenty of fusion, too. It also gets into some pretty hard-rocking prog zones. at times. It's a highlight of the set for me. It has some exceptional instrumental work built into it.

Born To Be You

Exploratory piano with a very artsy approach is on the menu here. In fact, this is a nearly two-minute long piano solo.

Nura

This piece has mellower, classically based sections and more fusion-like parts that are more intense. It turns out to a jam that has a real Southern rock turned fusion vibe, too.

Bowie

Here we get another piano solo. There is plenty of jazz along with classical music built into this.

Positano

A mellow, piano and acoustic guitar based arrangement makes up a big chunk of this track. Around the halfway mark it shifts to something closer to a folk prog meets world music kind of thing. That eventually gives way to some driving, jam band like rock.

Gaia

A lot of this seems to have  jazz meets classical approach. They take it to something more playful later that has an almost Island vibe at times.

 
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