focus Archive

I can’t point to specific reasons as to why this is the case, but in recent months there has been more than the typical amount of really good music finding its way onto my desk here at Musoscribe World Headquarters. What that means, of course, is that it’s time once again for a clutch of

Farewell Milwaukee – FM Style: heartland jangle-rock Jangling guitars, good-timin’ harmonica, well-worn chord changes … those are the key ingredients in the musical recipe for this album. Familar echoes of John Mellencamp, R.E.M., Gin Blossoms are found throughout the thirteen tracks. But there’s more at work, too: “Figure You out” has a nice southern soul

American audiences know Focus – if they know the Dutch progressive group at all – for their left-field 1971 hit single “Hocus Pocus.” Yeah, the one with the yodeling, whistling, accordion and hard-rocking guitar. But the group’s career started before that (in the late 60s, actually) and continues to this day, albeit with some lineup