In 1973 the continental (supposedly Dutch but I think there was a Belgian in there somewhere) jazz rock outfit, Focus, released a Live at the Rainbow album. The indefinite article is used advisedly as this venue in north London accommodated many artists who subsequently released live albums recorded there - Bob Marley, Queen, Iron Maiden, Thin Lizzy, Ian Gillan and Genesis, to name a few. There must have been something special about the place. Indeed, Pink Floyd performed the first live sets of Dark Side of the Moon there, also in ’73.
There is no doubt Focus were match fit and on fire the night they recorded their eponymous live offering. I first heard it in the late 70s and still get goose bumps from it. I sommetimes catch myself involuntarily humming progressions from the unimaginatively entitled Focus 3, that’s how deeply ingrained Jan Ackerman’s guitar notes are. To be brutally honest, I don’t listen to the rest of the album much anymore, it's as if that version of Focus 3 has moved across the face of my expectations to form some kind of musical eclipse. Only that hesitant, haunting opening will do.
But music has changed, right? And I don’t mean the organisation of the notes. Help me out here, point me at a recent live recording where all the notes are played by the people on the stage and they are delivered in a way that makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck. There should be loads right? The Lady Gaga band at Radio One’s Big Weekend, perhaps? Maybe, maybe so, but does anybody know who those guys are, or are they just the Gaga brand facilitators? She sure can belt it out but hasn’t celebrity taken music hostage here?
Bless Jane, she said it all when I started watching a rags-to-riches rockumentary about the American band, Kings of Leon. “I can’t bear it,” she said, “why would I want to watch them manufacturing their own legend?” From that point on I realised couldn’t watch it either, it was like, "tell me buddy, what makes your bro such a great guitarist?" "Well, Dave, now that you ask, I reckon it’s all down to your sickeningly, sycophantic and repetitious rhetoric. Don’t you?”
I don't mean to be mean, I quite liked them, but now I can’t even listen to them. It’s not Jane’s fault either, they just blew any cred they had by being a teeny weeny bit too media savvy and a whole lot too previous. I got as far as the bit where the open-top interviewmobile pulls up outside the humble hometown venue where they cut their rock teeth. Even the frontman looks a bit embarassed, like he wishes they would move on before anybody catches wind of the toe curling self-aggrandisement that was going on out front. "How did I get myself into this shit, dude?"
It's part of the deal, even celebrities have to do as they're told. Maybe they should do a Live at the Rainbow album and pay homage to some established rock legends. If they can nail a version of Focus 3, I'll have them back.
