Freedom to Music
Posts tagged Pierre van der Linden
Brainbox – Brainbox (1969) (@320)
04 Apr 2008
Request of Blacknapkins.
(Review from progarchives.com)
Part of a vibrant Amsterdam pop music scene in the late sixties with their harder edged blend of psychedelic rock and Chicago blues, Dutch band Brainbox paid hommage to both American and British Contemporaries while at the same time developing their own more progressive brand of pop music.
Brainbox was formed in 1968 shortly after guitarist Jan Akkerman and drummer Pierre van der Linden joined 19 year-old singing prodigy Kazmierz “Kaz” Lux.
While Lux’s emotive voicings sounded similar to contemporary blues rocker counterparts such as Rory Gallager and Joe Cocker, when fused with Akkerman’s immaginative guitar the result was a blistering meltdown of emotive blues and heavy rock with jazz attitudes. They experimented with interpretations of the music of George Gershwin, Tim Hardin as well as Simon and Garfunkel in addition to their own compositions.
Akkerman’s adventurous guitar work gave the band a progressive aspect wth his extensive soloing and intricate rhythms and resulted in a 16 minute plus showpeice, “Sea Of Delight”, on their first self-titled album which was almost unheard of in pop music at the time. The flute was also an instrument which many psychedelic bands were becoming increasingly interested in during the late sixties most notably Jethro Tull and a guest musician, Tom Barlage, contributed to a couple of tracks on the band`s first album with the flute also resurfacing on later Brainbox recordings.
Despite their experimental approach they became better known for their singles three of which had been released by the end of 1969.
However, Akkerman’s appetite for more explorative and complex instrumental music saw him jamming with another young Dutch musician, Thijs van Leer, who possessed similar aspirations which resulted in Akkerman`s dismissal from the band by the end of `69. He subsequently formed “Focus” along with Van Leer which later became one of the first internationally acclaimed rock bands to eminate from the Netherlands. He was followed by Van der Linden into “Focus” a few months later.
Line-up:
- Kaz Lux / vocals, percussion
- Jan Akkerman / guitars, organ, vibes, bass (9)
- Andre Reynen / bass guitar
- Pierre van der Linden / drums
with
- Tom Barlage / flutes (1, 4)
- Rob Hoeke / piano (9)
Track List:
01. Dark Rose
02. Reasons To Believe
03. Baby, What You Want Me To Do
04. Scarborough Fair
05. Summertime (from “Porgy and Bess”)
06. Sinner’s Prayer
07. Sea Of Delight
08. Down Man (Bonus)
09. Woman’s Gone (Bonus)
10. Sea Of Delight (Bonus Try Out)
11. Sea Of Delight (Bonus Take 1)
12. Amsterdam, The First Days (Bonus)
Links in comments.
Focus – Focus 9 New Skin (2006) (@320)
02 Apr 2008
(Review from progressiveworld.net)
For the 9th Focus album, Pierre van Der Linden is back in the band and we welcome a new guitarist, Niels van der Steenhoven.
The album opens with “Black Beauty” which contains all the typical Focus ingredients such as the immortal organ, the close to Jan Akkerman sound of the guitar, the patented drum sound of Pierre Van Der Linden and the original whistling by none other than Thijs Van Leer.
Next to the uptempo wacky stuff, the band has always approached material with a high emotional value as well. The wonderful romantic “Focus 7″ surely is a great example of this. In “Hurkey Turkey 2″ van Leer’s flute is omni-present, which sees Focus deliver it’s own adaptation of Mozart’s “A La Turka”, although using a hilarious rhythm.
The new guitarist Niels van der Steenhoven delivers a very own composition here with “Niel’s Skin”, a funky, jazzy improvisation which uses various rhythms and sees Van Leer having a field day on the organ. Sung by guest singer Jo De Roeck “Just Like Eddy” is a reprise of the song “Eddy”, which was released way back in 1977 on the Focus Con Proby album. “Aya-Yuppie-Hippie-Yee” depicts the band’s newborn vitality and “joie-de-vivre”.
At more than ten minutes, “European Rap(sody)” not only is the longest track on the album, it’s also the weirdest by using a Russian atmosphere in the beginning, adapting deep vocal contributions from Thijs. Just like Barclay James Harvest did with Beatles songs for their song “Titles”, so is the second part of “European Rap(sody)” based around titles of older Focus songs spoken in rap form. It sounds like kind of a retrospective that highlights all of the band’s impressive career.
The tribute to Pim Jacobs (Bobby Jacobs’ uncle and the famous bandleader) in “Pim” sounds uncomplicated and playful with Niels van der Steenhoven as a true virtuoso who lets his guitar chords blend ever so well with Thijs’ wonderful organ and flute playing. With the intimate “It Takes 2 2 Tango,” the album closes in a very dreamy way, illustrating that Focus is once again ready to inject more incredible music over the coming years.
With two older members of the band and two young musicians, Focus now contains maturity, creativity and skill all under one roof.
Line-up:
- Thijs van Leer / hammond, keyboards, flute, vocals
- Pierre van Der Linden / drums
- Bobby Jacobs / bass
- Niels van der Steenhoven / guitars
Track List:
01. Black Beauty – 4:14
02. Focus 7 – 5:23
03. Hurkey Turkey 2 – 4:06
04. Sylvia’s Stepson – Ubatuba – 4:50
05. Niels’ Skin – 6:06
06. Just Like Eddy – 5:10
07. Aya-Yuppie-Hippie-Yee – 5:19
08. Focus 9 – 7:58
09. Curtain Call – 4:36
10. Ode To Venus – 4:30
11. European Rap(sody) – 10:24
12. Pim – 3:02
13. It Takes 2 2 Tango – 8:03
Links in comments.
Focus – Live at the Rainbow (1973) (@256)
28 Mar 2008
(Review from vintageprog.com)
Focus’ classic live-album recorded at the Rainbow Theatre in London was released at the height of their popularity, and explains all why Focus were such a successful and respected act.
The playing here is incredibly tight and energetic. The tracks are usually performed a bit harder and faster than their studio-counterparts; just check the high-octane version of “Hocus Pocus”. The selections of tracks are also very carefully done, and makes sure that every side of Focus’ music is represented here.
You get the ultra-typical, melodic and classic Focus-sound in “Focus III” and “Focus II”, the more jam-oriented direction in “Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers”, the more commercial and catchy side in “Sylvia” and of course full progressive rock-bliss in an 8-minute excerpt of “Eruption”.
The sound is excellent for a live-album this old, further making this one of the essential live-albums from a progressive rock band.
Line-up:
- Thijs van Leer / keyboards, flute, vocals
- Jan Akkerman / guitars
- Bert Ruiter / bass, backing vocals
- Pierre van der Linden / drums
Track List:
01. Focus III – 3:52
02. Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers! – 11:29
03. Focus II – 4:36
04. Eruption – 8:28
05. Hocus Pocus – 8:30
06. Sylvia – 2:47
07. Hocus Pocus (Reprise) – 2:46
Link in comments.
Focus – Focus III (1972) (@256)
27 Mar 2008
(Review from progarchives.com)
‘Focus III’ is generally considered as Focus’ top achievement. Not only do these guys deliver some of their most inspired playing, but also manage to work as a unit with a level of compenetration that hides the ongoing rivality between van Leer and Akkerman.
Akkerman continues to explore new sources of introspective music (‘Love Remembered’) and mediaeval tradition (‘Elspeth of Nottingham’), while keeping his ability to turn his guitar on fire with a polished skill beyond words, in the hardest passages: he really shines in ‘Answers Questions’ and ‘Anonymous II’, and his hammond layers on ‘Focus III’ create an awesome background for Akkerman’s guitar leads. Van Leer is also in a state of “business as usual”, displaying his mastery on both on keyboards (mostly hammond organ) and flute, and also some burlesque vocals. The interplays between van Leer and Akkerman in the opening track are breathtaking, executed with energy and a touch of sheer class.
Drummer extraordinaire Van der Linden feels at home here: only one year had passed since he entered the band, yet his drumming had become an essential feature of Focus’ musical essence. When the excellent bassist Bert Ruiter made his entry into the ranks of Focus, the rhythm section achieved its highest level of strength and sophistication; Ruiter proved to be the perfect complement to van der Linden’s top-notch drumming style so far,… and this is a difficult task, since van der Linden enjoys stretching out his role to the point of becoming fundamental for the band’s melodic aspect, with his constant tricky rolling. Ruiter’s penchant for jazz and funky definitely allowed Focus to keep their own focus on their jazz leaning: the amazing 27-minute ‘Anonymous II’ only shows you how enthusiastic and frenzy the foursome were about it (a special mention goes to van der Linden’s tribal oriented drum solo). The same thing could be noticed on ‘Questions Answers’.
The lighter side of the album is present in the latin-jazz/bossanova tinged ‘Carnival Fugue’ and the catchy ‘Sylvia’ (band’s most successful single actually), two attractive numbers that serve as relaxing motifs, among a repertoire that tends to sound really aggressive.
Line-up:
- Thijs van Leer / vocal, organ, piano, Alto, flute piccolo, Harpsichord
- Jan Akkerman / solo & acoustic guitars
- Bert Ruiter / bass
- Pierre van der Linden / drums
Track List:
01. Round Goes The Gossip 5:13
02. Love Remembered 2:49
03. Sylvia 3:31
04. Carnival Fugue 6:08
05. Focus III 6:04
06. Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers! 13:50
07. Elspeth Of Nottingham 3:11
08. Anonymous Two 26:20
Links in comments.
Trace – Trace (1974) (@256)
19 Nov 2007
(Review from vintageprog.com)
Rick van der Linden formed Trace after he left Ekseption in 1973. The rest of the trio was made up of Jaap van Eik on bass and former Focus-drummer Pierre van der Linden. Musically they were a very solid, tight and energetic classical-influenced, keyboard-based progressive rock band, but of a more conventional kind.
Their debut album opens with their maybe best recording ever in form of the 14-minute “Gaillarde”. This fantastic jam is partly based on some passages from Bach’s “Italian Concerto” (but not the same ones that Ekseption did on “Beggar Julia’s Time Trip”) and goes from the most energetic organ-solos you can imagine and to beautiful and majestic melodies. This track will surely make any fan of keyboard-based progressive rock drool.
The rest of the album never reaches the same heights again, but is still good most of the way. The adaptation of Grieg’s “Ases Dod” is very tasty, and demonstrates well all the different sounds in Linden’s impressive arsenal. “The Escape of the Piper” is based in a fast theme played on piano, and is broken up in the middle with a synth-part that sounds like bagpipes. “Once” is a more organ-based piece with a very energetic and jazzy mid-part. “Progression” is a 12-minute jam with a flawless, very fresh and energetic performance. “A Memory” is a beautiful piece based in an old folk-melody from Sweden. The closing number “Final Trace” is as typical Rick van der Linden as he gets, but it features nothing that he already had done in Ekseption.
This album is a must-have for all fans of keyboard-based progressive rock of the classic kind.
Line-up:
- Rick Van Der Linden / keyboards
- Jaap Van Eik / bass, guitar
- Pierre Van Der Linden / drums
Track List:
01. Gaillarde
02. Gare Le Corbeau
03. Gaillarde
04. The Death Of Ace
05. The Escape Of The Piper
06. Once
07. Progression
08. A Memory
09. The Lost Past
10. A Memory
11. Final Trace
12. Progress
13. Tabu
Link in comments.
Focus – Ship of Memories (1976) (@256)
17 Aug 2007
(Review from wikipedia, allmusic.com)
Ship of Memories is an instrumental album released in 1976 by Sire Records, featuring previously unreleased material from 1970, 1973, and 1975 by the Dutch progressive rock group Focus. The first four songs were originally slated to appear on a followup album to Focus III in 1973, but there were disagreements within the band about the quality of the material, and the project was shelved. In retrospect, the musicianship is uniformly high on all of the songs.
Starting off with “P’s March”, a track rooted in the style of Focus’ debut album “In and Out of Focus”, “Ship of Memories” gradually works its way through the band’s many phases to the “Mother Focus” styled “Crackers”. The album ends with the U.S. version of their signature song “Hocus Pocus” — it is vastly different from the studio recording; Akkerman’s guitar work, Van Leer’s yodeling and Pierre Van Der Linden’s drumming are all given a new lease of life.
Collectors will be well-gratified by “Ship of Memories”, while casual listeners will find enough enjoyable material to merit its listening.
Line-up:
- Bert Ruiter / bass
- David Kemper / drums
- Hans Cleuver / drums
- Jan Akkerman / guitar
- Martin Dresden / bass
- Pierre van der Linden / drums
- Thijs Van Leer / keyboards, flute, vocals
Track List:
01. P’s march
02. Can’t believe my eyes
03. Focus V
04. Out of Vesuvius
05. Glider
06. Red sky at night
07. Spoke the Lord Creator
08. Crackers
09. Ship of memories
10. Hocus Pocus (US Single Version)
Link in comments.
Focus – Moving Waves (1972) (@256)
19 Feb 2007
(Review from progarchives.com)
This Netherlandish progressive masterpiece is one of the most hard rock progressive album made during that era: indeed Jan Akkerman’s incisive and razor electric guitars are omnipresent: pure hard rock solos a la Led Zeppelin, and barely less timid aggressive riffs. The drums are restless, very complex and fast. The keyboards mostly consist in organ, mellotron, piano and harmonium. The intensely yodeling of Thijs Van Leer on “Hocus Pocus” is legendary: you are going to want to sing it! “Le clochard” has a beautiful floating mellotron in the background and impressive & relaxing acoustic guitar parts that should impress Steve Hackett himself. The peaceful and rhythmic “Janis” contains mellow flute parts a la Camel. The lead vocals on “Moving Waves” remind me early King Crimson. “Focus 2″ is an outstanding very progressive track: Jan Akkerman “dances” with his melodic electric guitar: it seems that the other instruments follow his partitions, creating very structured and pleasant melodies through rhythm & air changes.
On side 2, the epic “Eruption” is a real progressive masterpiece, sometimes comparable to Jethro Tull’s “Thick as a Brick”: the same organ sounds, tons on drums, very melodic bass, straightforward hard rock electric guitars; there are some intensely floating mellotron & backing vocals parts; there is a part which was composed by the Netherlandish fusion band Solution, coming from the “Divergence” album; there is a poignant & melodic piano part, accompanied with electric guitar and flute; the drum solo is absolutely impressive, having a bit the Neil Peart’s style.
Line-up:
- Jan Akkerman / solo & acoustic guitars, bass
- Cyril Havermanns / bass, voices
- Pierre van der Linden / drums
- Thijs van Leer / organ, harmonium, mellotron, soprano + alto flute, piano, voices
Track List:
01. Hocus Pocus (6:42)
02. Le Clochard (2:01)
03. Janis (3:09)
04. Moving Waves (2:42)
05. Focus II (4:03)
06. Eruption (23:04)
a) Orfeus, Answer, Orfeus
b) Answer, Pupilla, Tommy, Pupilla
c) Answer, The Bridge
d) Euridice, Dayglow, Endless Road
e) Answer, Orfeus, Euridice
Link in comments.
