Monday 24 June 2019

Monday Long Song


I'm overwhelmed and humbled by the amount of positive vibes I received in the wake of my previous post a couple of weeks ago. I can't thank everyone who sent a message of support enough, whether in the comments, via email, social media or even in the form of a kindly thought - it means the world, it really does. I'm conscious of the danger of descending into lethargy, so, if I may ask your indulgence, I'm going to try to dip my toe back into the blogging world as part of an attempt to create some form of new normal for myself. I'm finding it hard enough to even get out of bed at the moment let alone string a few sentences together, so it might not be plain sailing, but hopefully there'll always be a half-decent tune attached to my meanderings. Thanks again - really.

Anyway, back to it. Here's one I prepared earlier.

The entire second side of the 1971 Focus LP 'Moving Waves' is taken up by the 23-minute instrumental 'Eruption', a (whisper it) prog reappraisal of the ancient legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, made up of of 15 short movements. The band are of course best known to the world at large for their pair of hit singles, 1972's 'Hocus Pocus' and the 1973 classic 'Sylvia'.

Focus - Eruption.

11 comments:

Charity Chic said...

Now that's a long song!

drew said...

I nearly posted the live version of Supper's Ready from Archive #1 this morning.

Glad to see you making an appearance Swede.

C said...

I can't tell you how lovely it is to see you pop up in my sidebar again. I think when times are hard, the little 'normal' things really help, bit by bit.
This is such an evocative and familiar song to me, my sister was into Focus and I heard them growing up. Then Mr SDS turned out to have been a fan too, and loves to regale me with the tale of the time he and his friends went to see them at the Cambridge Corn Exchange, having not bought advance tickets but just assuming they'd be able to get them on the door. When they arrived the queue was huge, there were no tickets available and no room inside. So, did they shrug, turn round and get on the next train home? No, they stood outside all night and listened to the whole concert through the window...

George said...

This is more like it! Moving Waves is 50% of my Focus collection. Looking forward to more prog. postings on these pages.

John Medd said...

In the words of Lennie Peters and Dianne Lee - Welcome Home.

George said...

DRUM SOLO at 19 minutes. Will I be the only reader to play the entire track?

The Swede said...

CC. I'm back with a bang!

Cheers Drew - break out that Genesis tune.

C. Normality feels a very long way away at the moment, but if I don't force myself to move forwards I'm scared that I'll forget how to move at all. Thanks for the kind words. Mr SDS's Focus story is a hoot!

Thanks John. I'll endeavour to be worthy of that mighty P&L classic.

Glad you enjoyed the tune George. I reckon you could well be on your own! I've got a few more prog selections on the back burner that I'll scatter here and there.

Rol said...


Welcome back. Keep on keeping on.

Swiss Adam said...

Good to see you back Swede. I'll dive in and brave the song later.

Walter said...

Good to have you back Swede and keep on bringing great songs like this back to my mind.

Brian said...

I did it. All 23:02. I wouldn't do that for just anybody. Great to hear from you, Swede.

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