Truth be known Jan is far from underrated especially for those of us that know who he is & we who knew what Focus was all about. I saw them in 73 on the only US tour they did . They may have referred Clapton as God back in the day, but they missed the simple fact even then Jan could wipe the floor up with him & Eric was never the slouch, Jan just was a better all-around player & still is.
One of the greatest rock/jazz/classical style guitarists in history. A guitarist’s guitarist revered by his peers. He plays things only Django would understand. This piece is elementary pop compared to his full body of work.
Today's kids ate robbed of great music.by machines and crap rap music.focus don't need scantily clad women everywhere.theyre true musicians this generation have contributed nothing to the music scene.
Saw Focus in Edinburgh around this time. I thought the balcony was going to collapse. Saw Akkerman years later in Amsterdam, was still a sublime guitarist.
Saw them play this yesterday at Fairport's Cropredy Convention - was a blistering set - most of the faces have changed, but the music certainly lives on! Thijs van Leer has still absolutely got it! When music is this good, it doesnt matter what era it was created in....
What an amazingly talented band. We were so spoilt with absolutely oodles of fantastic bands during the 1970’s so much so that the crème de la creme, such as focus truly required actual respect for their musicianship & output. Thank you for being part of my life & all the fond memories Jane Russell
I was 14 when this was released and I still love it today. Great music is timeless. How many of todays chart drivel tracks will stand the test of time?
Fantastic music, I had the good fortune to see and meet Jan at a gig in Southampton about 20 odd years ago. I expected a tall thin bloke but a tall stout bloke with massive hands and popeye arms! I had a good chat after the gig and said I never got the chance to see him first time around but saw Focus on OGWT. I was blown away with the skill of this band, Jan's parting word's - Thank you very Dutch!
I first heard this song on 'rock over Europe' on radio luxembourg, before it was released in UK. That was about November 1972. I loved it, as it was so fresh and original, and nothing else like it was around then. It got to no.4 in Jan 1973. I then bought the album, focus 3, but found most of it wasn't a bit like Sylvia. Took a while to get into but it ended up as my most played album.
Dicky Griffiths So did I! With mouth agape. It was the talk of the school amongst us music freaks the next day. Apparently after this incendiary performance the pressing plants couldn't keep up with the demand for LPs. Little wonder - what a performance and what a band.
Brilliant I am 72 absolutely amazing time to live through, I remember all those amazing bands and groups, what a time, some good stuff out there today, but a vast amount of shit!! 😊 but bands and groups keep trying, which is why music keeps developing!!!!
I had been a choirboy and had been told very firmly by my parents and school music teacher that "pop" music was rubbish with no value. Then, I heard this in 1973 at the age of fifteen and pretty much threw away all of my musical preconceptions and prejudices on the spot. It genuinely was an epiphany for me. My old choirmaster was the father of one of my friends and one evening I was very surprised at his positive reaction to a performance by Focus on Old Grey Whistle Test.
I saw Focus play one evening in little pub in Hampshire, UK, in the early 2000's. Admittedly, Akkerman was no longer in the band, but the energy, musicianship and and downright joy were still there in spades!
Darn these guys were great! Just the perfect mix of rock, a little funk and jazz and baroque/classical - plus a healthy dose of musical humor. That took mad skills, which (let the haters begin flinging soda cans at me) we lost since the 1980s. BTW this just a small spinet Hammond organ (L-100?) and it sounds fantastic.
Jan Akkerman is really a tremendously gifted guitarist. His sounds do not make you nervous at all with the best mixture of tention and release. Perhaps, those who play the guitar love him. Unless you play the guitar, he may not sound so attractive as they could find him to be. Jan Akkerman should be an indispensable guitarist.
The guy is a brilliant player but also seems hard work for the rest of the band. The tension between him and Van Leer is palpable. A real pity as they were miles better than the rest of the pack on their game.
Great band ,lucky to see them live chelmsford ,chancellor hall ,essex,1972,i was 15 years old ,was right near the stage ,fantastic memories ,of an amazing band ,ps got in back door up the steps ,lol,mick
I remember covering this. Played Hammond B3 back in the day and still do. Loved the key changes and modulations from F major to G major back to F major then back to G major and then up to A major and finally back to F major to the outro. Wonderful. Original. Creative. Inventive.
I have Radio Caroline/Mi Amigo , as well as, the Old Grey Whistle test ( thank you Annie Nightingale ) for introducing me to so much amazing music , such as Focus
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
❤❤❤❤❤ g'day from Oz love these Dutch legends.
When Talent was a way of life in music!
Saw this very clip in '93 on a rerun of Old Grey Whistle Test.
And I've now got tickets to see them in a few weeks (minus Jan Ackerman).
the new guitarist also pure genius
@@glennhall6615 He is good.
I remember they would show stuff like this on a show in the 90's called "8- Track Flashback" hosted by Suzanne Somers
Seen them twice . Still brilliant without Jan ..
I love how no matter the tempo the singer / keyboardist bobs like he's playing a 20/4 time signature
I love this band after discovering them as a teenager on Radio Caroline in the 70s. Still listen to them today.
Focus is one of the greatest bands ever!
Jan Akkerman, a very underated guitarist, simply wonderful.
Truth be known Jan is far from underrated especially for those of us that know who he is & we who knew what Focus was all about. I saw them in 73 on the only US tour they did . They may have referred Clapton as God back in the day, but they missed the simple fact even then Jan could wipe the floor up with him & Eric was never the slouch, Jan just was a better all-around player & still is.
No he's not.Do you even know what under rated means?
Oh god noooo!! Not another stupid "underrated comment" underrated by who??
One of the greatest rock/jazz/classical style guitarists in history. A guitarist’s guitarist revered by his peers. He plays things only Django would understand. This piece is elementary pop compared to his full body of work.
Today's kids ate robbed of great music.by machines and crap rap music.focus don't need scantily clad women everywhere.theyre true musicians this generation have contributed nothing to the music scene.
One of the greatest guitar riffs in history. Thanks JA!
FOCUS | 50th Anniversary Celebration Live in Warsaw Poland Hybrydy Club 2023 4K (Full) ruclips.net/video/iBErk4usE7c/видео.html&t
One minute this guys playing triplets,the next he's lead guitar, brilliant ,a maestro .
Music by musicians… How refreshing
Todays so called musicians are absolutely CRAP, no idea 👿👿👿
Exactly.
Jan Akkerman is King.
Moving Waves is an amazing album. Focus are brilliant.
Saw Focus live Sheffield University 1972. Awesome night. 🇬🇧
I was Eleven when this came out, also remember their follow-up Hocus Pocus. Two great records.
My very first album was Hamburger Concerto. I still listen sometimes to it and I marvel at how fresh it feels. A thing of beauty is a joy forever...
Maravilhoso
Amazing musicians.
Played this for my audition to music school!
@@DS76204 Nice one !
Great. I grew up to this. I even had a Focus 8 track in my MGC GT
The old grey whistle test, classic music program that was always compulsive viewing 👍😊
@@jeffreyroberts7438 Soooooo sadly missed. Amazing show .
Great band, great music! There are great bands and music around nowadays if you keep your ears open.
A brilliant composition, timeless. The odd fluff merely makes it human…
Love the rythym guitar in between the melody!
Dear me fifty two years ago I remember seeing them in Newcastle my home town
Amazing. They were great!
Fantastic job. Great tone
This isn’t Sylvia. This is gold.
Great comment 😊
Saw Focus in Edinburgh around this time. I thought the balcony was going to collapse. Saw Akkerman years later in Amsterdam, was still a sublime guitarist.
Amazing. Saw them in 1972 and 1974.
envious! never seen the original , only later lineups. All awesome gigs
Saw this when I was 15, OGWY and beyond, this is just pure class.
I saw this on the very night it aired on OGWT! Loved it ever since! Brilliant! Merry Christmas 1972---sure was--- I was 20!
GREAT DAYS, IWANT TO GO BACK, NOW !!
Saw them in Coventry 1972. Brilliant.
Very strange sounding band. But completely new. Alway in my heart of music.
Saw them play this yesterday at Fairport's Cropredy Convention - was a blistering set - most of the faces have changed, but the music certainly lives on! Thijs van Leer has still absolutely got it! When music is this good, it doesnt matter what era it was created in....
Saw them perform this and Hocus Pocus at Mount Ephraim, Faversham, Kent on Friday 16th August. They were brilliant! So were Tangerine Dream!
Saw them a few weeks earlier than that and I totally agree with you.
What an amazingly talented band. We were so spoilt with absolutely oodles of fantastic bands during the 1970’s so much so that the crème de la creme, such as focus truly required actual respect for their musicianship & output.
Thank you for being part of my life & all the fond memories
Jane Russell
I was 14 when this was released and I still love it today. Great music is timeless. How many of todays chart drivel tracks will stand the test of time?
I think I was 13 when I first seen them on TOGWT. 50 years later, I'm still listening to a bunch of Dutch hippies.....
You're gonna want to look beyond any sort of album chart if you want good music from this era.
Ditto 🎸🎶👍
Saw them in Sheffield and Holmfirth just be before covid. Still fabulous
1972 I was 18
I remember seeing this great band in the Cavern club
Happy days
Fantastic music, I had the good fortune to see and meet Jan at a gig in Southampton about 20 odd years ago. I expected a tall thin bloke but a tall stout bloke with massive hands and popeye arms! I had a good chat after the gig and said I never got the chance to see him first time around but saw Focus on OGWT. I was blown away with the skill of this band, Jan's parting word's - Thank you very Dutch!
When I was 15 I thought Jan was the coolest man alive
So good to hear this once again - loved it as a skinny 12 year old back then!
The mighty Jan Ackerman one of the best imo 👍
Not heard this amazing track for so very long. Thanks for this, well done!
Just pure, we must more focus on that!!!!
I first heard this song on 'rock over Europe' on radio luxembourg, before it was released in UK. That was about November 1972. I loved it, as it was so fresh and original, and nothing else like it was around then. It got to no.4 in Jan 1973.
I then bought the album, focus 3, but found most of it wasn't a bit like Sylvia. Took a while to get into but it ended up as my most played album.
1972 and I was 14 years old and watched TOGWT, brilliant band, not heard this for yonks
If you watched this on TOGT when it was 1st broadcast, you're a cool dude. I did.
Dicky Griffiths So did I! With mouth agape. It was the talk of the school amongst us music freaks the next day. Apparently after this incendiary performance the pressing plants couldn't keep up with the demand for LPs. Little wonder - what a performance and what a band.
You think you're the only two guys that saw Jan Akerman that night? I don't think so. I was there too.... So that makes at least three - you wankers!
First single I ever bought
Me too. The next day at school we were all raving about it.
Me too and I'm cool but not a dude.
i love the way jan experiments on each version of the song sylvia with his guitar
Focusで一番好きな曲。メロディーラインが泣ける。
Teenage memories.
Brilliant I am 72 absolutely amazing time to live through, I remember all those amazing bands and groups, what a time, some good stuff out there today, but a vast amount of shit!! 😊 but bands and groups keep trying, which is why music keeps developing!!!!
Amazing 👏 talents!!! It doesn't get any better than this, or does it!?!?! Just keep listening!!!
A brilliant piece.
Seen Jan Ackerman twice at the Robin 2 in Bilston, just brilliant.
Superb Dutch band. Love this tune.
Bought the singe when I was 13 and still love it now
The right hand of the guitarist is amazing!
This brings back memories always wathed wistltel test
@@allanmould2633 You pissed ?
I had been a choirboy and had been told very firmly by my parents and school music teacher that "pop" music was rubbish with no value. Then, I heard this in 1973 at the age of fifteen and pretty much threw away all of my musical preconceptions and prejudices on the spot. It genuinely was an epiphany for me. My old choirmaster was the father of one of my friends and one evening I was very surprised at his positive reaction to a performance by Focus on Old Grey Whistle Test.
Jan Akkerman awesome. Saw them live in Dublin in early 80s.
50 Year old tune a classic that lives on
50 years! I was a teenager then, saw Focus at Sheffield City Hall, bought their LP "In and out of Focus", and saw them on OGWT
When I started to listen to BBC Radio 2in the early 2000,s this was played on the now much missed Ken Bruce show a fair bit..., I miss you Ken.
I saw them live at the Glasgow Appollo around this time. Wonderful musicianship ❤
Saw these guys on old GWT the first time out! --This very clip! Amazing! loved them ever since!
The seventies. When a classic album was released every week or so.
I did watch it, brilliant
Best sound in amsterdam all the mooi
Saw them live when i was about 13
One of the Best short Prog tune...
Great waking up music!
54 years later I saw them play this live.
Never tire of hearing this track.
I saw Focus play one evening in little pub in Hampshire, UK, in the early 2000's. Admittedly, Akkerman was no longer in the band, but the energy, musicianship and and downright joy were still there in spades!
Pure music, amazing.
Love it,see them live back in the day
Darn these guys were great! Just the perfect mix of rock, a little funk and jazz and baroque/classical - plus a healthy dose of musical humor. That took mad skills, which (let the haters begin flinging soda cans at me) we lost since the 1980s. BTW this just a small spinet Hammond organ (L-100?) and it sounds fantastic.
FOCUS | 50th Anniversary Celebration Live in Warsaw Poland Hybrydy Club 2023 4K (Full) ruclips.net/video/iBErk4usE7c/видео.html&t
Jolie époque..il y avait des gens qui se donnaient à fond pour faire de la musique modene
Jan Akkerman is really a tremendously gifted guitarist.
His sounds do not make you nervous at all with the best mixture of tention and release.
Perhaps, those who play the guitar love him.
Unless you play the guitar, he may not sound so attractive as they could find him to be.
Jan Akkerman should be an indispensable guitarist.
The guy is a brilliant player but also seems hard work for the rest of the band.
The tension between him and Van Leer is palpable.
A real pity as they were miles better than the rest of the pack on their game.
The Drummer is very good
Early A.I. generated comments were trash
Geweldig dit.
Great band ,lucky to see them live chelmsford ,chancellor hall ,essex,1972,i was 15 years old ,was right near the stage ,fantastic memories ,of an amazing band ,ps got in back door up the steps ,lol,mick
Takes me back to my school days
It's a good day when this channel uploads.
fantastisch
Quality stuff
Felicitaciones desde Argentina.
This is so good,and so sad,this was my youth Sylvia,was a fantastic tune,oh gone are the years 😢😢😢😢
If you weren't the age you are, you'd have missed all this great music!
Wie is hier in Okt 2024 nl 👍
I remember covering this. Played Hammond B3 back in the day and still do. Loved the key changes and modulations from F major to G major back to F major then back to G major and then up to A major and finally back to F major to the outro. Wonderful. Original. Creative. Inventive.
Was living in the valleys saw this on the O G W T at the time was hooked
I have Radio Caroline/Mi Amigo , as well as, the Old Grey Whistle test ( thank you Annie Nightingale ) for introducing me to so much amazing music , such as Focus
A real tour de force, it has everything. It never ceases to amaze me just how good this is. Timeless.
Another example of Pure Music Gold!
FOCUS GENIUSZ GENIUSZ GENIUSZ nad GENIUSZAMI KOSMOS KOCHANI na zawsze dziękuję BARDZO
JOHN MARTYN GENIUSZ GENIUSZ GENIUSZ nad GENIUSZAMI KOSMOS KOCHANI na zawsze dziękuję BARDZO
It reminds me BACH very much i though they are Master i'm thats Time ( JAN,THIJS and The others😊
Tho Jan plays here with a pick, note his massive thumbnail (for the lute)
Lute or Cocaine?
@@michaelrichards4152 I was thinking coke too lmao
@@michaelrichards4152 DATS DE JOKE
bring it on ...
I've got the album Hocus pocus. Great under rated band.
Remember watching this think it was bbc2 only 16 😊
good band 70's
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤