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.
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?
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.
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
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.
Does anyone know what the unusual neck pick-up is on Jan's LP? I'm assuming it's the same one that he used on Live at the Rainbow - where he achieved the best electric guitar sound I've ever heard to this day.
1:58 Quoting “The Stars and Stripes Forever” and the “Sailorʼs Hornpipe” (aka Popeye theme) a moment later. Who would DO such a thing? Frankly, we might look to Thijs van Leer - but here, his guitar-slaying bandmate reminds us that he, too, is not above casually tossing out bits of subversive genius!
Can anyone help me ? was this used as theme tune for a tv show in the uk ? me and a mate are convinced it was but can't find out .. thanks in advance ..
Another Focus song called 'House of The KIng' which was the 'B'-side' of Sylvia was used as theme tune to the UK TV popular science show called 'Don't Ask Me'
Видеоклипы
When Talent was a way of life in music!
Love the rythym guitar in between the melody!
Fantastic job. Great tone
I love how no matter the tempo the singer / keyboardist bobs like he's playing a 20/4 time signature
Amazing. Saw them in 1972 and 1974.
envious! never seen the original , only later lineups. All awesome gigs
Music by musicians… How refreshing
Todays so called musicians are absolutely CRAP, no idea 👿👿👿
Exactly.
A brilliant composition, timeless. The odd fluff merely makes it human…
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...
Saw Focus live Sheffield University 1972. Awesome night. 🇬🇧
Saw this when I was 15, OGWY and beyond, this is just pure class.
A real tour de force, it has everything. It never ceases to amaze me just how good this is. Timeless.
Amazing 👏 talents!!! It doesn't get any better than this, or does it!?!?! Just keep listening!!!
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 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.
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 .
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.
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.....
A brilliant piece.
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
Superb Dutch band. Love this tune.
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.
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
Love it,see them live back in the day
One of the Best short Prog tune...
Focusで一番好きな曲。メロディーラインが泣ける。
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 did watch it, brilliant
Saw them live when i was about 13
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!
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
Was living in the valleys saw this on the O G W T at the time was hooked
Takes me back to my school days
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
Another example of Pure Music Gold!
It's a good day when this channel uploads.
Quality stuff
good band 70's
How is it possibile to play prog-rock and still sound so damn funky??
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
Geweldig dit.
Best sound in amsterdam all the mooi
fantastisch
FOR SHURE THAT IS REAL MUSIC!
Meravigliosa
What a guitar player!
FOCUS GENIUSZ GENIUSZ GENIUSZ nad GENIUSZAMI KOSMOS KOCHANI na zawsze dziękuję BARDZO
Little did we know that music would be finished in twenty years from this.
This fucking rules!!!!!
Jan Akkerman is King.
O Timbre com cores👏👏👏
JOHN MARTYN GENIUSZ GENIUSZ GENIUSZ nad GENIUSZAMI KOSMOS KOCHANI na zawsze dziękuję BARDZO
How many other bands have I forgotten from the 60’s and 70’s?
They really were a supergroup
Little 'Sailor's Hornpipe' quote from Jan ..
Jan Ackerman I is focus
Jan Akkerman and Carlos Santana are best guitar players in the world.
Allan Holdsworth would like a word with you....
@@synthonaplinth5980 As would Scofield, Hall (RIP), Biréli Lagrène and the some....
Does anyone know what the unusual neck pick-up is on Jan's LP? I'm assuming it's the same one that he used on Live at the Rainbow - where he achieved the best electric guitar sound I've ever heard to this day.
It seems to be one of those Gretsch Filtertrons I guess
Wowp
The band in their optimal form.
Sounds very progressive.
I been thinking " Popcorn" was nice tune & also and the hocus Pokus!
Hi IS this complete im somwhere?
Ja Ja...
This is a different take than the one they used on the OGWT DVD though it's from the same session.
Guy Morris and the Imperials
well spotted! just thinking same thing!
I remember watching the first take on RUclips about 6-7 years ago, I could have sworn something was different this time around...
El loco
1:58 Quoting “The Stars and Stripes Forever” and the “Sailorʼs Hornpipe” (aka Popeye theme) a moment later. Who would DO such a thing? Frankly, we might look to Thijs van Leer - but here, his guitar-slaying bandmate reminds us that he, too, is not above casually tossing out bits of subversive genius!
This is from the time where musicians were real musicians, not samples and computers.
This!
You couldn't be more right.
FOR SURE!!! THAT IS IT!!!!
‘Old Grey Whistle Test’ showcased so many of them 💖
Every damn time I open up anything music related from at least a decade ago, it’s always this. God
So much hair !
Can anyone help me ? was this used as theme tune for a tv show in the uk ? me and a mate are convinced it was but can't find out .. thanks in advance ..
Another Focus song called 'House of The KIng' which was the 'B'-side' of Sylvia was used as theme tune to the UK TV popular science show called 'Don't Ask Me'
Thanks for the reply Richard .
Hi .”House of The King” was also used as the Theme tune to “Saxondale” (a Steve Coogan character)....
A truly great player 🎸 . Only keith Cosgrove came close . Fact
Follow that! Hahaha
sniff
I think Focus ceased to be once the Duo split...much as I like Van Leer it is not truly Focus imho without the Duo....this is amazing
0:23 Teen smell a spririt.
Nirvana.
FOCUS | 50th Anniversary Celebration Live in Warsaw Poland Hybrydy Club 2023 4K (Full) ruclips.net/video/iBErk4usE7c/видео.html&t
I'm Scottish, so I'm neither cool nor a dude. Whispering Bob Harris was the king of cool. Warren Zevron and anyone with musical talent from the 70s
ヤン・アッカーマンの
ギター🎸かなぁ。
途中、ミスったかな。
でも名曲です。
After this no match for any act on grey whistle test
Nou Jan, dat ging niet helemaal vlekkeloos.....
Dan moet jij wel heel goed zijn omdat te zeggen.
@@bartobruintjes7056 Hoor je dat niet dan?
Yes I totally agree….all this brainless thud,thud, rubbish you hear now….I hate it. Long live rock.
Oh dear. Bass needs work.
Takes me back to my school days