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Focus II
''Focus II'' (better known by its international title, ''Moving Waves'') is the second studio album by Dutch progressive rock band Focus, released in October 1971 on Imperial Records. Following the departure of original bassist Martin Dresden and drummer Hans Cleuver in 1970, the band recruited Cyril Havermans and Pierre van der Linden, respectively, and prepared material for a new album. Focus recorded ''Focus II'' in London in April and May 1971 with Mike Vernon as producer. The album features " Hocus Pocus" a hard rock song featuring keyboardist Thijs van Leer's yodelling, scat singing, and whistling, and "Eruption", a 22-minute track inspired by the opera '' Euridice'' by Italian composer Jacopo Peri. ''Focus II'' was released to a mostly positive response and remains one of their most commercially successful albums, reaching No. 2 in the UK, No. 4 in the Netherlands, and No. 8 in the US. "Hocus Pocus" was released as a single in the Netherlands in July 1971, followed by its i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual Phonograph record#78 rpm disc developments, 78 rpm records collected in a bound book resembling a photograph album; this format evolved after 1948 into single vinyl LP record, long-playing (LP) records played at revolutions per minute, rpm. The album was the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption from the mid-1960s to the early 21st century, a period known as the album era. Vinyl LPs are still issued, though album sales in the 21st-century have mostly focused on CD and MP3 formats. The 8-track tape was the first tape format widely used alongside vinyl from 1965 until being phased out by 1983 and was gradually supplanted by the cassette tape during the 1970s and early 1980s; the populari ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thijs Van Leer
Thijs van Leer (pronounced: ; born 31 March 1948) is a Dutch singer and keyboardist, best known as the founding member of the rock band Focus as its primary vocalist, keyboardist, and flautist. Born and raised in Amsterdam among a musical family, van Leer took up the piano and flute as a child and pursued them at university and music academies. From 1967 to 1969, van Leer performed in a theatre cabaret act headed by Ramses Shaffy as his backing vocalist and musician, recorded singles as a solo artist, and produced, arranged, and conducted music for Bojoura. He formed Trio Thijs van Leer, a three-piece rock band which evolved into Focus in late 1969 following the addition of guitarist Jan Akkerman. Focus achieved international success following the release of '' Moving Waves'' (1971) and its lead single, " Hocus Pocus", which features van Leer's yodelling and whistling. After several albums with various line-ups, van Leer disbanded Focus in 1978; he reformed the band in 2002. V ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. As the key is released, the tape is retracted by a spring to its initial position. Different portions of the tape can be played to access different sounds. The Mellotron evolved from the similar Chamberlin, but could be mass-produced more efficiently. The first models were designed for the home and contained a variety of sounds, including automatic accompaniments. Bandleader Eric Robinson and television personality David Nixon helped promote the first instruments, and celebrities such as Princess Margaret were early adopters. It was adopted by rock and pop groups in the mid to late 1960s. One of the first pop songs featuring the Mellotron was Manfred Mann's " Semi-Detached, Suburban Mr. James" (1966). The Beatles used it on tracks includ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Classical Guitar
The classical guitar (also known as the nylon-string guitar or Spanish guitar) is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string instrument with strings made of gut or nylon, it is a precursor of the modern acoustic and electric guitars, both of which use metal strings. Classical guitars derive from the Spanish vihuela and gittern of the fifteenth and sixteenth century. Those instruments evolved into the seventeenth and eighteenth-century baroque guitar—and by the mid-nineteenth century, early forms of the modern classical guitar. For a right-handed player, the traditional classical guitar has twelve frets clear of the body and is properly held up by the left leg, so that the hand that plucks or strums the strings does so near the back of the sound hole (this is called the classical position). However, the right-hand may move closer to the fretboard to achieve different tonal qualities. The player typically holds the left leg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rock's Backpages
Rock's Backpages is an online archive of music journalism, sourced from contributions to the music and mainstream press from the 1950s to the present day. The articles are full text and searchable, and all are reproduced with the permission of the copyright holders. The database was founded in 2000 by British music journalist Barney Hoskyns. As of November 2018 its database contains over 37,000 articles, including interviews, features and reviews, which covered popular music from blues and soul up to the present date. . Rock's Backpages. Rock's Backpages also features over 600 audio interviews with musicians from Jimi Hendrix and Johnny Cash to Kate Bush and Kurt Cobain. The articles are sourced from magazines including '' |
Scat Singing
In vocal jazz, scat singing is vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. In scat singing, the singer improvises melodies and rhythms using the voice as an instrument rather than a speaking medium. This is different from vocalese, which uses recognizable lyrics that are sung to pre-existing instrumental solos. Characteristics Structure and syllable choice Though scat singing is improvised, the melodic lines are often variations on scale and arpeggio fragments, stock patterns and riffs, as is the case with instrumental improvisers. As well, scatting usually incorporates musical structure. All of Ella Fitzgerald's scat performances of "How High the Moon", for instance, use the same tempo, begin with a chorus of a straight reading of the lyric, move to a "specialty chorus" introducing the scat chorus, and then the scat itself. Will Friedwald has compared Ella Fitzgerald to Chuck Jones directing his Roadrunner cartoon—each us ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eefing
Eefing (also written eeephing, eephing, eeefing, eefin, or eefn') is an Appalachian (United States) vocal technique similar to beatboxing, but nearly a century older. NPR's Jennifer Sharpe describes it as "a kind of hiccupping, rhythmic wheeze that started in rural Tennessee more than 100 years ago."Sharpe 2005 An eefing piece called "Swamp Root" was one of the first singles recorded and released by Sam Phillips. Singer Joe Perkins had a minor 1963 hit, "Little Eeefin' Annie" (#76 on the ''Billboard'' chart), featuring eefer Jimmy Riddle, whom Sharpe calls "the acknowledged master of the genre". Riddle later brought eefing to national visibility on the television series ''Hee Haw''. In fall 1963, the same time as Perkins' "Little Eefin' Annie" was released, a group called the Ardells issued a single on Epic called "Eefenanny", a sort of bluegrass/hillbilly spoof on the folk hootenanny movement. It was not as big a hit. Also in 1963, Alvin and the Chipmunks released an original son ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jan Akkerman
Jan Akkerman (born 24 December 1946) is a Dutch guitarist. He first found international commercial success with the band Focus (band), Focus, which he co-founded with Thijs van Leer. After leaving Focus, he continued as a solo musician, adding jazz fusion influences. Biography The son of a scrap iron trader, Akkerman was born in Amsterdam. He started playing the accordion before turning to the guitar. Around age ten he took guitar lessons and his first single, with the Friendship Sextet, was released in 1960, when he was thirteen years old. Akkerman won a scholarship to study at the Amsterdam Music Lyceum for five years, developing his composition and arranging skills. At fourteen he was in the rock band Johnny and his Cellar Rockers with his friend Pierre van der Linden. Both then joined The Hunters. After seeing a performance by classical guitarist Julian Bream, he became interested in renaissance music and the lute. He started the band Brainbox with Van der Linden, Kaz Lux, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the City Region of Amsterdam, urban area and 2,480,394 in the Amsterdam metropolitan area, metropolitan area. Located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, Dutch province of North Holland, Amsterdam is colloquially referred to as the "Venice of the North", for its large number of canals, now designated a World Heritage Site, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Amsterdam was founded at the mouth of the Amstel River that was dammed to control flooding; the city's name derives from the Amstel dam. Originally a small fishing village in the late 12th century, Amsterdam became a major world port during the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century, when the Netherlands was an economic powerhouse. Amsterdam is th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Recording Industry Association Of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/or distribute approximately 85% of all legally sold recorded music in the United States". RIAA is headquartered in Washington, D.C. RIAA was formed in 1952. Its original mission was to administer recording copyright fees and problems, work with trade unions, and do research relating to the record industry and government regulations. Early RIAA standards included the RIAA equalization curve, the format of the stereophonic record groove and the dimensions of 33 1/3, 45, and 78 rpm records. RIAA says its current mission includes: #to protect intellectual property rights and the First Amendment rights of artists #to perform research about the music industry #to monitor and review relevant laws, regulations, and policies Between 2001 and 202 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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