Heartware - Jan Akkerman

Advantages: Excellent Dutch prog, full length CD, not one weak point
Disadvantages: None

...for months, ending up with an album that threatened to topple their UK contemporaries off the charts. With eight tracks ranging from just under 3 to just over 25 minutes in length and covering all sorts of musical styles and genres, Focus 3 showcased all of the band's abilities, talents and influences - Jan Akkerman's (already a legend in his home country) guitar playing had come on in leaps and bounds, Thijs Van Leer had added all sorts of unusual instruments to his arsenal of sound, whils Ruiter and drummer Pierre Van Der Linden made for an enviable rhythm section. 3 covers all sorts of ground - there's some jazz courtesy of the epic 25 minute Anonymous 2 (originally a live improvised vamp of an instrumental from their first album, which was less than half the length), some straight ahead prog (the title track, the wonderfully titled... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: A decent live document of the classic Focus line-up
Disadvantages: Muddy sound mix, not a full concert

...With a couple of now legendary appearances on The Old Grey Whistle Test in the early 70s (with "Whispering" Bob Harris clearly loving them) under their belt, Denmark's finest music export took to the UK and a stint at the famous Rainbow Theatre in London. Despite not capturing a full concert, Live At The Rainbow is a good representation of the band during their classic period, with tracks from their two best known albums Moving Waves and Focus 3. Even if guitarist Jan Akkerman can't be bothered with Sylvia (a track he's consistently, and some say purposefully, played out of tune since those OGWT slots), the rest of the album is full of quality music, amazing solos and the obligatory yodelling of the frankly crazy multi-instrumentalist leader, Thijs Van Leer. The sound quality is far from perfect - the mix is fairly quiet and most... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: As sublime and musically adventurous as ever
Disadvantages: Value for money?

...Following on from his virtuosic performance as saxophone soloist on Giya Kancheli's "Night Prayers" (on the ECM New Series CD Caris Mere), Jan Garbarek continues his interest in Northern European tradition and brings it face-to-face with more conventional jazz patterns in this 2CD set. There are some fascinating moves here, even by Garbarek standards. The use of a boys' choir on "We Are the Stars" followed by the voice of Jansug Kaknidze accompanied by the Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra on "The Moon Over Mtatsminda" is a remarkable diptych of innocence and experience. Though Garbarek, by his own admission in the booklet notes, does not feature on the latter as writer or player, his justification for including it in an album under his own name is totally sound. It's not the only high point. Don Cherry's "Malinya" is a great homage... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful