| Moving Waves | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Cover of the international edition under the title Moving Waves | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 1971 | |||
| Recorded | 13 April – 14 May 1971 | |||
| Studio |
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| Genre | ||||
| Length | 41:40 | |||
| Label | Imperial | |||
| Producer | Mike Vernon | |||
| Focus chronology | ||||
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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. Recording took place 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.
The album 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 international release in 1973, where it reached No. 9 in the US and No. 20 in the UK.[1][2] The album is certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling 500,000 copies in the US.[3]
- ^ Hilton, Robin (July 15, 2008). "Old Music Tuesdays: Focus". NPR.org. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
- ^ "Focus - Full Official Chart History - Official Charts Company". www.officialcharts.com. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
- ^ Berry, Peter E. Berry (1977). "... and the Hits Just Keep on Comin' " (1st ed.). Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press. pp. 170, 205. ISBN 9780815601340.