Focus Plays Focus (also known as In and Out of Focus) is the debut studio album from the Dutch rock band Focus. Released in 1970, the album was recorded at the Sound Techniques Studios in London, England and produced by Hubert Terheggen. It was the first and only album by the band to feature the original line-up of Thijs van Leer (organ, flute), Jan Akkerman (guitar), Martin Dresden (bass guitar, vocals) and Hans Cleuver (drums, vocals).
Original UK version (Polydor 2344 003)
| Original Dutch version | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | |
| 1. | "Focus" (instrumental version) | Thijs van Leer | 9:45 | |
| 2. | "Why Dream" | van Leer, Hans Cleuver | 3:57 | |
| 3. | "Happy Nightmare (Mescaline)" | van Leer, Martin Dresden, Mike Hayes | 3:56 | |
| 4. | "Anonymous" | van Leer, Jan Akkerman, Dresden | 7:00 | |
| 5. | "Black Beauty" | van Leer, Cleuver | 3:05 | |
| 6. | "Sugar Island" | van Leer, Dresden, Jan Staal | 3:03 | |
| 7. | "Focus" (vocal version) | van Leer, Cleuver | 2:44 | |
| Total length: | 33:30 | |||
| Original German version | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | |
| 1. | "Focus" (instrumental version) | van Leer | 9:45 | |
| 2. | "House of the King" | Akkerman | 2:20 | |
| 3. | "Why Dream" | van Leer, Cleuver | 3:57 | |
| 4. | "Happy Nightmare (Mescaline)" | van Leer, Dresden, Hayes | 3:56 | |
| 5. | "Anonymous" | van Leer, Akkerman, Dresden | 7:00 | |
| 6. | "Black Beauty" | van Leer, Cleuver | 3:05 | |
| 7. | "Sugar Island" | van Leer, Dresden, Staal | 3:03 | |
| 8. | "Focus" (vocal version) | van Leer, Cleuver | 2:44 | |
| Total length: | 35:50 | |||
| United States version; Japanese 2006 reissue | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | |
| 1. | "Focus" (vocal version) | van Leer, Cleuver | 2:44 | |
| 2. | "Black Beauty" | van Leer, Cleuver | 3:05 | |
| 3. | "Sugar Island" | van Leer, Dresden, Staal | 3:03 | |
| 4. | "Anonymous" | van Leer, Akkerman, Dresden | 7:00 | |
| 5. | "House of the King" | Akkerman | 2:20 | |
| 6. | "Happy Nightmare (Mescaline)" | van Leer, Dresden, Hayes | 3:56 | |
| 7. | "Why Dream" | van Leer, Cleuver | 3:57 | |
| 8. | "Focus" (instrumental version) | van Leer | 9:45 | |
| Total length: | 35:50 | |||
| United States 1973 reissue | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | |
| 1. | "Focus" (instrumental version) | van Leer | 9:45 | |
| 2. | "Why Dream" | van Leer, Cleuver | 3:57 | |
| 3. | "Happy Nightmare (Mescaline)" | van Leer, Dresden, Hayes | 3:56 | |
| 4. | "Anonymous" | van Leer, Akkerman, Dresden | 7:00 | |
| 5. | "Black Beauty" | van Leer, Cleuver | 3:05 | |
| 6. | "Sugar Island" | van Leer, Dresden, Staal | 3:03 | |
| 7. | "House of the King" | Akkerman | 2:15 | |
| Total length: | 33:01 | |||
Read more about Focus Plays Focus: Personnel
Famous quotes containing the words focus and/or plays:
“Carlyle is not a seer, but a brave looker-on and reviewer; not the most free and catholic observer of men and events, for they are likely to find him preoccupied, but unexpectedly free and catholic when they fall within the focus of his lens.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The hare grows old as she plays in the sun
And gazes around her with eyes of brightness;
Before the swift things that she dreamed of were done
She limps along in an aged whiteness....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)