Music: Hocus Pocus, an anthology

A new discovery of a cover of a classic tune pops into focus, and causes me to reminisce about my misspent youth. Good times!

I do not recall when I first heard the song Hocus Pocus by the band Focus, but I can assure you that once I heard it with the blazing guitar riff and yodeling, I was hooked.

So many bands have covered this timeless tune, but this morning, I stumbled across the Prog Rock band Marillion performing Hocus Pocus live, and it is glorious. Watch this, bounce your head to the rhythm, and then we’ll talk more about this song:

When I was a wee lad, back in 1971, the Dutch band Focus recorded the song “Hocus Pocus”, from Wikipedia:

Hocus Pocus" was described as “the bludgeoning guitar riff… broken up (or held together) by whistles, yodels, flutes and all manner of musical graffiti.” Another reviewer wrote that it amounts to … a modern day 'Teddy Bear’s Picnic' without a let-up”. Akkerman himself has said that it “was a send-up of ourselves… all that serious Monteverdian fantasy.”^[13] In NME in May 1973 Akkerman said that it was “just a send-up of those rock groups”.

“Bludgeoning guitar riff” - yeah that’s spot on. The other song that fits my description of this is Green Grass and High Tides by The Outlaws.

Still, Hocus Pocus has been covered many times. Here’s one of my favorites, German heavy metal band Helloween:

But we should go back to the OG, from 1973, and a performance at The Rainbow, here is Focus, with their bludgeoning guitars, yodeling, and a kicking jam:

Side note: I am a huge progressive rock nerd, and the band at the top of this post, Marillion, is one band that I just never really got into. I bought a couple of their albums, as many of my friends told me that they are like the Gabriel era Genesis that continued.

Bah, it wasn’t, and they aren’t. Alas, they try too hard to be something they aren’t. Listen to Camel instead.

---