Tag Archives: Jan Akkerman

Book review: Decades – Focus in the 1970s (Stephen Lambe)

Posted on April 26, 2021 by GRTR! HQ

Sonicbond Publishing [Publication date 30.04.21] At the outset I should declare an interest. As an inveterate Focus-watcher since the early 1970s, author of articles about the band for Record Collector magazine, liner notes, and the first book about Jan Akkerman … Continue reading →

Feature: Call Collect: An introduction to FOCUS

Posted on April 1, 2020 by GRTR! HQ

Focus - Hard Rock Hell Prog, Pwllheli, 21-22 March 2014

In their own words, Thijs van Leer and Jan Akkerman discuss the early days of Focus and their wider success…and demise in the late 1970s. This feature is based on interviews in 1990 for a ‘Record Collector’ article published in … Continue reading →

Posted in ALL POSTS, Call Collect, FEATURES, INTERVIEWS, Interviews/Rock Stars | Tagged Bert Ruiter, Dutch, feature, Focus, Holland, introduction, Jan Akkerman, Pierre van der Linden, prog, Progressive Rock, Thijs van Leer | Leave a comment

Album review: JAN AKKERMAN – Close Beauty

Posted on October 10, 2019 by GRTR! HQ

Music Theories Recordings/Mascot [Release date 25.10.19] Let’s be honest. Jan Akkerman hasn’t exactly been active in terms of album releases in the millennium. I also have to declare an interest having managed several UK tours for the guitarist in the … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS | Tagged album, Close Beauty, Focus, fusion, guitar, guitarist, Jan Akkerman, jazz fusion, Jazz rock, review | Leave a comment

Album review: COLIN HARPER – Titanium Flag (Remastered & Expanded Edition)

Posted on March 31, 2017 by GRTR! HQ

Market Square Records [Release date 24.04.17] The sad thing about this album is that most punters will be drawn in primarily by Track 3 which features legendary Dutch guitarist Jan Akkerman. In fairness, back in 2010 when this was released … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS | Tagged acoustic, album, ambient, Andy Roberts, Colin Harper, Cormac O'Kane, Focus, folk, instrumental, Jan Akkerman, jazz, Liverpool Scene, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Phil Shiva Jones, Premik Russell Tubbs, Quintessence, review, Titanium Flag | Leave a comment

Album review: JAN AKKERMAN – Jan Akkerman (1977 reissue)

Posted on January 23, 2016 by GRTR! HQ

Esoteric Recordings [Release date 29.01.16] “Jan Akkerman”, the 1977 album with the distinctive “guitar in bed” cover, was Akkerman’s answer to Jeff Beck’s ‘Blow By Blow’ two years earlier. This was the Dutch guitarist’s first solo album since splitting from … Continue reading →