“We even considered calling it Crocus for a short while,” he confides with a smile.įocus really found their feet with their second album Moving Waves (on which Hocus Pocus was the opening track), which later prompted eventual long-term producer Mike Vernon to observe: “You wonder if it’s the same band ”.īut it was the decision to make it a single by slashing three minutes from its original six-and-a-half that eventually established Focus as stars on both sides of the Atlantic. With no lyrics per se, it was van Leer who proposed giving it a title that rhymed with the band’s name. Apart from the addition of a manic flute solo, a flourish of accordion and some scat vocal ad-libs, the track was put down in just a couple of takes, and in almost exactly the same form as it had emerged at the castle.
#Banda hocus pocus mac#
The band were impressed that Polydor Records had paired them with Mike Vernon, who had produced Fleetwood Mac and John Mayall. Hocus Pocus was recorded partly in London in April/May 1971. “Without boasting, it was something that I just knew.”
“Although I wasn’t aware that it might become a rock’n’roll classic, I had a feeling in my spine that it would make history,” he says. Like many composers of hits, van Leer knew instantly that he and Akkerman had created something of lasting value.
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