Focus con Proby is the sixth studio album by the Dutch rock band
Focus, released in 1978 on
EMI Records. It features five tracks with vocals from American singer
P. J. Proby. The record also features guitarists Eef Albers and
Philip Catherine, drummer
Steve Smith (then with
Jean-Luc Ponty and later to become part of
Journey), as well as the two Focus members from previous albums. Smith and Albers would later go on to collaborate on the first two albums of Smith's band
Vital Information.
Reception
In a mixed review in the Richmond Review, reviewer Bob Beech preferred the instrumental tracks over the songs with vocals. He deemed Proby's voice more mellow than his previous records which he preferred, but felt it was out of place on a Focus album.[2] Brian Brennan wrote in Calgary Herald that while Albers is "an accomplished musician" he does not live up to the standard of past Focus guitarist
Jan Akkerman. He thought the album consisted of "fussy instrumental work, aimless, hollow and rather uninviting".[3]