Jan Akkerman - Minstrel (1973)

Jan Akkerman was born on 24 December 1946 in Amsterdam, and is best known as being the guitarist with Dutch prog-rockers Focus, which he co-founded with Thijs van Leer. However, that wasn't his first gig, as he'd been playing in other local bands for some time. At age five he took guitar lessons, and his first single was released in 1960, when he was just thirteen years old. At eleven he was in the rock band Johnny And His Cellar Rockers with his friend Pierre van der Linden, and when he left he took Linden with him to join The Hunters. After seeing a performance by classical guitarist Julian Bream, he became interested in medieval music and learned to play the lute. In 1968 he started the band Brainbox with van der Linden, Kaz Lux, and Bert Ruiter, and in the same year he also recorded and released his fist solo album 'Talent For Sale'. In late 1969 he joined the Thijs van Leer Trio, which was the pit band for the Dutch theatrical production of Hair (recorded as an album in 1969), before they changed their name to Focus. Under this name the band explored progressive rock, with an amalgam of classical, jazz, and rock music, and had hits in the seventies with singles such as 'Hocus Pocus' and 'Sylvia'. In 1972 he released his second solo album 'Profile' on the legendary Harvest Records label, and solo and collaborative albums have appeared regularly ever since. 
This album collects together examples of his work with the all bands mentioned above, including a great cover of The Shadows' 'Blue Tango' from Johnny And His Cellar Rockers, some nice originals from The Hunters, and some nascent prog from Brainbox. There's also the two songs that he wrote for his 'Talent For Sale' album, and a couple of tracks from his 70's records 'Profile' and 'Tabernacle', both of which were released as singles in 1972/73. I've omitted anything from Focus as they are already well-known enough to need no introduction, but I have included his own take on their 'House Of The King' as it's a nice interpretation of the song. His latest album 'Close Beauty' has just been released to positive reviews, so if you like what you hear then check it out to see what he's up to now.  

Track listing

01 Exodus (Johnny And His Cellar Rockers 1961)   
02 Blue Tango (Johnny And His Cellar Rockers 1962)    
03 It Ain't Me Babe (The Hunters 1965)    
04 Russian Spy And I (The Hunters 1966)  
05 Janosh (And His Big White Poodle) (The Hunters 1966)    
06 Lost Money (The Hunters 1968) 
07 Strange Things Appear (The Hunters 1968)
08 Blues In G (The Hunters 1968)
09 Revival Of The Cat (Jan Akkerman 1968)
10 Moonbeam (Jan Akkerman 1968) 
11 Down Man (Brainbox 1969)
12 Sea Of Delight (Brainbox 1969)   
13 Summertime (Brainbox 1969)   
14 Minstrel/Farmers Dance (Jan Akkerman 1972) 
15 House Of The King (Jan Akkerman 1973)