Out of Focus

Out of Focus emerged among the inventive ensembles that surfaced across Germany during the early seventies. Their distinctive fusion approach paved the way for a trilogy of albums issued at yearly intervals, each one surpassing the last in quality. The Munich-based unit formed toward the close of 1968 when Drechsler, Hering, Neumuller, Spori, and Wisheu came together. Drawing from the era’s currents, the musicians fused jazz, folk, blues, psychedelic, and progressive rock while embedding political and social themes, particularly through Neumuller’s lyrics. Their sound crystallized rapidly, leading to nonstop touring from 1969 onward throughout Germany, where they supported Amon Düül II, Nektar, Ginger Baker, Kraan, Kraftwerk, and Embryo, among others. The Kuckuck label signed the group by mid-1970. Following an extended rehearsal period, they captured material from October through December, resulting in the year-end release of their debut album Wake Up. In June 1971 they tracked a follow-up for Kuckuck that appeared later the same year. The self-titled second album reduced rock-oriented riffs as the band leaned deeper into jazz, improvisation, and experimental territory. Returning to the studio in summer 1972, they produced the double album Four Letter Monday Afternoon, an even bolder excursion featuring extended pieces, among them the fifty-minute “Huchen-55” that filled the entire second disc. The lineup expanded temporarily to eleven members with the additions of Dechant, Schmid-Neuhaus, Polivka, Breuer, Thatcher, and Langhans. Kuckuck demanded a hit single. Combined with the musicians’ unruly conduct and the label owner’s distaste for Four Letter Monday Afternoon, the request led to the group’s dismissal shortly after the album’s appearance. Early in 1973 the collective and their partners relocated thirty miles outside Munich into rural surroundings. Hering departed at this stage, while Schmid-Neuhaus and newcomer Gohringer came aboard. Lacking a new contract, they undertook pre-production for a prospective fourth album between March and May 1974; those sessions eventually surfaced years afterward as Not Too Late. Fragmentation set in by 1975 as members gradually dispersed. When the remaining players appeared at the 1978 Unsont & Draussen festival, Drechsler stood as the sole original participant and the music had shifted toward straightforward jazz. Drechsler joined Embryo the following year, after which Out of Focus formally disbanded.