The list of hit records by Dutch bands a short one; the list of hit records with yodelling is even shorter. It’s therefore a fairly safe bet that this is the only Dutch record with yodelling on it. Incredibly, it’s not as bad as you would imagine.

In 1973 I liked it so much that I went out and bought a live album (In Focus by Focus) which concluded with a 14-minute medley of their only two hits – Hocus Pocus and this one, Sylvia. The combination of Thijs Van Leer’s organ runs and Jan Akkerman’s liquid guitar is irresistible, in the Santana vein. Other elements, less so.

Listening now, it’s hard to maintain… well, focus on an entire album of instrumental guitar and organ interspersed with perhaps the three elements I least like to hear in music – flute, whistling and yodelling, which should be confined by law to old-time country records by Jimmie Rodgers.

Sylvia, though, is one hell of a great earworm: a sublime melody that, once heard, is unlikely to be forgotten. And it’s mercifully short at three minutes or so, demonstrating that sometimes (if not always) less is more: something Focus did not always understand, especially in concert.

The real attraction is Jan Akkerman’s guitar playing. In 1973 he was voted World’s Best Guitarist in the Melody Maker music poll ahead of Eric Clapton who was regarded at that time not just as a god but, in some quarters, literally as “God”. Sylvia is as good a showcase for his talents as you can find, along with a later tune called Tommy.