Akkerman was with Atlantic Records from 1973-1978. Atlantic is the company founded in 1947 by the Ertegun brothers and two others. In 1967 it was taken over by Warner Brothers but allowed a measure of independence. Focus recorded with Polydor but Akkerman had previously been with EMI. They published his first album Talent for Sale (later known as Guitar for sale) as a budget album and had produced Profile on their progressive Harvest label.
The Akkerman albums with Atlantic were as follows:
1. Tabernakel
2. Eli (with Kaz Lux)
3. Jan Akkerman (featuring Jan in bed with his guitar on the sleeve)
4. Jan Akkerman Live (at the Montreux jazz festival)
5. Jan Akkerman 3 (released 1979)
Akkerman also appears on the 1978 Atlantic album by Joachim Kuhn Orange Drive. In 1980 Atlantic published the album The Best of Jan Akkerman and friends.
Only Tabernakel was recorded in the USA, the other studio albums being done at Soundpush in Blaricum, Holland. In the case of Jan Akkerman 3 there was a great deal of additional recording in another Dutch studio, and in New York (horns), London (strings and flutes) and California (final mixing).
In 1978 Akkerman moved to CBS where the first album was an orchestral one Aranjuez with Claus Ogerman. It would seem that the costs of producing orchestral albums and the relatively low sales of Akkerman albums meant that Atlantic were no longer willing to fork out the cash necessary. Akkerman did three albums with CBS but in 1982 Pleasurepoint was released on the WEA label (Warner Elektra Atlantic). (Jan also says Jan Akkerman 3 was so called because it was his third album for Warners which makes sense if we discount Eli and the live album.)