ELECTRA

As the title indicates, in this album the East-Germans take six classical arrangements and transformed them into rock compositions, drawn by some of the most important Classical composers: Alexander Borodin, Johann Sebastian Bach, Aram Chatschaturjan, Sergej Rachmaninov, Edvard Grieg, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.Electra use their music as the basis of their compositions and add their own character through strong organ jams and hard-driving flutes, among them the listener can find tons of sudden breaks and virtuosic solos, particularly led by Aust'es flute and Uebel's organ.The sound is very close to the likes of E.L.P., considering the heavy use of Hammond organ, although the strong and massive flute parts bring to mind bands such as OSANNA or NEW TROLLS.Today the album sounds a bit dated, the chosen style being the main reason for the fact, on the other hand the music here is tremendously consistent and solid all the way.The powerful electric guitars of Koreng add a Hard Prog flavor to the album, the Classical-inspired passages are adapted in an excellent deegree and the original touches next to them fit brilliant with the masters' Classical enviroment.

No real highs or lows.''Adaptionen'' should be considered a masterpiece for all those, who love Classical Rock adaptions, but I can strongly recommend the album to any Prog fan in general, as there are no weak points in here, on the contrary, this is 100% high quality Classical Rock...3.5 stars.

Reputedly Electra had a very daring progressive sound, but the social conservation of DDR prevent the band of recording a trully adventurous album, while they even supported pop artists around the same time.So their debut was actually an incoherent mix of different styles with plenty of rough vocals, a raw guitar sound, somewhat dated organ work and a fair amount of flutes.Their style is quite close to that of JETHRO TULL's, filled with flute drives and solos, deeped in Blues and Heavy Rock aesthetics but in a rather commercial vein with simple song structures, only interrupted by some nice guitar, organ and flute solos.The grooves though are a bit interesting with the band breathing a hell of energy, guitars are really dominant supported by jazzy organs and a pounding rhythm section, while the talent of the members is evident, even in this commercial outfit.However the lack of trully adventurous musicianship, the somewhat dull vocals, the sometimes laughable lyrics (for those who understand German) and a couple of weak straight Blues tracks prevent the album of being an essential effort.

Classic commercial Deutsch Rock with a few interesting instrumental moments in each track, not a great album by any means but definitely a historical document of the age, recommended almost exclusively to fans of the style or die-hard lovers of the JETHRO TULL sound...2.5 stars.