ELECTRA COMBO (AS ELECTRA-COMBO)

One of the long-lived acts from East Germany, Electra came from Dresden and were found in 1969 by wind instrumentalist Bernd Aust, bassist Wolfgang Riedel, guitarist Ekkehard Berger, drummer/singer Peter Ludewig and keyboardist Karl-Heinz Ringel.The band had a good live activity and by the time of their first album Ringel and Berger were replaced by singer Stephan Trepte, Hans Peter Dohanetz on keys and Peter Sandkaulen on guitars.As with many East German bands their debut ''Electra-Combo'' (1974) was released on Amiga.

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Rock with a few interesting instrumental moments in each track, not a great album by any means but definitely a historical document of the age, recommended almost exclusively to fans of the style or die-hard lovers of the JETHRO TULL sound...2.5 stars.

ELECTRA was a band that formed in Dresden, East Germany in 1969 initially under the ELECTRA-COMBO moniker but would drop the second part in 1975. This band was one of East Germany's most famous as well as most radical and progressive bands which resulted in having a very hard time getting an album released due to the iron clad censors behind the curtain so the band's albums unfortunately did not reflect the ambitious nature that the band purportedly displayed in a live setting.

After releasing this debut simply titled ELECTRA-COMBO in 1974, the band which would simply become ELECTRA was allowed to sneak in some more progressive elements and the next couple of albums are considered the progressive heyday of East Germany but in 1980 the band adopted a mainstream pop rock style and remained one of the most popular bands of the DDR during the decade.

Founded in 1969 by Peter "Mampe" Ludewig, Bernd Aust, Helmut Rinn, Karl-Heinz Ringel and Ekkehard Berger who were students of the Dresden Music Ademy Carl Maria von Weber, the band was known for its electronic supported adaptations of classical music before venturing into progressive rock however on this debut simply titled ELECTRA-COMBO the band crafted a mix of catchy pop hook oriented Deutschrock with a few progressive rock time signature outbursts woven into the rather standard sounds of the day.

While maintaining a mostly funk laden bass groove throughout most of this album by Michael Demnitz, the psychedelic organ swells of the two keyboardists Bernd Aust and Hans-Peter Dohanetz as well as the standard rock guitar contributions of Peter Sandkaulen, ELECKTRA also sounded much like Jethro Tull as Bernd Aust delivered a lot of flute on this album as well as the occasional jazzy saxophone squawk. Lead vocalist Stephen Trepte delivered all German lyrics in a rather operatic bravado which in tandem created a veritable crossover prog that must have been irresistible in an art rock region of the world in 1974.

Based more in the world of pop rock than anything prog, this obscure (to the West) band's first release isn't really that interesting other than as a sneak peek into the music scene of the DDR around the 1974 timeline and for that it is utterly fascinating however the lyrics are rather ridiculous (assuming you understand German) and the music is catchy but not anything out of the ordinary either. While this band must've provided a welcome respite from the status quo of the heavily controlled music scene of Eastern Europe, it's a little too tame for its own good and quite a shame that ELECTRA couldn't record the music that they were known to play in live settings.

ELECTRA would ramp up the prog aspects on its following albums "Adaptionen" and "3" before metamorphosing into one of the DDR's most popular pop rock acts of the 80s but on this debut you can only expect some well delivered Deutschrock with references to 60s heavy psych, 70s Jethro Tull and occasional angularities making sudden hairpin turns but never enough to satisfy. Some of the music is obviously inspired by the ethnic folk music with an oom-pah sort of polka flavor but for the most part this is a decent if unremarkable collection of tracks. Hardly worth hunting down at any cost but certainly an entertaining listen just to hear the local flavors of 70s Dresden.

2.5 rounded down