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Rock with a few interesting instrumental moments in each track, not a great album by any means but definitely a historical document of the age, recommended almost exclusively to fans of the style or die-hard lovers of the JETHRO TULL sound...2.5 stars.