Februar

Album review

Februar marked a new step in the development of Silly. First of all, the addition of Uwe Hassbecker (guitar, violin) to the band lineup made the guitar work much more aggressive and straightforward, but Hassbecker's input also enhanced the band's sound by some folkish nuances, the most obvious in "Verlorne Kinder." In terms of lyrics, this album was a new beginning. Between the releases of Bataillon d'Amour and Februar, Silly had fired their lyricist Werner Karma, who, according to the band, had a tendency to write increasingly psychotic lyrics. Instead of coating the obvious in poetic phrases, the band thought that time was ripe to pinpoint the problems of the slowly rotting German Democratic Republic society in their lyrics. So they hired Gerhard Gundermann, a rising star in the singer/songwriter community who was well known for his plain and realistic lyrics, and he turned out to be a good choice. Februar became a cult album and an artistic statement on the eve of the GDR breakdown, speaking out the necessary: about lost children in the streets of Berlin ("Verlorne Kinder"), suicide out of hopelessness ("Über Ihr Taute Das Eis"), about the ridiculous and pathetic optimism of the regime ("Alles Wird Besser"), and finally calling to topple the old guard ("SOS"). It is the more astonishing that the GDR censors suddenly seemed to be paralyzed, as all songs were released without any problems.

© Frank Eisenhuth /TiVo