Wunder gescheh'n

Album review

After the huge success of her original band had faded, Nena and the individual members of the band went their separate ways as of 1987. For Nena Kerner herself, the question remained whether she could reassert her career on her own or whether her teen star status of 1983-1984 would remain her only triumph. However, as it sadly happened, by mid-1989 she had an even more daunting challenge to surmount, as her first child, Christopher, died due to consequences of complications that had occurred during his birth in 1988. It was under these circumstances that Nena decided to go ahead and record her first solo album, and the music turned out to be a gentle and balanced reflection of those circumstances. The title track, "Wunder Gescheh'n" (Miracles Happen), sets the tone with its peaceful confidence in the possibility of healing. What's more -- as a historic coincidence, the song was released as the first single just days before the Berlin Wall opened up and signaled the end of the division of postwar Germany, a miracle happening for real, partly fitting in with the song's lyrics. Nevertheless, although the album provided a basically successful comeback, it was not a return to the massive success of five years before. The album did, however, prove that Nena continued to have a loyal fan base. As would be the case with future releases, Nena chose a few friends to co-write the songs with her, this time mainly with original Nena band bassist Jürgen Dehmel. Recorded using session musicians, the new songs turned out lighter in touch than the usual sound of her previous band, but it fitted the new material well and included a stronger tendency toward folk elements. Coping with loss provides the main theme of the songs, climaxing in the middle of the album in the very strong "Weisses Schiff" (White Ship), with its timeless feeling in the grand folk tradition, describing the sighting of spirits on a ship sailing in the eternal beyond. Nena's typical life-affirming spirit gently gains momentum as the album progresses, ending in the sly lyric of the swinging blues-style closer, "Abschied" (Farewell), with Nena playing the part of a woman who will take no more of being done wrong by her man. Although some of the songs are a bit lightweight, Nena's first sojourn in her own right turned out sufficiently convincing, further highlights being "Du Bist Überall" (You Are Everywhere), an elegantly touching song of reconciliation with her recent fate, and the Cajun-flavored "self portrait" of "Keine Langeweile" (Never a Dull Moment).

© Alan Severa /TiVo