Laibach – Let It Be

It's interesting how people keep being persuaded that "Let It Be" is a parody or mocking of The Beatles. It's not, nor was it ever intended to be. It's a sincere homage to Lennon and friends, filtered and rewritten through Laibach's bizarre sensibility. Hating everything that belongs to the realm of pop/rock music is part of every "alternative" subculture's standard attitude, however you'd be probably in shock if you knew that Laibach grew up as huge fans and connoisseurs of Anglo/American pop/rockstars, such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Doors, Bob Dylan, etc., and that such artists are still inspiring them today. You don't believe me? Check out this article: https://thequietus.com/interviews/bakers-dozen/laibach-favourite-albums/

I've long wondered why they'd go *this* far to re-do this entire album yet omit / spare the title track from similar treatment. Whenever I really do take the time to ponder this mystery, however, I always conclude they couldn't bring themselves to "sing" the words "Mother Mary".

It probably was Laibach's sole intention to mock The Beatles by effectively decapitating them with "Let It Be" (the same way they did it two years earlier, decapitating Opus and Queen, on the far more sinister "Opus Dei"), teasing the listener with conceptual mind-games but despite the merciless stench of these Beatles cover attempts, that doesn't save "Let It Be" from being one of Laibach's downright worst. The only golden exception is, of course, "Across The Universe" - a morbid "hush-a-bye" version which never allows itself to rest, its underlining threat confirmed by Milan Fras's demonic "om" phrasings at the song's tail end.

Joking and absurdity aside, the overall re-compositions of dust-speckled Beatles tracks are completely welcome! Laibach have always willing pushed an agenda stuffed envelope and here yes, theoretically the box from which these ideas and messages come from are deeper and more intellectual than the finished product...but that's totally fine! It sounds great and it's bizarre enough to hold mutually the hands of a pop music lover and a Slovenian martial/industrial group fanatic! Grab this.

It's hard to evaluate something that is conceptually so strong. Laibach never were very prone to being compared using regular standards, except maybe for a couple of their records of the previous decade.

In my opinion, this is one of their best efforts, and I've been following them since the very beginning, to the present day. Mostly because they manage to keep the punch, the sonic brutality that is characteristic to them, but now with bits of baroque (adj.) composition that go well with the overall ironic mood. This relates to previous albums as being less "raw" in sound, less experimental in composition, perhaps of easier listening to someone unfamiliar, although this isn't exactly my opinion.

"Seems like an experimental parody on how the Beatles may had sounded if they were Nazis or Stalinists."
(Note to other reviewer: I find it rather nonsensical to put a political orientation in music for Wagner was not a nazi, it was Hitler who was sort of "wagnerian". This is actually a departure from their intense political albums, but nonetheless, equally rewarding).

If I had to put a style on the label this would be "electronic industrial operatic". As a reference you could place it next to the contemporary Young Gods sound of the time, sometimes with operatic overtones, other times with folk inspiration, and even Prokofiev in a song or two.

A challenging listen far, far, far different (some would say "better", other "worse") than the implied starting point.