On May 8, 1970, the Beatles album Let it Be was released. Eighteen years later, on October 24, 1988, the Slovenian avant-garde music group, Laibach did an album of covers of Beatles songs, entitled, Let It Be.
vinyl LP album front cover
painting by IRWIN
photo by Styrous®
The music was in the Laibach style with military rhythms and choirs, however, a few tracks deviate from this formula, most notably Across the Universe. Maggie Mae is replaced by the German folk song Auf der Lüneburger Heide in combination with Was gleicht wohl auf Erden. One After 909 includes a small piece of Smoke on the Water, originally written and recorded by Deep Purple.
Ironically, the song Let It Be is actually not covered on the album; why this is is a mystery to me. I have researched for the reason but have found nothing about this.
Across the Universe is dreamy and quiet, totally unlike anything Laibach usually does. It is a beautiful interpretation with the Germania, Opus Dei Choir singing the lyrics with what sounds like a harmonium and harpsichord accompaniment. It is exquisite! Of course, Milan Fras has the "final word," so to speak, with the last note.
John first thought about the phrase in the song, "Words are flowing out like endless raining through a paper cup", while listening to his first wife Cynthia blabbering away "endlessly". However, he later on expanded on this phrase and added Hindu spirituality within the lyrics and completed the song.
Tracklist:
Side 1:
A1 - Get Back
A2 - Two Of Us
A3 - Dig A Pony
A4 - I Me Mine, written by George Harrison
A5 - Across The Universe, Featuring – Germania, Opus Dei Choir
Side 2:
A6 - Dig It
B1 - I’ve Got A Feeling
B2 - The Long And Winding Road
B3 - One After 909
B4 - For You Blue, written by George Harrison
B5 - Maggie Mae (Auf Der Luneburger Heide & Was Gleicht Wohl Auf Erden), Arranged By – Laibach – Traditional
Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Mute Records Ltd.
Copyright (c) – Mute Records Ltd.
Recorded At – Studio Tivoli, Ljubljana
Mixed At – Studio Tivoli, Ljubljana
Published By – Northern Songs
Published By – Harrisongs
Mastered At – P.R. Records Limited
Lacquer Cut At – The Exchange
Credits:
Arranged By – Laibach
Design – New Collectivism Studio
Layout – Slim Smith (2)
Painting – Irwin (2)
Plated By – P (29)
Recorded By, Mixed By – Iztok Turk, Janez Križaj
Written-By – Lennon/McCartney* (tracks: A1 to A3, A5 to B3)
Notes:
All songs by Lennon/McCartney Northern Songs
except A4 + B4 George Harrisson pub. Harrisongs
and B5 Trad. arr. Laidback
(Auf Der Luneburger Heide & Was Gleicht Wohl Auf Erden)
Made in Great Brritain
℗ 1988 Mute Records Limited
© 1988 Mute Records Limited
The release was plated at P.R. Records Limited.
Some copies contain limited edition print.
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Barcode: 5016025310586
Matrix / Runout (Runout side A): STUMM 58 AI The Exchange PR-P
Matrix / Runout (Runout side B): STUMM 58 BI PR-P
Laibach – Let It Be
Label: Mute – STUMM 58
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: UK
Released: 1988
Genre: Electronic
Style: Industrial
Viewfinder links:
Laibach
The Rolling Stones
Net links:
Laibach website
The Quietus ~ The Strange World Of Laibach
The Vinyl District ~ Laibach, Let It Be
The Fine Art of Mirroring
YouTube links:
Laibach -
Get Back
Two Of Us
I Me Mine
Across The Universe Official Video
Maggie Mae
Ironically, the song Let It Be is actually not covered on the album; why this is is a mystery to me. I have researched for the reason but have found nothing about this.
vinyl LP album front cover detail
painting by IRWIN
detail photo by Styrous®
Across the Universe is dreamy and quiet, totally unlike anything Laibach usually does. It is a beautiful interpretation with the Germania, Opus Dei Choir singing the lyrics with what sounds like a harmonium and harpsichord accompaniment. It is exquisite! Of course, Milan Fras has the "final word," so to speak, with the last note.
John first thought about the phrase in the song, "Words are flowing out like endless raining through a paper cup", while listening to his first wife Cynthia blabbering away "endlessly". However, he later on expanded on this phrase and added Hindu spirituality within the lyrics and completed the song.
vinyl LP album front cover detail
painting by IRWIN
detail photo by Styrous®
Maggie May (or Maggie Mae) (Roud 1757) is a traditional Liverpool folk song about a prostitute who robbed a "homeward bounder": a sailor coming home from a round trip. At 39 seconds long, it is the second-shortest song released on an official Beatles album, but the cover by Laibach is almost four minutes long. It is a fast strident march with a heavy military flavor typical of the group.
vinyl LP album back cover
photo by Styrous®
I Me Mine is an agonizingly slow and sinister waltz but it fits the original concept by its writer, George Harrison. it was the last new track recorded by the Beatles before their split in April 1970. The song originated from the Get Back/Let It Be
sessions in January 1969, and its lyrics serve as a comment from
Harrison on the fractious situation within the group at that time. The
song's musical mood alternates between waltz-time verses, during which Harrison laments the ego problems afflicting the group, and choruses played in the hard rock style.
For You Blue is a moderately fast aggressive instrumental sounding like a Hollywood version of a Roman march, trumpets and orchestra with an organ overlay. Based on Crescent Moon March by Moondog until four minutes into the work with a quiet but still fast tempo glockenspiel accompanied by tinkly bells.
vinyl LP album back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®
The front cover has a painting by IRWIN, a collective of Slovenian artists, primarily painters, and an original founding member of Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK).
In 1983, the artists Dušan Mandič, Miran Mohar, Andrej Savski, Roman
Uranjek, and Borut Vogelnik, coming from the punk and graffiti scene in Ljubljana, formed an artistic group and called it Rrose Irwin Sélavy. This name had a reference to Marcel Duchamp, who used “Rrose Sélavy” (like eros c’est la vie) as one of his feminine pseudonyms. The group shortened the name to R Irwin S. In 1984, the group co-founded a larger collective known as Neue
Slowenische Kunst (NSK). Acting as the fine arts wing of the group,
they joined the musical group Laibach, and the Scipion Nasice Sisters Theatre group. Soon after the formation of the larger collective, R Irwin S changed its name to simply Irwin.
In 1987, IRWIN, Novi Kolektivizem and Scipion Nasice Sisters Theatre were involved in one of the greatest art scandals in the history of Yugoslavia when they proposed a poster, based on a Nazi kunst poster, for the celebration of the Youth Day, The anniversary of the birth of Tito. In the history of art, this scandal is known as the Poster Scandal. In 2012, D'Art Documentaries Production is to release a 1-hour documentary about the scandal, entitled The Fine Art of Mirroring.
vinyl LP album back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®
vinyl LP record, side 1
detail photo by Styrous®
Tracklist:
Side 1:
A1 - Get Back
A2 - Two Of Us
A3 - Dig A Pony
A4 - I Me Mine, written by George Harrison
A5 - Across The Universe, Featuring – Germania, Opus Dei Choir
Side 2:
A6 - Dig It
B1 - I’ve Got A Feeling
B2 - The Long And Winding Road
B3 - One After 909
B4 - For You Blue, written by George Harrison
B5 - Maggie Mae (Auf Der Luneburger Heide & Was Gleicht Wohl Auf Erden), Arranged By – Laibach – Traditional
Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Mute Records Ltd.
Copyright (c) – Mute Records Ltd.
Recorded At – Studio Tivoli, Ljubljana
Mixed At – Studio Tivoli, Ljubljana
Published By – Northern Songs
Published By – Harrisongs
Mastered At – P.R. Records Limited
Lacquer Cut At – The Exchange
Credits:
Arranged By – Laibach
Design – New Collectivism Studio
Layout – Slim Smith (2)
Painting – Irwin (2)
Plated By – P (29)
Recorded By, Mixed By – Iztok Turk, Janez Križaj
Written-By – Lennon/McCartney* (tracks: A1 to A3, A5 to B3)
Notes:
All songs by Lennon/McCartney Northern Songs
except A4 + B4 George Harrisson pub. Harrisongs
and B5 Trad. arr. Laidback
(Auf Der Luneburger Heide & Was Gleicht Wohl Auf Erden)
Made in Great Brritain
℗ 1988 Mute Records Limited
© 1988 Mute Records Limited
The release was plated at P.R. Records Limited.
Some copies contain limited edition print.
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Barcode: 5016025310586
Matrix / Runout (Runout side A): STUMM 58 AI The Exchange PR-P
Matrix / Runout (Runout side B): STUMM 58 BI PR-P
Laibach – Let It Be
Label: Mute – STUMM 58
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: UK
Released: 1988
Genre: Electronic
Style: Industrial
Viewfinder links:
Laibach
The Rolling Stones
Net links:
Laibach website
The Quietus ~ The Strange World Of Laibach
The Vinyl District ~ Laibach, Let It Be
The Fine Art of Mirroring
YouTube links:
Laibach -
Get Back
Two Of Us
I Me Mine
Across The Universe Official Video
Maggie Mae
"The Future is not what it used to be."
~ Laibach
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