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LAIBACH
ANTHEMS
DOUBLE
ALBUM
MUTE, EMI RELEASE: OCTOBER
4, 2004 REVIEW: OCTOBER
14, 2004
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”Anthems”
is the Laibach greatest hit album
plus a disc of various mixes. Containing
most of the classic songs from ”Brat
Moj” up to the brand new single
”Das Spiel ist aus” (from
the latest album "WAT"),
it is otherwise unremarkable except
for the accompanying 40 page booklet
not included with this promo and the
one previously unreleased track on
the first disc. ”Mama Leone”
is one of those truly inspired cover
choices of Laibach, on par with ”One
Vision” by Queen when a piece
of symphonic rock sleaze was transformed
into ”Geburt einer Nation”
(which is naturally also on this compilation),
a truly frightening national anthem.
The life of the the song’s German-Hungarian
songwriter Drafi Deutscher with his
many artist aliases, and the story
of how ”Mama Leone” became
a monster hit in Italy are almost
as fascinating in themselves as the
darkly tinted, exquisite Laibach version
of the song. The true nature of Mama
Leone – who is praised as an
angel of compassion and whose passing
is mourned in the lyrics – as
well as hopes of a brighter future
is left in doubt by the trademark
Laibach treatment of ominous acoustics
and deep bass vocals.
Laibach wisely concentrated their
latest effort ”WAT” on
mainly original material, seeing as
their choices as well as treatments
of covers had long before started
becoming increasingly predictable
and boring. ”Mama Leone”
marks an interesting new direction
with some potential, the like of which
I haven’t heard on a Laibach
album since ”Kapital”.
On that album Laibach were developing
in a completely unexpected fashion,
and apparently raised enough interest
in the electronic dance community
to warrant a remix of ”Wirtschaft
ist Tot” by Richie Hawtin, present
here. Yet I can’t mobilize much
interest for any of the mixes included
on this compilation. They’re
okay, but exactly how are slightly
sped up versions of songs with the
vocals removed and substituted dance
beats so very interesting? The most
recent mixes are a bit better, ranging
from glitch electronica to grandiose
reconstructions like ”WAT”
in iTURK’s treatment.
MATTIAS
HUSS
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