Laibach Share Two Track Single 'Opus Dei Live 1987-1989 PT. 1'

LAIBACH has released a new two-track single, “Opus Dei Live 1987 - 1989 pt.1”,  featuring two unreleased live recordings: “Leben heisst Leben (Opus Dei)”  Live from London, Queen Elizabeth Hall, 1987 and “F.I.A.T. (Let It Be)”  Live from Paris, Espace Ornano, 1992. Both tracks are from the expanded edition of their 1987 album, Opus Dei, which is set to be released digitally on Mute on May 10, 2024  and on vinyl and as a 2CD box set on May 24, 2024. Additionally, the CD features 16 unreleased live tracks from 1987-1989 and 3 bonus tracks (which includes two that were previously unreleased).

The single features their infamous interpretation of Opus’ “Live is Life” recorded live at the Royal Elizabeth Hall, London, in 1987 along with an epic live rendering of “F.I.A.T. (Let It Be)”, a stark comment on the human cost of war.

The two-track single is accompanied by the newly remastered version of “Opus Dei (Life is Life”’, cut to evocative live footage of the band taken from Goran Gajić’s 1988 film Pobeda pod suncem' (Victory under the Sun), filmed in Belgrade, Münich, and Ljubljana. Watch the video HERE.

Opus Dei, the band’s first album for Mute, was mixed by Rico Conning (Wire, Pere Ubu, Swans, William Orbit) and the band’s classic Laibachian interpretations of Opus’ ‘Live Is Life’ (here presented in English as ‘Opus Dei’ and in German as ‘Leben heisst Leben’) and Queen’s ‘One Vision’ (reworked as ‘Geburt Einer Nation’) soon saw them emerge from the shadows as they garnered support from the likes of MTV and ITV’s The Chart Show. This mainstream spotlight, coupled with memorable features in the music press, opened up opportunities for the Slovenian collective that included their first world tour. Performances from the tour from London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, San Francisco, Berlin, Paris and “somewhere in Europe” make up the second CD of the expanded remastered edition.

A redesigned cover (further refining the original’s artwork), plus an extensive booklet with photographs, artwork inspired by the German anti-fascist visual artist John Heartfield, and new sleeve notes by the cultural theorist and author Alexei Monroe, make this an essential edition of the band’s third studio album.

Laibach formed in the industrial town of Trbovlje (in what was then Yugoslavia). Founded in the year that the country’s founding father Tito died, the band rose to fame to become one of the most internationally acclaimed bands to have come out of the former Communist countries of Eastern and Central Europe. Before the release of their third studio album, Opus Dei, the band had been censored and banned in Yugoslavia, had embarked on the Occupied Europe Tour (which included 16 dates in 8 Eastern and Western Bloc countries), appeared as extras in Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket, recorded a Peel Session for the BBC and performed in Michael Clark’s dance company production, No Fire Escape from Hell. With no compromise, the band have continued to carve a singular presence with performances, albums, scores and, in 2017, a documentary about their ground-breaking performances in North Korea in 2015 was released. In 2019 they launched their interpretation of The Sound of Music, conceived during their trip to North Korea and in 2020 celebrated four decades with Laibach Revisited. An album of music from the acclaimed theatrical production Wir sind das Volk (ein Musical aus Deutschland) based on the writings of Heiner Müller (1929 -1995) followed in 2022. The band also announced recently that diplomatic negotiations are underway for a performance in Tehran of Alamut, an original symphonic work composed in collaboration with Iranian composers and performers. In April 2024 Laibach will perform their score to a new theatrical production of Bertolt Brecht’s Saint Joan of the Stockyards, by ErosAntEros. The performances run from April 18-21 at Emilia Romagna Teatro in Bologna before a performance at the POLIS Teatro Festival in Ravenna on April 24, 2024. The University of Salerno in Italy has recently announced a course, See You in Hell - The Laibachs between three Dissolutions: Yugoslavia, Europe, the World, which will delve into the history of Laibach.

Laibach’s Opus Dei (Remastered) is out on Mute on vinyl (with 16-page booklet), 2CD box set (with 28-page booklet) on May 24, 2024 and digitally on May 10, 2024.

LAIBACH – OPUS DEI TOUR:

5/14/2024 - Winterthur, Gaswerk Kulturzentrum, CH
5/15/2024 - Frankfurt, Batschkapp, DE
5/16/2024 - Berlin, Huxleys Neue Welt, DE
5/17/2024 - Copenhagen, Pumpehuset, DK
5/18/2024 - Gothenburg, Pustervik, SE
5/19/2024 - Stockholm, Nya Cirkus, SE
5/21/2024 - Helsinki, Savoy Theatre, FI
5/23/2024 - Oslo, Vulkan, NO
5/25/2024 - Cologne, Essigfabrik, DE
5/26/2024 - Dresden, Kultur Zentrum Strasse E, DE
5/27/2024 - Torun, CKK Jordanki, PL
5/28/2024 - Lublin, Radio Lublin, PL
5/29/2024 - Graz, Orpheum Big Hall, AT
7/3/2024 - Munich, Muffathalle, DE
7/4/2024 - Schorndorf, Manufaktur, DE 
7/6/2024 - Halle, East Side Festival, DE
8/9/2024 - Jaromer, Brutal Assault Festival, CZ
10/5/2024 - Zagreb, Boogaloo, HR
10/11/2024- Budapest, Dürer Kert, HU
10/12/2024 - Leipzig, Felsenkeller, DE
10/13/2024 - Prague, Roxy, CZ
10/15/2024 - Dordrecht, Bibelot, NL
10/16/2024 - Arnhem, Luxor, NL
10/17/2024 - Vauréal, Le Forum 2, FR
10/18/2024 - Toulouse, Le Rex, FR
10/19/2024 - Wavre, La Sucrerie, BE
10/20/2024 - Bochum, Christuskirche, DE
10/22/2024 - Hannover, Music Pavillion, DE

Track listing:

VINYL
A1 Leben heisst Leben (Opus Dei)
A2 Geburt einer Nation (One Vision)
A3 Leben – Tod
A4 F.I.A.T. (Let It Be)
B1 Opus Dei (Life is Life)
B2 Transnational
B3 How the West Was Won
B4 The Great Seal

CD1
Leben heisst Leben (Opus Dei)
Geburt einer Nation (One Vision)
Leben – Tod
F.I.A.T. (Let It Be)
Transnational
How the West Was Won
Opus Dei (Life is Life)
The Great Seal

Bonus tracks:
Geburt einer Nation (Eine Richtung und ein Volk Version)
Leben heisst Leben (Marche Funèbre Version)
Geburt einer Nation (3. Oktober – Kraftbach – Version)

CD2
Leben heisst Leben (London, Queen Elizabeth Hall, 1987)
Geburt einer Nation (Somewhere in Europe/US, 1987-1989)
Leben-Tod (Somewhere in Europe/US, 1987-1989)
F.I.A.T. (Paris, Espace Ornano, 1992)
Transnational (Somewhere in Europe/US, 1987-1989)
How the West Was Won (Somewhere in Europe/US, 1987-1989)
Opus Dei (Somewhere in Europe/US, 1987-1989)
Leben heisst Leben (Berlin, Quartier Latin, 1987)
Geburt einer Nation (Berlin, Quartier Latin, 1987)
Leben – Tod (Berlin, Quartier Latin, 1987)
How the West Was Won (Berlin, Quartier Latin, 1987)
Geburt einer Nation (Vienna, Messepalast, Kaiser Franz Josef Reitschule, 1988)
Leben – Tod (San Francisco, The I Beam, 1989)
Transnational (San Francisco, The I Beam, 1989)
How the West Was Won (San Francisco, The I Beam, 1989)
Opus Dei (San Francisco, The I Beam, 1989)

Photo credit: Andy Catlin Ljubljana

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