Listening to LAIBACH seems a laborious thing, both on record and in concert, and this scribe isn’t ashamed to admit the Slovenian ensemble’s performance back in the mid-’90s remains about the only show he’s ever walked out of, but there many people who are very much invested in the group’s totalitarian-sounding oeuvre. Their discography started four decades ago with the issue of an album titled “Nebo žari” which arrived without the band’s name on the cover, because Yugoslavian authorities had banned them. Restored in its originally intended place, the word “Laibach” will now appear as an element of the disc’s artwork – and the artwork of a box set built around that platter.
Called simply “40” and comprising four CDs and a DVD, the collection slated for release on November 28th includes new remasters of the studio record and two live ones, documenting the squad’s first outings in 1982, their early rehearsals and a legendary semi-legal Ljubljana concert, as well as a report from the team’s recent performance, and a documentary subtitled in six languages, all housed in a special packaging. Not for everyone but aficionados should rejoice.
40
Disc 1 – Nebo žari – 40th Anniversary Remaster:
1. Cari Amici Soldati
2. Sila
3. Sredi bojev
4. Drzava
5. Dekret
6. Mi kujemo bodocnost
7. Brat moj
8. Panorama
9. N.Y. 1984 – policijski hit
10. Prva TV generacija
11. Der Zivilisation
12. L’Homme armé
13. One Plus One
Disc 2 – Ljubljana–Zagreb-Beograd – 2025 Remaster
Zagreb/Belgrade ’82:
1. Intro
2. Unsere Geschichte
3. Rdeci molk
4. Siemens
5. Smrt za smrt
6. Drzava
7. Tito-Tito
8. Zavedali so se – poparjen je odsel I
9. Delo in disciplina
10. Ostati zvesti nasi preteklosti – poparjen je odsel II
11. Tovarna C19
12. STT (Machine Factory Trbovlje)
13. Sveti Urh
14. Drzava (The State) (studio version)
Novi Rock ’82:
15. Cari Amici Soldati
16. Jaruzelski
17. Drzava
18. Svoboda
40
Disc 3 – M.B. December 21, 1984 – 2025 Remaster:
1. Ti, ki izzivas (Ljubljana ’84)
2. Sila / Dokumenti (Ljubljana ’84)
3. Dokumenti II (Zagreb ’85)
4. Sredi bojev (Ljubljana ’84)
5. Nova Akropola (Zagreb ’85)
6. Dokumenti III (Berlin ’85)
Disc 4 – We Forge the Future – Live at the Cukrarna Gallery, 2025:
1. Rdeci molk + Siemens
2. Tovarna C19
3. Sveti Urh
4. Zmagoslavje volje
5. Smrt za smrt
6. Boji
7. Mi Kujemo bodocnost
8. Tito-Tito (Outro)
DVD:
“Music is the Art of Time” (documentary)
