'Let it Be' is the name of an album by Yugoslavian art group
Laibach. It consists of cover versions of each of the tracks from the Beatles' 'Let it Be', with the exception of the title track. The packaging is a parody of the Beatles' original, with
John, Paul, George and Ringo replaced by
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
As with Laibach's other cover projects ('Life is life', 'NATO' and 'Sympathy for the Devil' being the most famous), their version of 'Let it Be' sounds as if it has been transported forward in time from Nazi Germany circa 1938 - imagine a furiously angry Arnold Schwarzenegger intoning 'come on baby, don'bee - cold as ice!' whilst the Wehrmacht's marching band plays in the background. The vocals are spat out with a contemptuous growl, whilst the music crashes and bangs with driving percussion, frequent shouts of 'Hah!', and grinding metal guitars.
The end result is eerie, simultaneously funny and worrying. 'One after 909' is the most obviously tongue-in-cheek cover, with a hilarious guitar solo that quotes Van Halen and Deep Purple in quick succession, whilst the sinister 'I've Got a Feeling' (which sounds like Queen and appears to be sung by a stadium full of Laibach fans) segues into a fragmentary, ambient version of 'The Long and Winding Road'.
'Get Back' was originally intended by Paul McCartney as a satire of Enoch Powell's 'rivers of blood' speech attacking Britain's contemporary immigration policies; in Laibach's hands it becomes the kind of thing that might be used to inflame the audience at a Young Conservative rally. It's never obvious whether the album is a grand art statement or a fantastic joke; that Laibach chose what is generally regarded as the least essential Beatles album, one which encapsulates the disintegration of the world's finest pop group, may or may not be significant.
Half-way through there's a haunting choral version of 'Across the Universe' which, with its repeated assertion that 'nothing's gonna change my world', sounds as if it might have been the last record Hitler played as the Russians closed in on his bunker.