Danger Came Smiling
Danger Came Smiling was the final LP released by Manchester post-punk group Ludus. It was first issued by New Hormones in September 1982.
The album stands apart in the band's discography, being a lot more experimental, improvisational and intentionally less accessible than their other work. It consists of eighteen mostly short tracks. Instead of conventional lyrics, singer Linder Sterling provides a selection of cries, yells, laughter and spoken interludes (including diary records of Reichian therapy), and one very short track sung a capella. The music seems to be deliberately kicking against the slick pop that dominated charts at the time. The LP has been described by guitarist Ian Devine as a therapeutic exercise, and by Linder as a "personal exorcism".
Track listing
- Foaming at the Bit
- Howling Comique
- You Open My Legs Like a Book
- Flogging Cully
- Mememoremee
- Invasion of Compulsory Sex-Morality
- I Stabbed at the Sheep
- Mistresspiece
- Bloody Chamber
- Would You Rather Dancing Be?
- Wonder-Wounded
- Savasana
- Bitch Party
- Modju
- Palace of Thieves
- Redress
- Crinkum-Crankum
- Centuries
Currently, Danger Came Smiling is available on CD as a double-issue with the Ludus' 1981 EP Pickpocket. The compilation, Pickpocket/Danger Came Smiling, is available from the label Les Temps Modernes.