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Ludus \ The Damage [LTMCD 2328]

A remastered, full-length CD anthology from seminal Manchester post-punk group Ludus, who recorded for labels including New Hormones, Les Disques du Crépuscule and Sordide Sentimental between 1980 and 1983.

Showcasing the music and muse of Linder Sterling and Ian Devine, the 18 tracks have been selected from across their career, including singles, album tracks and live material professionally recorded at the infamous Haçienda 'meat dress' show in November 1982. Several tracks included on this collection are not included on any other Ludus CD.

Cover image by Benoît Hennebert. Collages by Linder. Notes by Morrissey. Detailed Ludus biography in CD booklet.

Tracklist:

1. How High Does The Sky Go?
2. She She
3. Let Me Go Where My Pictures Go
4. Nue Au Soleil
5. Little Girls
6. I Can't Swim I Have Nightmares
7. Hugo Blanco
8. See the Keyhole
9. My Cherry Is In Sherry
10. The Escape Artist
11. Mirror Mirror (live 1982)
12. Wrapped In Silence (live 1982)
13. Too Hot To Handle (live 1982)
14. Howling Comique
15. What A Falling Off Was There
16. Patient
17. The Fool
18. Breaking the Rules

Available digital download. CD is now out of print and has been replaced by TWI 340 CD.

The Damage [LTMCD 2328]

Reviews:

"A forgotten enigma - placed beside recent works by Le Tigre or Peaches, the likes of Breaking the Rules insist that Ludus were actually a group unique for, and ahead of, their time" (Uncut, 04/2002)

"From postpunk to jazz to Bardo-esque pop, this compilation reflects their unique place in the musical landscape of the time" (Les Inrockuptibles, 02/2012)

"Highlights come from 1982's Seduction LP, where band partner Ian Devine provides staccato jazz-funk rhythms as Sterling declaims perplexing couplets" (Q, 06/2002)

"Breaking the Rules is one of the most hectoring, unimpeachably brilliant pop songs over" (City Life, 04/2002)

"A compilation of their finest moments and a timely reminder of the art-punk axis within which they worked" (The Wire, 03/2002)

"Linder was a huge influence on Morrissey, educating him in sexual politics. Her shrill but warm warble sounds like a clear influence too" (Q, 05/2002)

"The effect is delicious, a dizzy libertine idiot dance that wagged a scarlet-tipped finger before coating it in ambiguous ellipses and psycho-sexual allusions. This 18 track trawl moves from wilfully obtuse Diamanda Galas-outs to the pop goes the orgy, sugar-and-spice subversion of Breaking the Rules, while the cover of Nue Au Soleil is Stereolab waiting to happen. With knobs on" (Glasgow Herald, 03/2002)

"Not really so far from what Weekend, French Impressionists and Pale Fountains were doing at the time, but with free-jazz teeth a la Pop Group, Slits and their Bristol ilk, but with none of their dreary dub pretensions" (Drowning in Culture, 07/2002)