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

1. Foaming at the Bit
2. Howling Comique
3. You Open My Legs Like a Book
4. Flogging Cully
5. Mememoremee
6. Invasion of Compulsory Sex-Morality
7. I Stabbed at the Sheep
8. Mistresspiece
9. Bloody Chamber
10. Would You Rather Dancing Be?
11. Wonder-Wounded
12. Savasana
13. Bitch Party
14. Modju
15. Palace of Thieves
16. Redress
17. Crinkum-Crankum
18. 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.