Ludus:
Nue au Soleil (Completement):
Les Disques du Crepuscule:
2xCD:
Out Now:
In the North during 1978, just as Punk's spirited frenzy was ebbing away and New Wave was becoming the next torch bearing musical and cultural brimstone and fire, those previously enamoured by the Sex Pistols and even more impressed with Manchester's own Buzzcocks, attended gigs, fell in love and formed bands.
One such onlooker-turned-creationista was art student Linder Sterling who schmoozed with the 'Cocks' Howard Devoto before he got bored with punk and formed Magazine. Linder briefly became both bands' go-to sleeve designer before forming Ludus, utilising local musicians for various shows before settling for Cardiffian instrumentalist Ian Devine and beginning a short but satisfying stint as Manchester's most artful outfit.
This double CD charts their progress from free-jazz avant-pop experimentalists in 1979 to thoughtful cosmopolitan lounge-lizards in 1983 with tracks culled from early New Hormones singles, slick Crepuscule releases, a Peel session and a chunk of live action recorded at the Hacienda in 1982. It's a veritable assortment of ad-hoc scat 'n' freeform (What a Feeling Was There, Howling Comique), smooth sun-soaked exotica (Nue Au Soleil, How High Does The Sky Go? and the luxuriant The Escape Artist with its hazy ambient then hollered outro) and confident disco-pop (the superb Let Me Go Where My Pictures Go and the histrionic Breaking The Rules).
It could be argued that such variety and discordance disuaded most onlookers, bar NME readers, Paul Morley and Morrissey, who saw fit to give them a glowing live review for Record Mirror, describing them as 'an exquisite torture'. Remember, this was all during a time when music was discovered the hard way, rather than just clicking on You Tube or streaming services.
Morley and Morrissey may well have been right then because some thirty-odd years later, most of this extensive package has aged very well indeed. Musically they lock creative horns with Maximum Joy, Marine Girls, The Slits, The Raincoats or future label-mates French Impressionists without sounding purposely like any of them. Quite unique then.
Three decades on, aside from Sterling's dramatic vocal swoops and screams, Ludus as a band sound as enthralling as they are unpredictable. Ian Devine is an impeccable guitarist in the busy tight-rhythm mode while each drummer through the various line-ups earned their rest periods between takes.
The Peel Session covers just about every Ludus facet in four tracks with the frenetic Too Hot To Handle good enough to be a single in a parallel world, while the live concert renditions were bolstered by appearances from Magazine's Dave Formula and SPK founder and future film-composer Graham Revell. After being familiar with this compilation's title-track for over thirty years, I am still entranced by Paul Cavanagh's snakey bassline and 'live' it's even, well, snakier.
I guarantee that not every cut on here will delight everyone - Ludus were occasionally ludicrously pretentious - but for sheer bravery at a time when aggression was rife at gigs and women were under-represented in music terms, Linder and co were as subversive as the Pistols, the Banshees et al. The explorative revealing sleevenotes bear testament to this. Great package.
8/10
Nue au Soleil (Completement):
Les Disques du Crepuscule:
2xCD:
Out Now:
One such onlooker-turned-creationista was art student Linder Sterling who schmoozed with the 'Cocks' Howard Devoto before he got bored with punk and formed Magazine. Linder briefly became both bands' go-to sleeve designer before forming Ludus, utilising local musicians for various shows before settling for Cardiffian instrumentalist Ian Devine and beginning a short but satisfying stint as Manchester's most artful outfit.
This double CD charts their progress from free-jazz avant-pop experimentalists in 1979 to thoughtful cosmopolitan lounge-lizards in 1983 with tracks culled from early New Hormones singles, slick Crepuscule releases, a Peel session and a chunk of live action recorded at the Hacienda in 1982. It's a veritable assortment of ad-hoc scat 'n' freeform (What a Feeling Was There, Howling Comique), smooth sun-soaked exotica (Nue Au Soleil, How High Does The Sky Go? and the luxuriant The Escape Artist with its hazy ambient then hollered outro) and confident disco-pop (the superb Let Me Go Where My Pictures Go and the histrionic Breaking The Rules).
It could be argued that such variety and discordance disuaded most onlookers, bar NME readers, Paul Morley and Morrissey, who saw fit to give them a glowing live review for Record Mirror, describing them as 'an exquisite torture'. Remember, this was all during a time when music was discovered the hard way, rather than just clicking on You Tube or streaming services.
Morley and Morrissey may well have been right then because some thirty-odd years later, most of this extensive package has aged very well indeed. Musically they lock creative horns with Maximum Joy, Marine Girls, The Slits, The Raincoats or future label-mates French Impressionists without sounding purposely like any of them. Quite unique then.
Three decades on, aside from Sterling's dramatic vocal swoops and screams, Ludus as a band sound as enthralling as they are unpredictable. Ian Devine is an impeccable guitarist in the busy tight-rhythm mode while each drummer through the various line-ups earned their rest periods between takes.
The Peel Session covers just about every Ludus facet in four tracks with the frenetic Too Hot To Handle good enough to be a single in a parallel world, while the live concert renditions were bolstered by appearances from Magazine's Dave Formula and SPK founder and future film-composer Graham Revell. After being familiar with this compilation's title-track for over thirty years, I am still entranced by Paul Cavanagh's snakey bassline and 'live' it's even, well, snakier.
I guarantee that not every cut on here will delight everyone - Ludus were occasionally ludicrously pretentious - but for sheer bravery at a time when aggression was rife at gigs and women were under-represented in music terms, Linder and co were as subversive as the Pistols, the Banshees et al. The explorative revealing sleevenotes bear testament to this. Great package.
8/10