I, Ludicrous

I, Ludicrous stands virtually alone among groups that emulated the Fall yet retained favor among that act’s followers. Their candid acknowledgment of the source material helped, and Fall frontman Mark E. Smith arranged a support slot after receiving an early four-track cassette. John Procter and Will Hung, the latter born David Rippingale, launched the project in Brixton, South London, England, during 1986; the pair lampooned insular British society while remaining resolutely provincial and fond of in-jokes themselves. This stance sustained three decades of intermittent releases.

Working at first from a bedroom studio, the duo cut their debut single, “Preposterous Tales,” issued initially as a free flexi-disc inside Blah Blah Blah magazine. The track’s comic portrait of a boastful raconteur holding court in a pub, driven by drum machine and distorted guitar, established the pattern for later work. Aired by BBC broadcaster John Peel, it reached the listener-voted Festive 50 and found particular favor among British college audiences. An album, It’s Like Everything Else, appeared on Kaleidoscope Sound; the Fall influence grew clearer as Hung’s clipped, London-inflected vocals echoed those of a local Mark E. Smith and the arrangements favored looping riffs. Their self-mocking wit and modest range never challenged their models but comfortably coexisted with them.

Plans for a follow-up ended in 1988 when Kaleidoscope Sound collapsed and retained the masters. The 1989 release A Warning to the Curious, issued on the Rodney Rodney! label, targeted yuppies and television personalities with straightforward satire. Light and Bitter arrived the next year on the same imprint, reclaiming several tracks from the abandoned 1988 sessions. A move to Old King Lud yielded 1992’s Idiots Savants, whose improved production, fuller arrangements, and gentler tone marked a step forward. Occasional British tours supporting the Fall kept the band’s profile modest. When time permitted, they issued further EPs and albums, among them The Museum of Installation on Old King Lud in 2003, the anthology 20 Years in Show Business via Sanctuary in 2007, and Dull Is the New Interesting on Cherry Red in 2015, the latter featuring bassist Martin Brett, who had joined some years earlier. Two years afterward they returned with the off-kilter Songs from the Sides of Lorries.