After releasing a string of 7" singles variously as O'Level, The Television Personalities, Teenage Filmstars, that culminated with the debut Television Personalities album "And Don't The Kids Just Love It" on Rough Trade Records, Edward Ball and Daniel Treacy opted for even more artistic control by setting up their own label, WHAAM! Records. At the same time, recorded as a proposed Teenage Filmstars' debut LP, Ball's 1980 collection of songs was completed as "Go! With The Times", from which the first Times single "Red With Purple Flashes" was released on Whaam! This was followed by "Pop Goes Art!", released in individually hand-painted sleeves that executed the band's Pop Art visions.
ArTpOp! Records 1982-1986
On leaving the Television Personalities, and consequently Whaam!, Ball immediately launched the ARTPOP! label with the Times' second single "I Helped Patrick McGoohan Escape!". This was accompanied by humorous tongue in cheek video based on "The Prisoner" T.V. series that starred Patrick McGoohan. Ball's songwriting took a more serious turn with "This Is London". Songs like "Goodbye Piccadilly", "If Only", and the title track, match the bleakness and despair of Joy Division, the cutting sarcasm of The Jam. After the experimental electronics of "Hello Europe", Ball fulfilled a long-time ambition to stage Joe Orton's screenplay for the Beatles "Up Against It" at a West London theatre with Tony Conway from Mood Six. This culminated with the Times' fifth album "Up Against It". Fancying themselves as pirate televisionaries, the Times proceeded by decimating in fiction, within the parameters of songwriting, every symbol of western civilisation with their final ARTPOP! album "Enjoy".
Given the opportunity by Alan McGee to continue recording his skewed visions as The Times, Edward Ball released "Beat Torture". "E For Edward" and "Et Dieu Créa La Femme", recalls his various abilities to humourise fads and trends, register sadness and loss and generally capture the enveloping drug culture that pervaded the label. "Pure", which contains a 12-minute version of New Order's "Blue Monday" in French, sees Ball plunging into his own psyche to create an undisciplined record. Cited by some as the most psychedelic record of the 90s, it reveals the male aspects of group culture and female distortions and rants, including a performance by Ball's Mum. "Alternative Commercial Crossover" suggests he is still susceptible to the psychedelics - his combining of James Joyce with Raggamuffin culture is a hit-and-miss affair. The album's strength lies in Ball's melodic and sensitive delivery that signposts his destiny as a solo artist. "Sad But True" and "Pirate Playlist 66" function as secondary tiers to Edward Ball's solo output.
