For someone with such a short solo discography, Edward Ball's story is a long and complicated one because he's also recorded many solo albums and EPs under various band names. Ball, a resident of north London, first appeared on record in the post-punk '70s, teamed with his schoolmate Dan Treacy and future Creation Records executive Joe Foster. The threesome self-released various singles and EPs under the names the Teenage Filmstars, the Missing Scientists, and the O-Level (under which name they recorded the legendary "Where's Bill Grundy Now?") before finally settling for good into the name the Television Personalities. (Most of the Teenage Filmstars and O-Level material was reissued on the 1992 CD A Day in the Life of Gilbert and George under the latter band's name; some also appeared on the Television Personalities' 1995 rarities compilation Yes Darling, But Is It Art?) Although Foster left the group before the recording of their first album, Ball and Treacy remained a duo for the first three Television Personalities albums, And Don't the Kids Just Love It? (1980), Mummy Your Not Watching Me (1981) and They Could Have Been Bigger Than the Beatles (1982), all of which were released on the Whaam! label, co-owned by Ball and Treacy (the pair renamed the label Dreamworld after receiving a substantial payout from George Michael's management around the time the tanned popster's first singles came out in 1982). While still a member of the Television Personalities, Ball formed his own '60s Brit-pop-obsessed band, the Times. Though the first Times album, recorded in 1980, went unreleased until 1985 (when it came out in Germany as Go! With the Times), the second, Pop Goes Art!, was released on Whaam! in 1982. The Times released a steady stream of albums and EPs on Ball's own Artpop! label (funded with his share of the George Michael payout) after he left the Television Personalities: This Is London (1983), I Helped Patrick McGoohan Escape (1983), Hello Europe (1984), Blue P.......
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