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Sleevenote extracts - Go! With The Times! (ARTPOP 18) Pt 1.

a preface ~(from A day in the life of Gilbert&George (artpop 14) . . .

Before you venture any further, forget everything you know - leave the accumulated knowledge of Popular Culture & Perceived Cool from the vantage point of the 21st Century at the door. I shall recount events, anecdotes and embarrassments with candour. Now read on and weep.

In September 1970, after the full-on Technicolor world of primary school, me and 89 others found ourselves adapting to the black and white vision of a Dickensian grammar school more than a trifle difficult. It was like living out the Beatles story in reverse. Within 5 years, at least 9 of those 89 would be joining me on an escapade none of us would forget. For two or three of us, the ensuing three decades would be a ghost train roller coaster ride, a Helter skelter of the senses. I didn't make them mad, m'lud, they were mad already - I just met them on the way.

Continued at this link -

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DECEMBER 1980 - Most of GO! WITH THE TIMES! was recorded in a 4 track studio for voice-overs that Joseph Foster had found in the West End. 11 songs in 19 hours, over a weekend. We went in Teenage Filmstars and came out The Times.

Saturday 27

10am to 1pm - Dressing Up For The Cameras.

2.30pm to 5.30pm - You Can Get It / I'm With You.

7pm to 10pm - The Joke's On Zandra.

Sunday 28

10am to 1pm - Pinstripes.

2.30pm to 5.30pm - No Hard Feelings / My Andy Warhol Poster.

7pm to 10.30pm - Your Generation / Nowhere To Run / Man From Uncle theme / Reflections in an Imperfect Mirror.

Using a basic recording strategy of . . .TRACK 1 : Rhythm guitar / Bass guitar / Drums. TRACK 2 : Vocals. TRACK 3 : Lead guitar. TRACK 4 : Backing vox / percussion . . . and mixing in mono.

The Teenage Filmstars had been a live band since August the previous year - Me, John East and Paul Damien. I'd got the bassist and drummer I was happy with and we got on really well. We'd first played together on the second ever studio session I'd booked back in early 1978, East Sheen Revisited. We weren't Teenagers anymore and the name seemed a bit silly. The Times had a diary feel about it. Of course, I used the TFS name again in the future as a Creation Records act 'cos Teenage Fanclub weren't teenagers either.

John East and I had a history that dated back to the early seventies when he'd shown me my first guitar chords. We played our first show as a duo in 1975. While we were at school, Paul Damien had lived at the Camden Lock Public house on Chalk Farm Road, where his parents were the landlords. On his 17th birthday he had a party there and demonstrated he could play drums. He could be unreliable though, more than once did John and I have to play as a duo because Paul had gone on holiday!

Both John and Paul had a propensity to annoy certain factions of the Oratory mob somehow. But I loved them and that's all that counted to me. It also meant I could also make the records I wanted now.

JANUARY 1981

10 / 11 Sat / Sun - Red With Purple Flashes recorded and mixed at Lavender Sound Studios, 37 Lavender Hill Road, SW11. Also mixed 6 other tracks, recorded during the I Helped Patrick McGoohan Escape session from September 1980; Storybook Beginnings, The Sun Never Sets, Easy As Pie, Picture Gallery, My Andy Warhol Poster and Dressing Up For The Cameras. But Red With Purple Flashes, with Biff Bang Pow! and Dan's Painting By Numbers / Lichtenstein Painting were the very first steps to our new projected sound and label . . . Whaam! Records, Inventing fire in the dark age 80s. Millionaires of tomorrow reaching for the dreamy scene with the girl from the magazine.

Whaam! Records was a Do-It-Yourself empire building kit, or so we thought. We were prepared to take big risks, confuse the enemy and have a plan B. Actually, there was no plan B. Just sink or swim. All funded (apart from recording costs, of course) by the benevolent Rough Trade.

FEBRUARY

4 Feb - Both singles were cut at Portlands Cutting room with George Peckham, alias Porky. Infamous cutting engineer who'd cut Beatles records at Apple. I loved this guy.

While Red With Purple Flashes was in production, the final Teenage Filmstars single I Helped Patrick McGoohan Escape was getting played in some unexpected places.

28 Sat - TVPs rehearsal at the Sound Office, Endell Street, Covent Garden. A few doors down from where Syd Barrett had lived on Earlham Street, the home of much of The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn. If Peter Ackroyd's theory that certain areas, even streets imbue a particular spirit, then the vibe of Barrett's Floyd was alive and well at the Office. Run and maintained by Paul Kendall, a mate of Rob Vasey and Andrew Goodwin from Dry Rib. Particularly good friend of Ray Kent, our future keyboardist. Teenage Filmstars and TVPs used to rehearse here and sometimes record. Paul did a lot of work with Mute Records after this, in their internal studio, where we also recorded Up Against It.

MARCH

As And Don't The Kids Just Love It built up momentum, TVPS playing shows around the UK became an enjoyable diversion. The team was Daniel Treacy, Me, Mark Empire and his Pa, Morgan Sheppard - the four of us plus guitars in a Hillman Hunter. I'd done some dates outside London with Daniel and Mark the year before as this diary entry shows;

Sat 23 August 1980. 'Had a free Saturday so not working. 4 of us going down to Exeter - Dan, Mark, Sandy and me. Great show, v psychedelic - many hippies present. Afterwards, Dan, Sandy and me share a room. In the morning we're greeted by cows sticking their heads through the window!' ED BALL DIARIES.

As three individuals, Daniel, Empire and I found we could be contrary with everyone we encountered, sometimes with each other, even with our ownselves from day to day. But that's exactly what made it so interesting. We all had such terrible egos, and the one person who acted like a manager and kept us all feeling buoyant was Morgan. An Angelo Dundee with three little Muhammad Alis.

5 Thurs - TVPs play the Venue with the Monochrome Set and Furious Pig. We played the song Monochrome Set. "That's fucked it for them!" Daniel said at the end of it.

13 Fri - I do a Teenage Filmstars interview with John Shearlaw Record Mirror.

19 Thurs "Got a call from Dan this afternoon, says Bernie's blown them out - can I do Manchester tonight? Worked til 5pm. Meet Dan, Mark and Morgan outside my place and drive up to Manchester and into heavy traffic. Alas, it was all in vain - we get there too late" THE EDWARD BALL DIARIES.

21 Sat - TVPs at the Moonlight Club, London.

APRIL

2 Thurs - TVPs Central School of Art.

3 Fri - I leave Directory Enquiries. Go full-time Pop Art Visionary. Prior to this, I could never play shows outside London. From now to the end of the year, the TVPs are a three piece powerhouse, with a sound of sheer intent.

9 Thurs - TVPs rehearsal.

10 Fri - TVPs Liverpool.

14 Tues - TVPs Nottingham. We play It's Time! and<FONT face=Helvetica-Oblique> If Now Is The Answer. The fellow who booked us looked like music journalist Andy Darling. He bootlegged the Liverpool show and called it They Could've Been Bigger Than The Beatles.

16 Thurs - TVPs Brighton, Concord Club. Richard Scully, (original O Level guitarist and TVPs NME interviewee Feb 1979) drives us down in his Jeep. His bedroom at this time resembles a demolition derby, with Mini, Jag and Jeep parts strewn about. He brings his Telecaster with him and plays with us on this show. Daniel was fantastic this day - getting everybody to sit on the floor!

24 Fri - TVPs Salisbury CND

To be continued . . .