The Times-Hello Europe (Artpop ART 17) 1984

Hello Europe is the Black Sheep of the The Times canon. Although it appeared on a Revola CD as a 2for1(with This Is London) back in the early 90's it is conspicuous by its absence in the recent Artpop reissues available via Cherry Red.

Ed was once reported as saying(find original article) that Hello Europe managed to alienate most of the Times fanbase on its release...

And yet...

And yet...

And yet...

Whilst Hello Europe is not a long lost classic it is an important album. Without it I wonder whether Ed could have made Enjoy,with its drum machine,samples and general funkiness. What Hello Europe is, is the album that allowed Ed Ball to step away from the Mod-Punk that had characterised the Times sound from the (Teenage Filmstars) Patrick McGoohan / Dangerman through Pop Goes Art to the bitter-sweet beat that was This Is London. The Swinging 60's is replaced by something that at times veers close to David Bowies' “plastic soul” phase circa Young Americans.

Leaving aside the 2 singles(Blue Fire & Boys Brigade) the record has a feel that was so out of sync with the shambling lo-fi of the bands that were dominating the scene such as The Pastels that it might as well have come from another planet.

“Public Reaction Killed This Cat” features samples from JFK,John Lydon, and many more(full list in EB's Myspace blog),a good couple of years before indie-journey men such as PWEI swapped guitars for samplers.

The one song that gets me every-time though is “Things We've Learnt”.With its laid-back ,slightly cocktail lounge jazz vibe, every-time I hear it for some reason I am transported back to summer 1976 and the sounds of, not punk, but Deaf School. I don't know whether its just the feel of the smooth backing voice of Joni Dee or what but this could have come straight off of “2nd Honeymoon”.Deaf Schools debut album.

The next album would be Enjoy- modfunkaction, and more fans driven away, but thats a small loss when you accept that Hello Europe & Enjoy allowed Ed to develop as a songwriter/arranger and would eventually lead to the wonderful Catholic Guilt.

(Rough notes just for my benefit really-but thought I'd post them as haven't blogged much recently)