For those unfamiliar with World Party, you’ve really missed out but this might be the perfect opportunity to catch up! Having left the Waterboys in the mid-80’s, Karl Wallinger went on to form World Party and between 1987 and 2000 released five albums of near-perfect Beatles influenced tunes. Whilst Wallinger wrote all the songs he was ably assisted by future touring members of Oasis (Chris Sharrock) and co-writers and band member for Robie Williams (Guy Chambers). Which leads us nicely to the fact that you probably already know World Party’s most famous song ‘She’s the One’, written after the death of Wallinger’s mother, which went on to win an Ivor Novello Award, and of course was note-for note covered by Robbie Williams who took it all the way to no.1.
Having survived a brain aneurysm (the Robbie Williams royalties came in handy here!) and fought EMI to regain control of his back catalogue, things started to look up for Wallinger with an Antipodean support tour with Steely Dan. But after a short, and well received, UK tour in 2012 things went quiet again. Sadly, Wallinger passed away in 2024 and this album, an expanded re-issue of a 2012 Australian compilation, is released to ensure the world doesn’t forget such a fantastic songwriter. Each of these 16/17 (CD or vinyl respectively) songs were carefully crafted by Wallinger whilst this release has been remastered by Tim Young and the Sgt Pepper influenced artwork has been enhanced by Richard Evans (of Hipgnosis fame).
The album kick’s off in style with the environmental protest song ‘Ship of Fools’, World Party’s first hit single and still a highlight of their career, before the double-whammy of the ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ influenced ‘Way Down Now’ and the exquisite ‘Put the Message In the Box’, both from the bands career high Goodbye Jumbo album (Grammy nominated and Q magazine’s first ever album of the year back in 1990!). What is striking is that even with the 1990’s production these tracks sound current, demanding to be played at full volume whilst you dance madly around the kitchen. Side 1 (if you’re listening to the vinyl) ends with the bands only top 20 hit, ‘Is It Like Today?’, once described by Wallinger as “a précis of Bertrand Russell’s A History of Western Philosophy in four verses” whereas if you want to look at it in simple terms it was simply one of the bands catchiest songs!
Whilst many of the tracks draw from Private Revolution and Goodbye Jumbo, the band’s first two albums, there are plenty of deep cuts from across the bands five albums which deserve a listen. The likes of ‘Sweet Soul Dream’ (featuring guest vocals from Sinead O’Connor), ‘Everybody’s Falling in Love’ (written in the wake of his life-threatening brain aneurysm) and the poignant closer, ‘Always’, are reminders that World Party carried the torch for intelligent pop, as well as outstanding live musicianship, by-passing the Brit-pop scene despite their love of psychedelic-era Beatles and infusing their records with wider influences such as Dylan, ELO and Van Morrison.
Years after their original release, Wallinger’s songs continue to brim with a timelessness that only grows stronger with age. Hopefully, this compilation will not only remind people what a great songwriter Wallinger was, but encourage people to search out his back catalogue – top tip, Wallinger compiled and released a five-CD / 70 track Arkeology compilation back in 2012 with plenty of deep cuts, including the criminally overlooked for this compilation ‘Love Street’, and a huge number of Beatles inspired outtakes – it’s worth hunting down! Greatly missed but with this compilation he left an intact legacy for us all to explore.
