Karl Wallinger would have to be one of the most underrated artists in popular music. From the mid 80’s through to the late 90’s his band World Party released a string of remarkable records that never seemed to find the audience they deserved. Admittedly World Party’s second album Goodbye Jumbo was named album of the year in 1990 by Q magazine and was also nominated for Best Alternative Album at the Grammys, but in terms of recognition that was the peak for the band. A pity, because there was so much more to World Party.
Karl’s music has been influenced by everyone from Bob Dylan to Prince, although World Party’s overall sound is closer to the Beatles than anyone else. And while that can be seen as both a compliment and a curse, what sets Karl’s songs apart from so many others is the philosophical depth of his lyrical interests. For instance he was an environmentalist long before the movement gained mainstream acceptance.
In 2001 Karl Wallinger was diagnosed with a brain aneurism. It took 5 years before he recovered enough to play again, but since then he hasn’t really stopped. His insights about that experience and how it reshaped his life are extraordinary and throughout that ordeal he never lost his sense of humour – worth it for the price of admission on this podcast alone.
If you’re not too familiar with Mr Wallinger’s work here’s a snapshot on the history of the band just to get you up to speed. World Party’s debut album Private Revolution spawned Ship Of Fools, a song that wasn’t a hit in the UK, but did crack the top 30 in the US. It was in Australia where World Party had its biggest success with Ship Of Fools, but sadly the band never toured here to support it.
World Party’s follow up Goodbye Jumbo was a huge critical success, finally striking a chord in the UK and many other parts of the world. Tracks like Put The Message In The Box and Way Down Now both hit the top 10 of the Billboard Modern Rock chart, while the record was nominated for a Best Alternative Album Grammy and was hailed by Britain’s Q magazine as the album of the year. A decade later Q listed Goodbye Jumbo as one of the top 100 British albums of all time.
The band’s third album Bang reached #2 on the British charts and while the hit single Is It Like Today again cracked the top 10 of Billboard’s Modern Rock chart it still failed to find a mainstream audience.
In 1997 World Party released the album Egyptology with the song She’s The One winning an Ivor Novello award. It wasn’t a hit for World Party, but when Robbie Williams recorded the song it was a massive success, creating a certain ambivalence for Karl. The album Dumbing Up followed a few years later, but soon after Karl was given his life threatening diagnosis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrJL23YDmS4
World Party has toured consistently throughout Europe and North America since Karl’s recovery, however living at the arts end of the world in Australia does present some limitations when it comes to touring artists. With a relatively small population based so far away we might as well be on another planet – we just don’t get the number of tours here that you do elsewhere. Which is the case with World Party – Karl Wallinger did visit Australia in 1994 on a promotional trip, but the first and only tour for World Party didn’t happen down under until 2007 when they opened for Steely Dan, a band that had also never toured here until then. See what I mean? But that’s another story…
There hasn’t been a new World Party album for a long time now, but a few years back a superb 5 disc retrospective called Arkeology was released that included a host of rare tracks, live performances and interviews. This interview wasn’t included in that set, but it’s one that any World Party fan wouldn’t want to miss.
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