I am a big fan of the music of World Party, alltough thats the bands name, it mostly is an output for the multi-instrumentalist Karl Wallinger, a lot like Prince, his records are written, performed, produced and arranged by himselve.

Karls history goes back to end of the seventies, when he was the musical director of the London stage version of the 'Rocky Horror Picture show', he then became part of the band The Waterboys, who had a hit in europe with 'The whole of the moon". In the end of the eighties he started 'World Party'.

The music of World Party offers a mixture of sixties pop and rock (Beatles, Beach Boys, Stones and Dylan) and elements of funk (Sly Stone, Prince), sometimes using modern dance beats, and often with political, socially conscious lyrics.
With Wold Party Karl had some minor hits as 'Ship of Fools','Way down Now' and 'Is it like today'. He also wrote and performed the original version of 'She's the one', which became a big hit for Robbie Williams later.

A lot of Karls music often reminds me of Prince, in my opinion he has the same 'quality' to absorb great elements of music from the past and make it his own, turning it into great songs and jams.

I also think Karl is often overlooked as one of the most consistent and best artists of the last 20 years: His records all offer quality material, great songwriting, layered production, and his lyrics are often thoughtprovoking and inspiring. His best record in my opinion is "Goodbye Jumbo", from 1990, one of the few records i know where every song is on the spot, no filler in anyway, and one of the best records released in the nineties.
Karl probably doesnt get the recognisotion he should get in my opinion, because of his low profile appearance (only 1 album in about 4 or 5 years, seemingly not caring for 'stardom), but musically i would label him 'the british Prince' and most of all one of the most overlooked musicians of his generation.

For anyone interested, try the following links:

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll

http://www.worldparty.net...party.html

I used to be (still actually) a big fan, checked out their concerts often, and took some photos when they were in Holland (paradiso) around 1993. Here's one of the photos I made from the concert:



Goodbye Jumbo was their best for me! Put the message in the box, Put the box into the car, Drive the car around the world, Until you get heard.

/Aaron

I doubt it, the org lately has been visited by way too many commercial music fans. Scary actually. You would think Prince would bring the best out of some people.

i've seen a thread on this band a few times this year actually.....and i checked out their new album and it ranks up there with their best....i think it is called Dumbing Up.....buy it

I saw them live a few years ago they opened for 10,000 Maniacs.
I really liked them then, I just haven't thought about them in a long while.
Will definitely check out the new album.

I like their debut and Goodbye Jumbo quite a lot - both albums have about three or four songs that really hit my musical g-spot, though I think they have a touch of fat on them as well. Put the Message and Way Down Now being in particular are songs that I just have to hear more than once every time I play Jumbo.

I'll definitely agree that Wallinger could have a very Prince-like feel sometimes, particularly on his ballads.

Nice pic, housequake!

Good to see that there are people around who havent forgotten about World Party.