Waiting for the Rainbow

As I've said before, when I get into a band or singer, I jump right in. Buy all the albums I can find, read every bit of information online, watch all the videos. The newest of these has been World Party, the creative outlet of one of Britain's most talented songwriters, Karl Wallinger.

Wallinger got his break in the early 1980s when he got a job playing with the Waterboys, whose leader Mike Scott was striving towards creating "The Big Music". His new recruit, talented on a large number of instruments, was a massive step in that direction and 1985's sublime This Is The Sea remains a wonderful slice of epic rock 27 years on, and I'll be writing about it sometime in the near future.

However, Wallinger had plenty of his own ideas and there wasn't too much room in the Waterboys for them. Instead, he handed in his cards and formed his own project, named World Party. A song of the same name, written by him, would actually appear on the next Waterboys' album, Fisherman's Blues.

From the start, the project would frequently reflect Wallinger's strong pro-environmentalism slant. The single Ship of Fools and it's parent album Private Revolution both went top 40 in the States, but it was 1990's Goodbye Jumbo that really showcased the knack for strong hooks that show World Party at their best. Way Down Now and Put The Message in the Box should have been huge hits while And I Fell Back Alone remains one of the most affecting break-up songs I've ever heard. It's telling that when the first World Party "Best Of" was released, half of Goodbye Jumbo was featured.

Commercial success in the UK would come in 1993, when Is It Like Today? went top 20 and the album Bang! hit #2. Wallinger's biggest success, however, would come via reflected form at the end of the 1990s when Robbie Williams took his version of She's the One to the top of the pops. Guy Chambers, who had co-written and produced the one-time fat dancer's most successful work, had been given a break of sorts as a touring member of World Party, co-writing a couple of tracks on Bang!

Whatever the merits of William's reading, it would soon be a very important issue for Wallinger when, shortly after releasing fifth album Dumbing Up in 2000, he fell seriously ill from a brain aneurysm that put him out of action for six years. The cash from She's the One kept the ship floating, including his own recording studio where he did most his World Party work.

Now recovered enough to commence touring and recording work, Wallinger hasn't quite made a new World Party album, but he has brought us Arkeology, a five album set of out-takes, live tracks and unreleased recordings dating as far back as 1985. Brilliantly, it's packaged as a kind of diary: dates alongside pictures of the various World Party members, (too) brief details on the songs and quotes from writers and philosophers. Certain dates Wallinger believes are important are also marked, the good point of which is that you can put your own in to "personalise" the set. However, Karl should be informed that he's put Eric Cantona's debut for Manchester United incorrectly, putting it down as his first start against Norwich City, rather than him coming off the bench in a Manchester derby the week before. The pedant in me insisted on me putting that in there.

In terms of the music, there's plenty to love. Wallinger obviously has a high degree of quality control to not include some of the songs here on the albums thus far and there's some great covers, especially the rocking run through of Little Richard's Lucille. For me, it only goes a little astray when he indulges his love of Prince a bit too much .

Arkeology is a wonderfully packaged set of, in the main, superb songs that cause you to reflect that World Party have never got the respect they deserved, a Q award for "Best Album" with Goodbye Jumbo notwithstanding - which reminds me, would any mainstream magazine give such an award to something that barely made the top 40 now?  Fans should buy this collection, and even the uninitiated who have £30 to spare could do worse to have a listen.