It has been 12 years since World Party last toured Britain, and Karl Wallinger, responding to a shouted reprimand from the crowd, appears to acknowledge that they may possibly have been a little slow to return. Yes, he agrees, with a grin and a mildly embarrassed shrug, it is about time, isn't it. Wallinger's veteran band's long-term silence is perplexing, as in the early 90s they seemed likely to rise to stadium-filling status. Yet his absence is to some extent understandable: in 2001, the singer and guitarist was taken ill with a crippling brain aneurysm that required five years of rest and rehabilitation....
World Party’s Karl Wallinger is back on stage: ‘I’m a bit of a lucky person’
The title of the first song on World Party’s newest batch of recordings — “Arkeology,” a five-disc, closet-cleaning retrospective — is a massive understatement for the project’s central figure, singer-songwriter Karl Wallinger. “Waiting Such a Long Long Time” finds Wallinger singing, in his world-weary voice over a party-pop guitar jangle, “I don’t even know what I want anymore.” Which isn’t really true. Not anymore. “What I’ve been through, it’s made me feel that all the stuff we worry about is not worth worrying about,” said Wallinger, 54, in an interview last week to promote his concert here Thursday at the Cubby Bear. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. It’s very true. In my case, it’s made me fatter. I had to be stronger to carry it all.”...
World Party Royal Albert Hall Preview in NYC
A tune-up, unplugged gig, this one was, leading up to the penultimate Royal Albert Hall capper this 1 November. The three-piece version of Karl Wallinger's World Party that played New York's quaint City Winery on 17 September no doubt will pale in comparison in about six weeks to the wall of sound sure wallow through the sacred London music house.Wallinger's exquisitely crafted songs most certainly deserve such lush orchestration...
Album Review: World Party – Arkeology
Karl Wallinger forced my car off the road. Really, he did. It was sometime in 1990; I was driving in the car with my then-wife and newborn daughter as passengers. I don’t recall where we were headed, but I had the radio on, tuned to WRAS, the noncommercial college radio station run by students at Georgia State University. A new song called “Put the Message in the Box” came on, and the song’s infectious hook, classic melody and upbeat-yet-plaintive lyrics completely took my attention away from whatever I was doing at that moment (except driving)...
Wall Street Journal - Twice the Party
With the release of "Arkeology" (Seaview), World Party has doubled its output: Since Karl Wallinger formed the band in 1986 after leaving the Waterboys, it has released five studio albums. "Arkeology" is a five-disc set of B-sides, covers, demos and live recordings cut in the studio and in concert...
Karl Wallinger Returns with Humor Intact after some Intense Musical 'Arkeology'
The story of Karl Wallinger's long and fruitful music career began during the late 1970's in Wales, playing in bands with friends, some of whom went on to be in The Alarm. After a stint as the music director for The Rocky Horror Show he rose to fame as a multi-instrumentalist with Celtic rockers, The Waterboys. In 1986, at the height of The Waterboys fame, Wallinger left the band to form World Party – a solo project that has since spawned seven albums, multiple awards and a range of intriguing collaborations, fanning out from the critically acclaimed debut Private Revolution through the internationally loved Goodbye Jumbo and beyond....
Follow us...