Arkeology
Seaview
World Party is, most of the time, a one-man party: Welsh singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Karl Wallinger, previously of the Waterboys for two albums in the mid-1980s. From 1987 to 2000, he put out five full-length studio albums under the WP moniker, creating such memorable songs as “Private Revolution,” “Ship of Fools,” “Way Down Now” and “Put the Message in the Box.”
After being waylaid from 2001 through 2005 by a brain aneurysm, Wallinger returned to touring and now has taken his own advice and put the message in the box — “Arkeology,” a five-disc box set of 70 previously unreleased tunes spanning 25 years.
Fans of World Party’s exquisitely off-center, environmentally conscious pop rock will be falling all over themselves as they digest this bounty of studio cuts, demos, EP and single rarities, tribute contributions, and radio and concert performances.
Virtually all the studio recordings have never been released in any form, and there are enough of them to build four albums’ worth. Especially notable are the country workouts “Where Are You Going When You Go?” and “In Another World”; the funky “Everybody Dance Now”; the vaudevillian “The Good Old Human Race”; the doo-woppish “Nature Girl”; the “Woolly Bully”-like “World Groove/Mind Guerrilla”; and the Beach Boys-like “Kuwait City.”
Included are covers of Little Richard, Bob Dylan, Sly Stone, the Oscar-nominated “When Did You Leave Heaven” (from the 1936 musical “Sing, Baby, Sing”) and five Beatles songs (including the solo Paul McCartney “Man We Was Lonely”).
Among the live tracks are two versions each of “Ship of Fools” (one of which is horn-enriched) and “Put the Message in the Box” (including an electro-acoustic, twin-lead rendition in which a fiddle takes the place of the second electric guitar); and “She’s the One,” a Wallinger tune that Robbie Williams rode to No. 1 in the U.K.
The studio version of “Mystery Girl” arguably is the best rarity of the bunch, having been previously available only on “Rare On Air: Vol. 2,” a various artists compilation of live sessions from KCRW-FM’s “Morning Becomes Eclectic” show.
Tracks
Disc 1
1. Waiting Such A Long Time
2. Nothing Lasts Forever
3. Everybody’s Falling In Love
4. Where Are You Going When You Go?
5. Photograph
6. Everybody Dance Now
7. Closer Still
8. I Want To Be Free
9. I’m Only Dozing
10. No More Crying
11. Interview/Sweet Soul Dream (radio)
Disc 2
1. Lucille
2. The Good Old Human Race
3. Put The Message In The Box (live)
4. Trouble Down Here
5. Basically
6. Silly Song
7. Man We Was Lonely
8. She’s The One (live)
9. Ship Of Fools (live)
10. Mystery Girl (radio)
11. This Is Your World Speaking (live)
12. All The Love That’s Wasted
13. Lost In Infinity
14. New Light (demo)
Disc 3
1. Words
2. Dear Prudence
3. Call Me Up (radio)
4. Like A Rolling Stone (live)
5. Sooner Or Later (live)
6. Love Street (live)
7. Time On My Hands
8. Who Are You (live)
9. Sweetheart Like You
10. Another World
11. You’re Beautiful, But Get Out Of My Life
12. Living Like The Animals
13. Stand! (live)
14. Thank You World (pre-edit)
Disc 4
1. Break Me Again
2. Baby (demo)
3. Ship Of Fools (live)
4. Put The Message In The Box (live)
5. When Did You Leave Heaven?
6. Nature Girl
7. It’s A Pity You Don’t Let Go
8. My Pretty One
9. De Ho De Hay
10. We Are The Ones
11. World Groove/Mind Guerilla
12. Happiness Is A Warm Gun
13. Kuwait City
14. Do What I Want
15. All We Need Is Everything (demo)
16. Outro
Disc 5
1. Mystery Girl (studio version)
2. What Is Love All About? (alternate drums)
3. I Hope It All Works Out For You (demo)
4. And God Said (long version)
5. It Ain’t Gonna Work
6. Another One
7. I Am Me
8. It’s Gonna Be Alright
9. In Another World
10. Thank You World (live)
11. Cry Baby Cry
12. Temple Of Love
13. Fixing A Hole
14. Way Down Now (live)
15. Change The World (demo)
Total time: 5:01:19
External links
artist’s website
amazon.com
iTunes Store