I hate to post this sad news. Such a talented artist.

[www.yahoo.com]

Really talented guy. I won't call him a genius, but he was really something special. One man band who wrote some truly incredible songs. Way Down Now, Call Me Up, She's The One, Vanity Fair, Put The Message In The Box, Ship Of Fools. Really special guy who had some bad illness and never really got his due. So thankful to have gotten to see him live once. Definitely suggest some check out those songs, they are great in any decade.

He wrote (and played most of the instruments on) very melodic pop/rock with intelligent big picture lyrics, while often evoking the feel of his favorite bands and artists. He could deploy Jagger or Prince mannerisms in fresh tunes, without crossing the line into impersonation. He overcame a brain aneurysm to recover his ability to play. There is a lot in World Party for fans of the Stones' softer side to enjoy, if you can invest some time to explore.

Sad news, RIP.

A lot of great records and songs, for a while in the early 90s he looked like he was going to be the next big thing, Q magazine was all over him and rightly so. Then the excellent "Egyptology" came out in 1997 and things sort of stalled. I remember reading some frustrated interviews at the time. There had been a long gap since "Bang !", sales were probably not what was expected and I seem to remember something about a (US ?) tour that didn't pan out.

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RIP. He was a fine musician.

Somehow I find and experience his music as a mix of the style of The Rolling Stones and The Beatles, seems simple but try it, it's simply genius.

I always thought he sounded a lot like Mick at times.

Ah gee. Terrible. RIP.

Rod

So sad. I think his 1993 album „Bang!“ was totally underrated. I still play it.

It has the great song called "Sunshine" that sounds like a mix between "Sway", "Wild Horses" and "Moonlight Mile" !





Just found this live in the studio version I'd never seen before :





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Sad news.
I always thought he sounded a lot like Mick in this song.
[youtu.be]

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gotdablouse
It has the great song called "Sunshine" that sounds like a mix between "Sway", "Wild Horses" and "Moonlight Mile" !

Excellent song. I definitely hear the songs you're mentioning, but also, as Karl did many times, he lovingly but directly lifts You're A Big Girl Now from Bob Dylan during those verses. I remember the first time I heard it and I was like "hold on, this is either a song thats never existed that feels like it should or I've definitely heard this somewhere." Its specifically the part in You're A Big Girl thats "Love is so simple, to quote a phrase". And then also obviously at 3 and a half minutes in its directly Getting In Tune by The Who.

The man was excellent at weaving in other classic songs and obviously his influences, and it never felt like a stolen piece of music or anything. Just a beautiful recreation and tribute.

Tragic. I am really distraught over this. I was 13 when I first heard "Ship of Fools," prior to the release of Private Revolution (debut LP), and became an immediate and permanent World Party fan after that. Karl wore his Stones and Beatles influences on his sleeve, and his songs were gorgeous. His lyrics and music connected with me on a personal level. I saw WP four times, and met Karl several times as well. On my 42nd birthday, outside the venue in Cambridge, MA (The Middle East I think?), I chatted with him for 20 minutes. He was of course kind, a bit shy, and ridiculously funny. I'm just gutted about his passing.

If you listen to "World Party - You're All Invited to the Party" as a layman, you think you hear Mick Jagger.
BTW, this would be a good song for The Rolling Stones.

Always sounds like a George Thorogood track ....



ROCKMAN

Very sad news, great artist, great songs, original talent

Was it the Sinclair in Harvard Sq?

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Tate
Tragic. I am really distraught over this. I was 13 when I first heard "Ship of Fools," prior to the release of Private Revolution (debut LP), and became an immediate and permanent World Party fan after that. Karl wore his Stones and Beatles influences on his sleeve, and his songs were gorgeous. His lyrics and music connected with me on a personal level. I saw WP four times, and met Karl several times as well. On my 42nd birthday, outside the venue in Cambridge, MA (The Middle East I think?), I chatted with him for 20 minutes. He was of course kind, a bit shy, and ridiculously funny. I'm just gutted about his passing.

Sinclair in Harvard Sq?

Sinclair! That was it, yes. GREAT show.

He made some great music. The first World Party album was a constant play for me for awhile. Ship Of Fools and All Come True are my all time faves along with songs from other albums. RIP Karl.

I heard Put The Message when it came out in the early 90s. I was immediately hooked and I knew right away that Karl was not your ordinary musician. What a talent!

I still spin his albums quite often. He created not only great songs but a great sound, great soundscape as well that was his only. Very gentle sound. His clever songwriting somehow reminded me of the Beatles.

He will be greatly missed. "Thank You World." Thank you, Karl.

Please check out the live version "Love Street" on the "Way Down Now" CD single. I think it is also on the box set. It is an amazing, heartfelt version. Pure magic!

I laughed in bed last night and the Wife asked why and I said... And God said look after the planet...Look after the planet, But man said, F#$% You!!

[genius.com]

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Tate
Sinclair! That was it, yes. GREAT show.

I was there as well. I have a copy of the show and will share in a few minutes.

Karl Wallinger, aka World Party (either alone and/or whoever he played with), was a wonderfully tuneful musician with a great sense of melody.

It bummed me out that Robbie Williams had a huge hit with "She's the One," when it was basically a note-for-note copy of the original World Party song.

He definitely wore his influences on his sleeve. Check out the Sympathy "Woo-woos" on "Way Down Now" from Goodbye Jumbo and the direct lift of "Getting in Tune" from the Who in "Sunshine," as mentioned by RollingFreak.

Saw World Party on the Egyptology Tour at Rams Head Tavern in Baltimore. The equipment had a fairly constant buzz. Karl threw a temper tantrum, stormed off stage and deprived us of a multi-song encore according the set list. Bummer.

Wallinger started in the Waterboys with Mike Scott -- another band worth checking out.

Tea@3

Does anyone know what KW had been up to since that 2015 US tour ?

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IORR Links : Essential Studio Outtakes CDs : Audio - History of Rarest Outtakes : Audio

He had posted a few times over the years that he was working on new material that would be out "sometime in the next year," or some such prediction, which he was kind of famous for doing. So I am certain there is some lovely unheard WP music that will, hopefully, see the light of day someday.

Sad sad sad

@Tate - thanks, hopefully this will see the light of day. Not sure about the demand though, heck, Rolling Stone didn't even publish a line since he died when they're always the first out with such news...

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TeaAtThree
It bummed me out that Robbie Williams had a huge hit with "She's the One," when it was basically a note-for-note copy of the original World Party song.

Saw this on the Super Deluxe site posted by Andreas L:

The song’s producers, Guy Chambers and Steve Power, used the drummer and bassist of World Party’s touring band (neither of whom played on the World Party version) to perform the backing track for Williams, resulting in a very similar-sounding cover. World Party’s frontman and songwriter Karl Wallinger was not made aware that a cover was going to be released using his own band. When the song became a hit, and after having experienced a near-fatal brain aneurysm around the time of the song’s release, Wallinger stated that he experienced “ongoing bitterness”, going on to say that “the song had a much better time than me, popping off to the Brits while I was at home eating crackers dipped in water”.
When introducing the song in live performances, Williams often claims that it is one of the best songs he’s ever written, despite not actually having written the song. This culminated in a telephone outburst from the song’s actual writer, Wallinger, to Chambers, stating “Your @#$%& friend Robbie Williams. Tell him from me that he’s a c%nt”. Williams has never publicly acknowledged that “She’s the One” is a cover of the World Party’s track, although in a 2019 commercial for his album The Christmas Present featuring Amazon Alexa, when Williams claimed he had written the song, the device states that he did not write She’s the One, to which Williams admits “no, I didn’t”. – cheeky sod :-).

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frenki09

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TeaAtThree
It bummed me out that Robbie Williams had a huge hit with "She's the One," when it was basically a note-for-note copy of the original World Party song.

Saw this on the Super Deluxe site posted by Andreas L:

The song’s producers, Guy Chambers and Steve Power, used the drummer and bassist of World Party’s touring band (neither of whom played on the World Party version) to perform the backing track for Williams, resulting in a very similar-sounding cover. World Party’s frontman and songwriter Karl Wallinger was not made aware that a cover was going to be released using his own band. When the song became a hit, and after having experienced a near-fatal brain aneurysm around the time of the song’s release, Wallinger stated that he experienced “ongoing bitterness”, going on to say that “the song had a much better time than me, popping off to the Brits while I was at home eating crackers dipped in water”.
When introducing the song in live performances, Williams often claims that it is one of the best songs he’s ever written, despite not actually having written the song. This culminated in a telephone outburst from the song’s actual writer, Wallinger, to Chambers, stating “Your @#$%& friend Robbie Williams. Tell him from me that he’s a c%nt”. Williams has never publicly acknowledged that “She’s the One” is a cover of the World Party’s track, although in a 2019 commercial for his album The Christmas Present featuring Amazon Alexa, when Williams claimed he had written the song, the device states that he did not write She’s the One, to which Williams admits “no, I didn’t”. – cheeky sod :-).

Wow! Thanks for sharing that, frenki09. Now I hate Robbie and his version even more!

T@3