Wallinger’s hybrid of sumptuous pop, hippie mysticism and postmodern cynicism helped World Party carve out a niche on college rock radio and MTV.
Karl Wallinger, the mastermind behind the neo-psychedelic pop classicists World Party who also played in the Waterboys during their early years, died Sunday at age 66. His family confirmed his death through his publicist.
Unabashedly steeped in vintage sounds, World Party crackled with Wallinger’s sonic invention and melodic craft, gifts evident on the modern rock hits “Ship of Fools,” “Way Down Now,” “Put the Message in the Box” and “She’s the One,” a song Robbie Williams took to No. 1 in the United Kingdom. Pop singles weren’t explicitly part of Wallinger’s purview, as far as the contemporary charts of the 1980s and 1990s went. Largely recording on his own at his Seaview Studios in the U.K., he synthesized elements of the Beatles — he had a knack for splicing the melodicism of Paul McCartney with the gritty sneer of John Lennon, David Bowie and Bob Dylan, adding a significant dose of playfulness learned from Prince. Wallinger’s hybrid of sumptuous pop, hippie mysticism and postmodern cynicism helped World Party carve out a niche on college rock radio and MTV with their 1987 debut “Private Revolution” and 1990 sophomore release “Goodbye Jumbo.”
Despite Wallinger working as the musical director for Ben Stiller’s 1994 slacker romantic comedy “Reality Bites,” World Party was among the artists swept away by the alternative rock explosion of the early 1990s. Too tuneful and idiosyncratic to compete with the grime of grunge, World Party evolved into a cult act, maintaining a faithful audience but rarely crossing over into the mainstream.
