World Party

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Prestatyn, Wales (1985 – present)

World Party is an alternative rock band which formed in Prestatyn, Wales in 1985. Its only consistent member is former Waterboys keyboardist Karl Wallinger. They are best known for their 1985 international hit single “Ship of Fools”, one of the first alternative rock songs to hit the Top 40 in the United States.

Wallinger was a key member of The Waterboys during their ‘Big Music’ period, which covered their first three albums: The Waterboys, A Pagan Place, and This Is The Sea. In 1985, Wallinger left The Waterboys to form World Party. Although the parting was quoted as being amicable, musical differences may well have played a factor, given chief-Waterboys Mike Scott’s radical shift towards traditional Irish folk music (evidenced by The Waterboys’ next album Fisherman’s Blues).

World Party’s debut album was Private Revolution, which adopted a more commercial sound than that of The Waterboys, and also hinted at Wallinger’s social conscience - especially on the ‘hit’ single Ship Of Fools. Private Revolution was followed by Goodbye Jumbo, which was more successful, and then Bang! which was slightly less so.

Walinger penned the song She’s The One, which was taken to (British) number one by Robbie Williams - for which Wallinger has pledged his undying gratitude, as royalties from this probably outweighed everything he earned from World Party.

Tagged as:

alternative, rock, british, pop-rock, 80s
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Goodbye Jumbo
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Private Revolution
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Bang!
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Top Tracks

1	Ship Of Fools full track	128
2	Put The Message In The Box full track	94
3	Is It Like Today? full track	90
4	Way Down Now full track	88
5	When You Come Back to Me	79
6	She's The One full track	73
7	Hollywood full track	48
7	And I Fell Back Alone full track	48
9	When The Rainbow Comes full track	42
10	Is It Too Late? full track	40
11	Ain't Gonna Come Till I'm Ready full track	37
12	Is It Too Late (Peter Lorimer Mix)	36
13	Kingdom Come full track	34
14	What Does It Mean Now? full track	33
14	Sweet Soul Dream full track	33

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EliBlue wrote:
April 2009

Great song.

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northern_soul_ wrote:
April 2009

They're a great band! Their original of "She's the one" sounds a million times better than the cover of Robbie Williams :)

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KeithJones wrote:
March 2009

"Put the Message in the Box" is a great track!

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kenbs305 wrote:
February 2009

"she's the one" is an amazing song.

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dopemoves wrote:
January 2009

nice music...

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Twiggystickstoo wrote:
October 2008

Ireland Forever!

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Gaynor7 wrote:
September 2008

Love this song!

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ralu4u wrote:
July 2008

World Party Fans: Songs like: Tower, I am the dew, Elephant Girl ans Smile are FREE! http://www.lastfm.de/music/Popmonster. Kostenlose Popmonster. Endlich! Neue Pop-Perlen von Popmonster aufgeschaltet! New Songs from Popmonster. One better, than the other!

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boddidley wrote:
June 2008

seriously underrated artist..a real talent....

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silvertree wrote:
December 2007

I agree with girlybat. It is a timeless song. It could come out today and be number 1 !

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girlybat wrote:
September 2007

Is It Like Today is awesome.

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djlsam wrote:
August 2007

Is it just me or is Bang! seriously underrated?

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theblueworld wrote:
July 2007

If you like 'Ship of Fools try and get a hold of a do-re-mi track called Man Overboard Do-re-mi was an old Ozzie band fronted by Deborah Conway.

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arlidogs wrote:
June 2007

really good music :)

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glowingrock4 wrote:
May 2007

I agree with amotley, its a horrible loss though. I enjoy watching their old videos, its some good times all around.

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ShaunRyder wrote:
February 2007

I'm glad to see that Ship of fool is so high on the Top Tracks-list!

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amotley wrote:
January 2007

This band have been in my top 10 for years, but hardly anyone I know has even heard of them... their loss!!!

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emergingsynergy wrote:
January 2007

Love Street, Sweet Soul Dream, so, so many tunes....

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emergingsynergy wrote:
January 2007

I wish more people knew of this wonderful artist. I listen mostly to his earlier music, because that is all I have. But it is beautiful, and it seeks to help us see what we should do in our lives.

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Sepia_Verve wrote:
November 2006

Why isn't Egyptology more listened to?

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