World Party release highlight Goodbye Jumbo in 1990

World Party/Karl Wallinger in the studio 1990

Introduction

After the release of the great singles Private Revolution and Ship Of Fools (both off of the debut album) Karl Wallinger and his band World Party released their second album in 1990. The story of Goodbye Jumbo.

The Waterboys

In 1983 The Waterboys were in search of a guitar player. Wallinger contacted The Waterboys front man and convinced him that he instead should hire a keyboard player. Enter Wallinger. Wallinger played the first shows ever done by The Waterboys and worked on the superb second album A Pagan Place.

Mike Scott & Karl Wallinger 1985

Wallinger’s role kept on evolving and for the third album This Is The Sea he wrote the music for Don’t Bang The Drum and was co-responsible for huge parts of the best-known Waterboys song The Whole Of The Moon. However, Wallinger was only partially credited for all his work. And, Wallinger grew increasingly weary of Scott’s dictatorial ways. Wallinger decided to leave the band at the end of 1985 and try a solo career.

For years on end Scott and Wallinger would publicly feud about existing/acknowledged contributions. The arguments grew somewhat milder over time and in 2004 Scott wrote in the liner-notes accompanying the re-release of This Is The Sea: “Having Karl in the studio was like having a one-man orchestra around.”.

World Party – Private Revolution

World Party

Wallinger was a huge Prince fan and his way of working. Wallinger entered the studio and started recording his first solo album, which he would release under the moniker World Party. Just as Prince did, Wallinger played all instruments himself, sang on all songs, produced and composed it (almost) all as well. Upon completion of the album, and his work on Sinéad O’Connor’s debut album (to be released in 1987), the name Wallinger was on the lip of every music mogul, especially following the release of debut single Private Revolution in 1986.

Wallinger hired a manager. Once again a Prince connection, as the manager in question was none other than Steve Fargnoli, who by then had been in Prince‘s employ for the entire 1980s (he would be let go in 1989). Wallinger: “I was a sucker for Prince. I was like, ‘Take me to Minneapolis. Take me to your leader.'”

On March 3, 1987, the album Private Revolution was released, an impressive sample of Wallinger’s abilities. He not only did it all by himself, he was also able to effortlessly incorporate style like rock, pop, funk, folk and soul into his own unique sound. The single Ship Of Fools was successful, internationally as well, and provided much needed attention to the World Party brand.

Recordings for a successor soon commenced. This time Wallinger received help from Guy Chambers, also a former Waterboys band member. Chambers was the one who could provide order into Wallinger’s chaos and slow modus operandi.

World Party – Goodbye Jumbo

Goodbye Jumbo

On April 24, 1990, the second World Party album, Goodbye Jumbo, was released. It was heralded by the (international) press. In England Q Magazine even named it album of the year. The album was also nominated for a Grammy. The singles stemming from the album were huge hits on the US alternative charts.

The album was overtly political and by and large aimed at environmental issues. The album title references Wallinger’s sadness upon learning that the African elephant had recently been placed on the list of endangered species.

Wallinger also clearly showed his love for Prince‘s music. Is It Too Late?, Show Me To The Top and Love Street are Prince pastiches, in which Wallinger plays with the Prince rhythms, (Purple Rain / Around The World In A Day) vibe and falsetto. 1960s Heroes like Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones (the “whoo whoo” background vocals in Way Down Now are vintage Sympathy For The Devil) are honored as well.

The tributes are no sign of artistic poverty. On the contrary, Wallinger is capable of translating the sound of his heroes to his own World Party sound in a completely natural and organic way.

Rating

World Party – Goodbye Jumbo – Singles

Singles

The album generated 3 singles:

• Way Down Now (1990)
• Put The Message In The Box (1990)
• Thank You World” (1991)

Is It Too Late? was a US promo-only single and has never been released officially.

Songs

All songs written by Karl Wallinger.

• Is It Too Late?
• Way Down Now
• When The Rainbow Comes
• Put The Message In The Box
• Ain’t Gonna Come Till I’m Ready
• And I Fell Back Alone
• Take It Up
• God On My Side
• Show Me To The Top
• Love Street
• Sweet Soul Dream
• Thank You World

World Party – Goodbye Jumbo – Back cover

Musicians

• Karl Wallinger – vocals, all instruments (unless stated otherwise)
• Guy Chambers – drum samples on Is It Too Late?; synthesizer on When The Rainbow Comes, Put The Message In The Box, Show Me To The Top, Love Street; sampler on Put The Message In The Box; piano on Ain’t Gonna Come Till I’m Ready, Love Street; harmonium on Sweet Soul Dream
• Chris Sharrock – drums on Way Down Now, When The Rainbow Comes, Put The Message In The Box
• Jeff Trott – slide guitar on Is It Too Late?, When The Rainbow Comes; guitar on Way Down Now, When The Rainbow Comes
• Jerod Minnies – guitar on Is It Too Late?
• Martyn Swain – bass on Love Street
• Chris Whitten – drums on Is It Too Late?, Ain’t Gonna Come Till I’m Ready
• Steve Wickham – violin on Take It Up
• Roy Morgan – tambourine on Way Down Now
• Dave Catlin-Birch – guitar on And I Fell Back Alone, Take It Up
• Sophia Ramos – background vocals on When The Rainbow Comes
• Sinéad O’Connor – background vocals on Sweet Soul Dream

World Party – Bang!, Egyptology, Dumbing Up

After Goodbye Jumbo

World Party went out on tour, which led to more musicians being added to the live line-up. But after a couple of shows record company boss Ensign canceled the tour and ordered Wallinger to go back into the studio to do more recording. Wallinger has always regretted the decision: “That was it. There was a moment there: door open, door closes.”. According to Wallinger new recording sessions essentially meant invisibility with the record buying audience. He was probably right.

On April 26, 1993, the third World Party album, Bang!, was released, which was a huge success in the UK. On June 17, 1997, Egyptology followed. After a 3 year sabbatical, during which Wallinger gained the rights to his own music, the fifth World Party album, Dumbing Up, was released independently.

On November 8, 1999, Robbie Williams released the Wallinger song She’s The One as a single, which turned into a monster of a hit all over the world. Wallinger was irritated he wasn’t told that Williams re-recorded the track (with members of his own World Party bandmates) at the behest of former collaborator Guy Chambers (who was acting as Robbie Williams’ manager at the time), and that Williams had altered the lyrics. On the other hand: “You make loads of money.”

In February 2001 Wallinger suffered a brain aneurysm. The fall-out was enormous: damaged eyesight, (temporary) inability to speak, inability to play instruments or perform any kind of musical activity. During the next 5 years Wallinger re-learned playing music all over again. The royalties of Robbie Williams’ She’s The One recording saved Wallinger financially. In 2012 Wallinger said: “Thank God they did record it. It kept me and the family in spaghetti when I was ill and couldn’t work.”

World Party – Best In Show, Arkeology

In 2006 World party returned to the stage, in 2007 followed by a support slot for Steely Dan. That same year the compilation Best In Show was released. In 2012 Arkeology was released, a collection of no less than 5 CD’s crammed with new songs, live recordings and covers. Touring was constant up to 2015.

And then it went quiet again. Up to 2021, when the vinyl re-release campaign of the World Party started. In a 2022 interview Wallinger stated he was nearly done with a n entirely new album , which would probably be released in 2023. It didn’t happen. On March 10, 2024, Wallinger died of a stroke. He was 66 years old.

Mike Scott, his old-time Waterboys ‘boss’, tweeted: “Travel on well, my old friend. You are one of the finest musicians I’ve ever known”.

In closing

What’s your opinion on World Party and Goodbye Jumbo? Let me know!

Video/Spotify
This story contains an accompanying video. Click on the following link to see it: Video: World Party release highlight Goodbye Jumbo in 1990. The A Pop Life playlist on Spotify has been updated as well.