R.I.P. Karl

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Sadly, the time has come for me to pay my tribute to a musician of whom I have been a fan for more than forty years. He may well be unknown to many of you, but I hope to show you what you might have been missing. I’ve played several of his songs before, and they and a few others are coming up. The artist in question is Karl Wallinger, born Karl Edmond De Vere Wallinger on 19 October 1957, who was a Welsh musician, songwriter and record producer, best known for leading the band World Party and for his mid-1980s stint in the Waterboys. Karl passed away at his home in Hastings, on the East Sussex coast, this past Sunday at the age of 66. He was a talented guy: he had been trained on the piano and oboe as a child, and was a multi-instrumentalist, which enabled him to demo and record the bulk of World Party’s material as a one-man band. Although he was right-handed, he played a right-handed guitar upside-down and left-handed, and he also played keyboards, drums and bass.

Karl played on two Waterboys albums – A Pagan Place and This Is The Sea – and was credited by Mike Scott, who led the band, as contributing a lot to the band’s overall sound and production during that time. He was only credited with one co-written song in that time, the opening track on This Is The Sea – Don’t Bang The Drum – and he left to be able to record his own songs. I’m concentrating on those today, as there are so many good ones amongst them. He released his first album as World Party in March 1987, Private Revolution. I bought it at the time and was instantly hooked. It peaked at #56 in the UK and #39 in the US, but did best in Australia, where it got to #13. The title track was released as a single in late 1986, reaching #108 in the UK, but the next single gave him something of a breakthrough:

That was the original video for Ship Of Fools, though a newer one was released about five years ago featuring, amongst others, a certain former US President. This one makes its point, though. The single peaked at #42 in the UK, #27 in the US, at #5 on the US Mainstream Rock chart, and again did best in Australia, where it got to #4.

World Party’s second album, Goodbye Jumbo, was released in April 1990, and for me this is Karl’s masterpiece. Again its chart placings were moderate – #36 in the UK and #73 in the US – but I think it was very underrated. I could play just about any of its tracks, but am going to restrict myself to just two, to leave room for his other albums. This one wasn’t released as a single, but I felt it should have been:

And that was followed by one which was a single, so there is a video for it:

Two remarkably good songs from a great album. Put The Message in The Box reached #39 in the UK, and got to #8 on the US Alternative Airplay chart, which is based on radio plays. Again, I felt it deserved better.

The band’s third album, Bang, was the real biggie in the UK charts. It was released in April 1993 and got to #2 here, and was awarded a Gold Disc for more than 100k sales. It also made #126 in the US. This was the lead single from it:

Is It Like Today? was their best-selling single, reaching #19 here. Not great by some bands’ standards, but to a fan like me it felt like they were finally getting some well-merited recognition. The album also had two further minor hits, this being the last of them. Another little gem, to my ears:

All I Gave was released as a single in September 1993, and got to #37 in the UK chart.

World Party’s fourth album, Egyptology, came out in June 1997, and got to #34 in the UK and #167 in the US. It was the one which finally gave him some real chart recognition, for this song:

Unfortunately that recognition came in the form of a cover version by Robbie Williams, who had a UK #1 with it the following year. When introducing the song in live performances, Williams has often claimed that it is one of the best songs he’s ever written, despite not actually having written it. This culminated in a telephone outburst from the song’s actual writer, Karl, to Guy Chambers, who had played in World Party and produced the Robbie Williams version, in which he is reported to have said  “Your fucking friend Robbie Williams! Tell him from me that he’s a c**t!”. I think he made his point! Williams won several awards for his performance of the song, proving that there really isn’t any justice in music!

World Party released their final album, Dumbing Up, in October 2000, and it reached #64 in the UK. Only one single was released from it, a quirky little song on which Karl was enjoying some fun with his music:

That reached a lowly #89 in the UK Singles chart, but I liked it!

Karl sufferered a brain aneurysm in February 2001 while cycling with his son on a Center Parcs holiday in Suffolk, and was left with damaged eyesight plus a prolonged (if temporary) inability to speak, play instruments or carry out any other musical activities. He returned to the scene in 2006, and played and toured with World Party until 2015, appearing at festivals and supporting Steely Dan on one of their tours. A five-CD box set of songs, Arkeology, was released in 2012 – I have it, and it is a superb package. Karl gave an interview in 2022 in which he said that he was working on new material and hoped to release it in 2023. It has yet to appear, but maybe it can be a posthumous release? I think that would be a fitting tribute to a man whose music has given me so much pleasure over the years.

Karl brought tributes from many that he had worked with, among them Mike Scott of The Waterboys, who said “Travel on well my old friend. You are one of the finest musicians I’ve ever known.”

And there was this from Peter Gabriel, with whom Karl worked in the early 1990s: “I had admired his work from afar but it was when we did a Real World Recording Week together that I had the most creative and fun week I have ever had in the studio. Karl was an abundant talent and we have been given extraordinary music and memories from this extraordinary man.”

The final words are from the man himself, as he said in that last song:

“Here comes the future, I hope that you can work it out.”

R.I.P. Karl, you will be missed.

53 thoughts on “R.I.P. Karl”

  1. Nice tribute Clive. I knew of them more than knew his music but I always liked what I heard. I knew probably 4-5 songs. Way too young to go out. I didnt’ know about the brain aneurysm…I’m glad he at least worked himself back from that.

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    • Thank you for the compliment, and I’m glad you share my view of Karl. Sadly, he was another in that long line up for whom great talent didn’t bring the success it deserved.

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    • I’m not really surprised you didn’t know him, Stevie, as World Party went under the radar for most. I’m pleased you enjoyed them, and that is one of my favourites too 😊

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  6. Excellent tribute, Clive, and a powerful reminder of Karl’s talents. Such capabilities, artistry, and skills. He, with World Party, was another who I thought would become huge. I always wonder what stroke it is that make some mega stars and leave others along the fringes. Seems quite random. Thanks for fostering memories of what was. Cheers

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    • Thank you, Michael. I’m pleased you appreciated this and Karl’s music. I think there’s a lot of luck involved in it – how else could you explain why talents like his don’t sell by the truck load when rubbish does! Glad you enjoyed these memories of some great songs 😊

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  10. It seems to me that you recently included World Party in one of your posts. I was pretty oblivious of their music, but I can see why you like it.

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    • Well remembered, Pete. Yes, I played one of these three weeks ago but as it’s a favourite I couldn’t leave it out of my tribute post! I don’t think they achieved much over there, but I’m glad you can understand why I like them.

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    • I think he was one of those musicians who were much respected by his peers without ever achieving huge sales success for their records. In my view he was very talented and I loved all of his records.

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  17. At the end of the 80’s a friend of mine did a mixed tape for me that included When The Rainbow Comes and Put The Message In The Box. I still have that cassette, play it about once a year and always love these tracks. Weirdly though, I didn’t investigate them further, but I will now.

    A big shock, and a big talent.

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