World Party
Goodbye Jumbo (1990)

review by: Michael Walls
Date: 4/18/01

In a fair and just world, everybody would know about World Party. But since we live in a world where the definition of Pop music is Britney and N'sync, those of us who know better must spread the word about artists like Britain's Karl Wallinger.

Karl Wallinger is a one-man band and studio perfectionist. In his second effort under the title of World Party, Goodbye Jumbo has been labeled by many critics before I, as the album of the 90s. This label coming ten years after it's release in 1990.

Although a bold claim, considering all the music that encompasses the 90s, I could easily agree to calling it the best pop album of the 90s.

World Party, Karl Wallinger, and Goodbye Jumbo are the epitome of pop music. The kind of music that evolved from the 60s, where catchy lyrics meshed with catchy rhythms, was fun, yet sophisticated. Music like the Beatles and the Beach Boys were huge influences on Wallinger.

I discovered World Party and this album when it was released in 1990, and have never grown tired of it. Karl Wallinger (also working throughout the late 80s as a member of the Waterboys) wrote, produced and recorded this entire album. Without the influences and pressures of a big studio and their execs, Wallinger was able to create a masterpiece pop album, produced to perfection.

With its squeaky-clean studio sound, and rhythm guitar-driven melodies, Goodbye Jumbo paints several surreal worlds about love, God and some bizarre themes from the deep recesses of Wallinger's mind. All brought together with clear and clever lyrics that makes it impossible to dislike.

Regardless of whether you're familiar with World Party, you've heard these sounds before. You've heard these sounds from bands like Del Amitri or The Wallflowers or countless other pop artists – all influenced, whether they knew it or not, by World Party.