POX - World Party?

Amen. 1st two albums, anyways.

Is It Like Today is about as good as 1993 adult pop got

paultma otm

I'm not sure I've ever really listened to World Party, aside from the one or two songs that got anything close to radio play here (afaict). But I just heard "Is It Like Today?" for the first time, and it was just the loveliest thing.

Is It Like Today is a diamond of a tune.

Genuinely have a lot of love for 1993 era Simon Mayo breakfast show hits - Is It Like Today, Break It Down Again, Ordinary World, Come Undone, She Kissed Me, Delicate, Do You Love Me Like You Say, I Feel You etc etc.

Don't know most of those, I don't think, but these lyrics in particular are really sad and touching.

Playing "Goodbye Jumbo" right now, for the first time, and I've got to say ... it's kind of boring, imo. This is supposed to be their masterpiece? I think I'll put on the Waterboys instead.

I listened to Ship of Fools over and over 2016-2020, great song imo in spite of it sounding like a Stones song

I also really like Way Down Now
They’re def not breaking any new musical ground but their songs are enjoyable

man I remember "Is It Like Today" in '93 and thinking, ick, Jellyfish.

huh, I remember Jellyfish being a lot less chill than that.

I heard "Ship of Fools" on the radio at the time, but I listened to Private Revolution for the first time last year. I thought, this must have had a lot of appeal for the older boomers - a young person showing proper deference to the music of the 60s, covering Dylan, sounding like the Beatles and the Stones, with enough Prince included so that you could say he wasn't a total throwback.

I said it in the Things You Were Shockingly Old When You Learned thread, but this year I found out that the song I'd always assumed was World Party was actually the New Radicals "You Get What You Give"

Both singers have that Jaggeresque rasp in their voices when they sing falsetto.

"Ship of Fools" truly sounds like a Stones song that isn't actually a Stones song, the woo hoo hoos, the chorus, even the lyrics, everything about that song sounds inspired by Stones to me.

I like "Ship of Fools." Until I listened to "Goodbye Jumbo" I don't think I'd heard that "Put the Message in the Box" song since it was on the radio and suddenly recalled that I didn't like it then, either. But yeah, until I turned it off there were bits of Stonesy things in that album, which surprised me. I was expecting more Beatles stuff, for some reason. And even the Stonesy stuff, it was less macho Primal Scream riffing and more, I dunno, Madchester adjacent.

Goodbye Jumbo infuriated me when it was released because they played songs from it on every episode of Post-Modern MTV for months and I saw it as a waste of one of the value 5-6 slots on the show to see a video by a band I actually liked.

"Put the Message in the Box" is extremely boring as a song imo. I think the only reason I ever listened to Goodbye Jumbo was because the local library had it and that was my supplier of new free music back in those days

RIP Kurt

Karl?

Yeesh! Yes, KARL.

To make up for being a dipshit, here's a good comp of rarities and B-sides:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnZWNNUimlU

oh no! that's too bad :( i have been weirdly enjoying the music of World Party lately. My friends and i made a spotify playlist replicating the experience of listening to our local alternative/public/college-rock-esque station and whenever the World Party songs come up, I really enjoy them more than I would have expected. Even "Put the Message in the Box".

Aw sorry to hear it. I liked the first two World Party albums.

Bummer — my older brother was kind of obsessed with World Party in the early 90s, definitely a constant soundtrack of my youth. Always loved "Is It Like Today?"

Loved relistening to the first three World Party albums tonight. I don't play them enough

"Is it Like Today" is such a gem with a wonderful chorus. Pretty sure I still have the cassingle somewhere. I'll look forward to a relisten too.

I'm surprised Private Revolution in particular doesn't have a bigger following among certain young people - young people who love The The, Todd Rundgren, Prefab Sprout and Cleaners from Venus, say. The time is ripe.

My favourite is still Bang! though. Is It Like Today? is one of my favourite singles of the 90s, basically because it's just a bliss to listen to.

young people who love The The, Todd Rundgren, Prefab Sprout and Cleaners from Venus, say

do these young people actually exist? (i have no idea, it just seems unlikely to me)

xpost

Feel the same!

Weirdly I was just reading about him a couple of days ago -- Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote about his work with the Waterboys on his Substack, just last week: https://sterlewine.substack.com/p/the-waterboys-the-whole-of-1985

I don't know if the kids listen to Cleaners from Venus but Spotify always seems to be pushing them - I guess they're very "not genre" so it's easier to fold them into a lot of playlists

do these young people actually exist? (i have no idea, it just seems unlikely to me)

They do, within music circles, and I'm friends with quite a few of them (it's especially true of Prefab but the rest of them too to some degree. I feel like a comfortable amount of Newell's streams will be from zoomers/young millennials getting into him through XTC or the 'lo-fi' canon)

since streaming upset the applecart I'm never shocked at what young people end up listening to, the most extreme case was a younger friend from work who's favorite bands was Vulfpeck asked me if I'd "heard of a band called Oxbow"

or the whole Duster has a song with over 200 million listens thing

huh! that's cool

Tom Breihan wrote a solid write-up on "Way Down Now" a few weeks ago: https://www.stereogum.com/2250940/the-alternative-number-ones-world-partys-way-down-now/columns/the-alternative-number-ones/

the ultimate Poppy Bush Interzone band?

this sucks rip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHh0V7UjVXI

is that the interzone u mean? hmm that may predate ghwb and be reagan era tho.

is the ultimate poppy bush interzone band's equivalent uk honour the ultimate pre-britpop q magazine band

not that world party are necessarily that

the ultimate Poppy Bush Interzone band?

don't encourage him!

Has there been a blog post yet?

xp also, as far as the generational issue goes, i only learned he died because my 20 y/o kid who’s a wallinger fan IG’d me.

young people who love The The, Todd Rundgren, Prefab Sprout and Cleaners from Venus, say

yeah those are canon on certain NTS shows

#onescreenname

Have “Is It Like Today?” on repeat right now

Goodbye Jumbo would have been better selling if not for the odd off putting album cover.
https://i.discogs.com/RbwBEiAsPCvpmXQ8VEruLzKR4j8uu--bioVeusp4Qfk/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:599/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTIwNzcz/ODE2LTE2MzU1MjEw/NTEtMzQ5MS5qcGVn.jpeg

A friend gave me Goodbye Jumbo maybe 20 years ago but I never played it before tonight. It’s like Dukes of Stratosphere-level pastiche: here’s our Stones rip, here’s Dylan, here’s Beach Boys, here’s Prince… Fun record.