Monday 16 September 2013

World Party 'Way Down Now'

Chart Peak: UK 66
YouTube

After three UK chart-toppers, it was probably about time we got a song that wasn't a big hit here, though I for one wasn't expecting to be by a Welshman. This was the second British single from the second album by Karl Wallinger's post-Waterboys project and the follow-up to the big radio hit 'Message In The Box', though in the US this one came out first and performed better, topping the (airplay-based) Modern Rock Tracks chart for five weeks.

People don't seem to talk much about the Caring Nineties now, but it was the buzz phrase around the turn of the decade and some of the music recorded early on seemed to be reflecting that sort of mood. Accordingly the Goodbye Jumbo album is supposed to trace a protagonist's journey toward spiritual fulfillment, though this particular track is early in the sequence and so our man is fearful in the lyric, though the music is more rousing in tone as he seeks some sort of enlightenment. You can imagine this going down well at the time, though British people were never that keen to actually buy World Party singles and stayed away in their droves. Out of context it doesn't wholly convince now, though I will at least trust that the quote from 'Sympathy For The Devil' near the end is in a spirit of homage rather than plagiarism.

Available on: Goodbye Jumbo

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