Favorite Album Friday #3: You've Heard This Somewhere Before

When I was younger and first beginning to appreciate rock/pop music, I often wondered if there would ever be a point where there would be no more "new" songs to create, if there was a finite limit to the melodies, choruses, and hooks that bands could invent. One could argue that we've already reached that point, and that bands now are simply regurgitating material we've heard before. The trick is making it sound fresh and original.

In that vein, today's selection is the album Egyptology by the band World Party. Created by English singer/songwriter Karl Wallinger in 1989 after he left The Waterboys, World Party is essentially a one-man band, with Wallinger handling most of the duties in the studio. World Party had a pretty good run from the late 1980s through the mid-90s, releasing a string of critically praised and modestly successful albums (Private Revolution, Goodby Jumbo, and Bang). Though he never had any major hits, Wallinger's smart, meticulously crafted, socially conscious pop became a staple on college and alternative radio.

Egyptology, World Party's fourth studio album, continued with the template Karl Wallinger had established on his earlier albums. Beatle-esque harmonies and chord progressions, layered and lush arrangements, and lyrics that channeled some of the optimism of the late 60s with a dash of Gen X cynicism. It's joyously and unapologetically retro. Even a casual listener will hear the chiming Sgt. Pepper guitars, horns lifted from Van Morrison's Moondance, and operatic jams reminiscent of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. It's musical time travel.

 

While Egyptology is probably not as much as an artistic statement as Goodbye Jumbo or Bang, its become my favorite World Party album simply because it's a joy to listen to from start to finish. From the opening drumroll of "It Is Time to Remember," and the  ELO-inspired "Call Me Up," each song on the album is a highly buffed pop gem. Sure, almost every element in every song is familiar, but Wallinger puts them together in a way that makes it more than musical mimicry. He's channeling his love of the music he grew up with into something new, and the joy that comes through is hard to deny.

 

Here's a taste (and a really cool video, to boot):