Now he's out in space, fixing all the problems

Thursday music corner: Welsh-born musician and songwriter Karl Wallinger, who died at his home in the East Sussex city of Hastings on Sunday aged 66, was the founder and driving force behind the group World Party. After joining Mike Scott's Waterboys as a keyboardist for the band's second and third albums, Wallinger went solo as World Party in 1986, adding other members as required. 

World Party released five studio albums from 1987 to 2000, three of which reached the UK top 40 albums chart; the most successful was Bang!, which reached number 2 in the UK album charts in 1993; it also went top 10 in Norway. World Party achieved four UK top 40 singles, and the 1987 single Ship of Fools reached number four in the Australian pop charts. She's The One, an album track from World Party's 1997 album Egyptology, was later a UK chart-topping single for Robbie Williams in 1999. Wallinger benefited from the royalties; according to the New York Times: 

“So we didn’t have to sell the kids to chemical experiments or anything,” he told The Chicago Sun-Times in 2012. “I think I’m a bit of a lucky person.” 

Is It Like Today? was the first single from World Party's third album, Bang! It reached number 19 in the UK charts, and number 24 in Canada. It also reached number five on the US alternative charts.

World Party - Is It Like Today? (1993)      

See also:

Music: The Waterboys - Don't Bang The Drum (1985, Scott/Wallinger co-write)

Music: World Party - Put The Message In The Box (1990)

Music: World Party - She's The One (live, 1997)