After leaving The Waterboys in 1986, British singer and multi-instrumentalist Karl Wallinger began performing as World Party. World Party has obtained a single chart entry in the US that dates back to 1987 when "Ship Of Fools (Save Me From Tomorrow)" peaked at #27. Trying to ride this wave of success into the 90s was difficult, although World Party remained a favorite at college radio. One of the songs that should have gotten more attention was "Way Down Now," from the 1990 record, "Goodbye Jumbo." In the early days, World Party featured Sinead O'Connor on a couple tracks, and "She's The One," featured on 1997's "Egyptology," was covered by Robbie Williams.
The The is the music of English singer/songwriter Matt Johnson, who has also released solo albums. The height of The The began in 1988 with the release of "Mind Bomb," a record that featured high-profile guests like Sinead O'Connor on vocals and Johnny Marr (The Smiths) on guitar. While popular in the UK, theband was rarely seen in the US except very late at night on MTV's 120 Minutes. Building on their fanbase, The The almost broke through in the US with the release of "Dusk" in 1993. "Dusk" is one of the more radio-friendly and consistent records in the band's catalogue. "Slow Emotion Reply" and "Dogs Of Lust" received decent airplay, but not enough to put the band on the charts. The band's musical style has always been hard to place, shifting between all sorts of genres. Instead of capitalizing on the exposure "Dusk" attracted, the band shifted gears once again and followed it up with "Hanky Panky," an album of nothing but cover songs by country icon Hank Willams.
Sinead O'Connor, the Irish siren who rose to fame with her breathtaking rendition of Prince's "Nothing Compares 2 U" in 1990, has become more famous for her bizarre antics than her brilliant voice and powerful songwriting. Turns out, O'Connor was prescient about a lot of things, but people don't like to hear inconvenient truths. At the height of her fame in 1992, she ripped up a picture of the Pope in protest over child sex scandals during her performance on Saturday Night Live. She always kept her head shaved and championed women's rights. She sang about black lives matter decades before it became a mantra. She even got Frank Sinatra to threaten to "kick her in the ass" when she didn't want the National Anthem played before her performance. O'Connor said controversial things, got people talking, and challenged our most sacred institutions. You can't get more rock and roll than that! O'Connor only managed one other chart appearance in the US before being ostracized into undeserved musical Purgatory. The follow-up to "Nothing Compares 2 U, " which spent 4 weeks at #1, was "The Emperor's New Clothes." It stalled at #60 in 1990. Both came from the best-selling album, "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got," which could have been mined for more hits with emotive tunes like "Three Babies" or "The Last Day Of Our Acquaintance." Prior to her commercial success, rocking songs like "Mandinka" and "I Want Your (Hands On Me)" should have been hits, too. O'Connor followed "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got" in 1992 with "Am I Not Your Girl?" A great title, but I misguided collection of vocal standards that - while sung to blazes - are not particularly radio-friendly. But that's never really been this artist's goal. Nonetheless, it was surprising to me that O'Connor did not experience a big comeback in 2000 with the excellent and accessible record, "Faith And Courage." "No Man's Woman" is an anthem that should have burned up the chart.
