{"id":24511,"date":"2023-05-05T05:30:53","date_gmt":"2023-05-05T09:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=24511"},"modified":"2023-03-20T13:33:17","modified_gmt":"2023-03-20T17:33:17","slug":"album-review-world-party-egyptology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2023\/05\/05\/album-review-world-party-egyptology\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: World Party &#8212; Egyptology"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/world_arty_egyptology.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"350\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-24512\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/world_arty_egyptology.jpg 425w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/world_arty_egyptology-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/world_arty_egyptology-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/>World Party\u2019s fourth album was also its best. Karl Wallinger\u2019s skillful distillation of his influences \u2013 a dazzling grab-bag that included Sly Stone, Van Morrison and the Beatles as mere starting points \u2013 was at its apogee with this 15-song collection. 1997\u2019s <i>Egyptology<\/i> was originally released in the U.S. on a label called The Enclave; unfortunate timing saw its release concurrent with the label\u2019s shutdown; distribution suffered as a result, and rave reviews didn\u2019t translate to sales.<\/p>\n<p>Highlights are numerous, with Wallinger deftly serving up rockers (\u201cIt is Time\u201d), hypnotic modern-day psychedelia (\u201cBeautiful Dream\u201d), dance tunes (\u201cStrange Groove\u201d), timeless ballads (the glorious \u201cShe\u2019s the One\u201d) and sweeping, cinematic compositions (\u201cRolling off a Log\u201d). A touching if somewhat oblique tribute to Kurt Cobain (\u201cHercules\u201d) ups the emotional content even further on this deeply personal yet universal record. The mesmerizing \u201cAlways\u201d provides a dazzling, note-perfect ending for the record; so good, in fact, that World Party\u2019s live shows in support of the album ended the same way, with musicians leaving the stage one by one as the music faded toward silence.<\/p>\n<p>Everything about <i>Egyptology<\/i> feels like a record in the truest sense; a double-album, in fact. But because it was released during the period when the vinyl record had all but disappeared, the album was issued in North America only on CD and cassette. A UK-only vinyl release crammed the 15 songs onto a single platter; today, even in light of the compromised fidelity resulting from that over-stuffing, used copies change hands for hundreds of dollars.<\/p>\n<p>Happily, as part of a reissue campaign that celebrates Wallinger regaining control over his back catalog, <i>Egyptology<\/i> is now being reissued, with the tracks spread out over three sides of vinyl, giving them room to breathe. Better still, the new reissue is appended with five live tracks from the <i>Egyptology<\/i> tour. Sadly, no \u201cAlways\u201d or the beguiling \u201cCurse of the Mummy\u2019s Tomb,\u201d but splendid nonetheless.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>World Party\u2019s fourth album was also its best. Karl Wallinger\u2019s skillful distillation of his influences \u2013 a dazzling grab-bag that included Sly Stone, Van Morrison and the Beatles as mere [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24512,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,62,64,65,73],"tags":[1227,2399],"class_list":["post-24511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop","category-rawk","category-reissue","category-review","category-vinyl","tag-karl-wallinger","tag-world-party","cat-51-id","cat-62-id","cat-64-id","cat-65-id","cat-73-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24511"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24514,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24511\/revisions\/24514"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}