Goodbye Jumbo

As a mainstay of The Waterboys when they were a proper band, Karl Wallinger's skills as an arranger contributed vastly to the panoramic sweep of their music. However he's surpassed himself completely on 'Goodbye Jumbo' the second offering from his World Party vehicle.

The album's dozen songs are embellished with stylistic quotes from every genre you'd care to mention and recorded in such a way as to let you know instantly that you're not dealing with a man who's been forced back to the past due to a paucity of present-day panache, but one who fully understands the power and potential of subliminal received sounds.

Topping verbal ad musical nods to The Beatles, The Stones, The Doors, Hendrix, Sly Stone and of course Dylan, Wallinger transcends mere hippie revivalism by fusing all his component parts into a sensuous, seductive and manifestly manifesto-free whole. The sentiments displayed on Goodbye Jumbo may be vivaciously verdant but the musical meshing is anything but green - thus you'll find one of the loveliest slide-guitar motifs you'll ever hear on the wonderful 'When The Rainbow Comes', a superb Soul orchestration for 'Ain't Gonna Come Till I'm Ready', a beautiful Beach Boys-style close harmony arrangement on 'God On My Side' and a mix'n'match Prince/Them re-write on the opening 'Is It Too Late', to name but four.

Absurdly optimistic but rarely naive, Goodbye Jumbo is definitely overbalanced with the type of ideological leanings I normally retreat from Ben Johnson-like when they appear on vinyl but manages to seduce with its utter abandon. This will, I'll bet, become one of the slow-burning sellers of the next year or two.