Whether singing about a “Beautiful Dream” or a “Sweet Soul Dream,” World Party leader Karl Wallinger makes clear that he’s a true believer with a self-effacing smile.
His ethos is that life can be transformed by positive thinking and instantly friendly pop tunes that shimmer with oooh’s, aaah’s and woo-wooo’s, and he made a convincing case to the already-converted Friday night at Metro.
Wallinger is a studio rat who, when he’s not playing almost all the instruments on his albums–including on the new “Egyptology”–he’s creating exact replicas of Beatles songs as an exercise. Yet he and his four live bandmates, most of whom he’s played with before, took more liberties with his tunes, breathing air into the album versions.
The driving, acoustic-strummed “Vanity Fair” was a sprightly romp through San Francisco circa 1967, “Beautiful Dream” gained extra crunch without sacrificing the sweetness of its harmonies, “She’s the One” was piano-based power balladry recalling “Let It Be”-era Paul McCartney and, in the concert’s highlight, the band galloped through “Put the Message in the Box” at a “Ballad of John and Yoko” clip.
They also added a funky drum loop to “Way Down Now” and, in the encore, proved how indestructible “Ship of Fools” is; although they played a colorless guitar-blues arrangement minus the hammering piano and stomping beat, not joining the final chorus sing-along would have been Grinch-like.
The rumpled Wallinger often is called a throwback, and the label fit some bandmates as well. Drummer Chris Sharrock played on what could have been Ringo’s dinky starter kit, and bassist Dave Catlin-Birch boasted a McCartney-style Hofner bass and hairdo.
And if Wallinger’s songs greet you like old friends, well, sometimes they are. “Is It Too Late,” which built up a nice head of steam, is really “Baby Please Don’t Go” with a “Sign O’ the Times” beat, the pretty “Sunshine” veers close to “Wild Horses,” and did the new “Hercules” remind anyone of anything? Yes, it’s Procol Harum’s “Repent Walpurgis”!
