World Party box set due

I first heard a box set was in the works last year and am glad to see it finally coming to fruition. I've interviewed Kurt a few times over the years and always marvel at his genius. Read on for more info.

World Party has confirmed the April 10 release of “Arkeology”: a five-CD collection of 70 never-before-heard tracks packaged in a unique Any Year Diary for fans’ personal use.

Spanning the band’s 25-year history, “Arkeology” is at once a new album—with songs finished as recently as 2011—and an unreleased, unheard history of rare studio gems, live sessions, concert recordings, radio interviews, covers, demos and B-sides.

As much a throwback to the 60’s rock that World Party leader Karl Wallinger grew up loving as it is a reinvention of it, “Arkeology” showcases some of Wallinger’s strongest work to date. New songs like “Waiting Such a Long Time” (2008), “Everybody’s Falling in Love” (2011), and “Photograph”—a sprawling piano anthem recorded over a period of seventeen years (1994 to 2011)—are more evidence of Wallinger’s already-known talent for writing infectious pop hooks.

The entire collection is packaged in the Any Year Diary, a 142-page, full-color day calendar for fans’ personal use that features rare photos, clips of articles, and World Party memorabilia from Wallinger’s personal archives, as well as his notes and commentary about various shows and recordings.

“The reason it’s all inside an any-year diary,” Wallinger says, “is because I just got so sick of the CD packaging. I’m glad the whole CD format is dying, but I really didn’t want to put something out that was only digital.”

“Arkeology” also provides a behind-the-scenes glimpse at Wallinger’s quirky humor and love of studio experimentation with several genre-bending demos, some recorded as early as 1985. A pitch-shifted, effects-heavy rendition of “What is Love All About” (from 1993’s Bang!) for instance, wouldn’t be out of place on a contemporary R&B record. And live versions of familiar hits—including an ascendant crowd sing-along of “Ship of Fools” from Boulder, CO in 1998, and fan favorites like “Love Street” from 2006’s Bonnaroo Festival—capture the band at some of its finest moments.