Karl Wallenger, aka World Party has been on a slow but steady return to music following a debilitating brain aneurysm that he suffered in 2001. After a five year recovery, Wallenger resurrected World Party in 2006 to perform at South by Southwest in Austin and the Bonnaroo Festival in Tennessee and then proceeded to catch up on his interrupted career.

World Party is essentially Karl Wallenger as he sings and plays most of the bands recorded music. Live performances by World Party can feature a full band to just one other person as was the case at the House of Blues on June 27. Long time associate of Wallenger, David Duffy, was featured on violin and mandolin as well as backing vocals.

Even though there were only two musicians on stage the sound they produced was incredible. Many of the numbers sounded as if there was a complete band on stage especially when Wallenger was playing the piano along with the duo’s vocal harmonizations.

As a young man, Wallenger was heavily influenced by such artists as the Beatles and the Beach Boys and much of World Party’s sound can be tied directly back to these and other artists from that era. The two numbers that really channeled Lennon and McCartney at this show for me was the McCartney sounding “She’s the One” and “God on My Side” which smacked of John Lennon’s solo work.

Probably the most notable album release by World Party was “Goodbye Jumbo”. This recording was nominated for a Grammy for best alternative music album of the year in 1990.  That same year it was also voted Album of the Year by Q Magazine. That being said, Wallenger went back to the well and performed at least four numbers from “Goodbye Jumbo” that included, “When the Rainbow Comes”, “Put the Message in the Box”, “Sweet Soul Dream” and the aforementioned “God on My Side”.

I was surprised to see only about half of the Bronze Peacock Room filled with fans. Granted, World Party has been on somewhat of a hiatus for some years but when they were popular they were very popular producing some of the most melodic and sometimes thought provoking material of the times. Now with Wallenger’s rejuvenation and return, he announced that World Party would be releasing a new album next year with a full band tour to follow.

The only negative take from this show was that Wallenger seemed to cut it short compared to other recent shows on the tour. Houston fans only caught about one hour worth of music where as other tour stops have enjoyed at least four to five more numbers. Not sure why Houston fans missed out but it was a topic of discussion overheard a number of times after the show concluded.

Hopefully World Party will not scratch Houston from next year’s tour schedule as there is a lot more to hear from this artist. Especially with the new release due out around that time.