Eco protest time, with Greenpeace favourite “Ship of Fools”, taken from World Party’s debut album “Private Revolution”. Its a bouncy number, the jollity of the melody and backing vocals starkly at odd with the warning verses:

Avarice and greed are gonna drive you over the endless sea

They will leave you drifting in the shallows

Drowning in the oceans of history

Travellin’ the world, you’re in search of no good

But I’m sure you’ll build your Sodom like I knew you would

Like most of World Party’s singles it dribbled around the edges of the UK top 40 - only “Is it Like Today?” broke the top 20, in 1993 - without making much impact. Lead singer and songwriter Karl Wallinger’s biggest success came with when Robbie Williams took an album track from 1997’s Egyptology and parlayed his considerable popularity at the time with the ballad’s previously overlooked hit potential, in the process creating a number one single. Wallinger, having originally not been best pleased at the thought of his record label letting Williams loose on one of his precious creations, soon cheered up at the prospect of a few more years of recording time.