Elvis Costello: Imperial Bedroom
1982
Columbia Records
Format I Own it on: Vinyl and Compact Disc
Track Listing: 1. Beyond Belief 2. Tears Before Bedtime 3. Shabby Doll 4. The Long Honeymoon 5. Man Out of Time 6. Almost Blue 7. ...And in Every Home 8. The Loved Ones 9. Human Hands 10. Kid About It 11. Little Savage 12. Boy with a Problem 13. Pidgin English 14. You Little Fool 15. Town Cryer
Disc 2: (2002 Rhino CD version): 1. The Land of Give and Take 2. Tears Before Bedtime (Alternate version) 3. Man Out of Time (Alternate version) 4. Human Hands (Early version) 5. Kid About It (Alternate version) 6. Little Savage (Alternate version) 7. You Little Fool (Alternate version) 8. Town Cryer (Fast version) 9. Little Goody Two Shoes 10. The Town Where Time Stood Still (Alternate version) 11. ...And in Every Home (Rehearsal) 12. I Turn Around 13. From Head to Toe 14. The World of Broken Hearts 15. Night Time 16. Really Mystified 17. The Stamping Ground 18. Shabby Doll (Demo version) 19. Man Out of Time (Demo version) 20. You Little Fool (Demo version) 21. Town Cryer (Demo version) 22. Seconds of Pleasure (Demo version) 23. Imperial Bedroom
Elvis trades out Nick Lowe (his longtime producer) for Beatles Engineer Geoff Emerick and changes up his sound. It'd be a stretch to call this punk/new-wave anymore...More of a sophisticated baroque pop sound with a lot of roots in pre-rock old-timer's pop.
I've always thought of this as a good winter album...Comfy couch music...The musical version of a thick, wool sweater and a night by the fireplace reading a dense, wordy book, while big, fat snowflakes drift soundlessly outside your window...
"Uh-oh, looks like the East is being hammered by another snowstorm! And we turn to chief meteorologist Pete Woods with the Channel 18 FutureCast™ ..."
"Thanks, Allison...It looks like the cold-front is going to see temperatures dropping another 5 degrees over the weekend, so make sure you keep your kids bundled up, and remember to bring your pets indoors. And as you can see from the Channel 18™ Doppler-Weather-Radar-Map™ a large fissure in the Earth is expected to open up somewhere around Louisville, Kentucky and extend all the way to Albany, New York. The deep red area over Ohio represents a river that flows with the hot, deceitful blood of the non-believers..."
"Pete, are you sure that doesn't represent a warm-air front that's pushing its way Northeast from the Pacific region and delivering light to moderate rains this weekend? "
"Okay, we thought we had something for a moment there, but it turns out this bit was a complete dead end...Back to the Friday Night Record Party all ready in progress..."
..."Imperial Bedroom" isn't really my go-to Elvis Costello album...I think it aims to be a bigger masterpiece than it really is and as a result it feels a bit stuffy and pretentious sometimes, but when this thing is on it is on...
The opening track, "Beyond Belief" is just about perfect. It's constantly changing, yet flows so seemlessly that when you listen to the alternate take ("The Land of Give and Take") on the bonus disc, it's incredibly jarring. Just an immaculately balanced song with all manner of intricate gold-leafing ribboned throughout..I can't help but think of a very expensive miniature cake, for some reason...
Maybe it's time to get a Snickers from the vending machine...
Also be sure to check out the witheringly bitter "Shabby Doll," where Bruce Thomas gives one of the greatest bass performances I've ever heard...As slippery and elusive as a weddin' dick...I also happen to think "Man Out of Time," is one of the best songs Elvis ever put out...It starts out with some ragged rock and bloodcurdling screaming (which the bonus tracks reveal to be the original version of the song) then suddenly erupts into a 20-story acoustic strum and before you know it, where drifting somewhere in the cosmos listening to the most heavenly pop production ever created. This is eyes-rolling-back-in-your-head material...
Most of the songs on "Imperial Bedroom" seem cold, dense and insular, only opening up after several listens, but "...And in Every Home" welcomes you right in with its bright display of pop-song plumage! Even George Martin stops by to contribute an overbearing and intrusive string arrangement, which oddly enough turns out to be exactly what the song demands...I think ultimately this was the track that initially sold me on the album...
On the other hand, there's an awful lot of tracks that have never quite won me over, most of which are relegated to side two...Man, Elvis Costello fans are gonna hate me for this one, but I've never been able to get into "Almost Blue," which seems to be a favorite among his followers (and was even covered by celebrated jazz trumpeter Chet Baker) ...I mean, it's not bad, or anything...It's sumptuously played, and it captures the jazz-club vibe it's going for, but I'd be lying to you if I said it wasn't a tad dull...Keep in mind, smoky jazz isn't something I have any inclination toward, but who knows, maybe if I polished my shoes and snapped my fingers while chain-smoking cigarettes, I might suddenly realize it's a masterpiece, but until then I'll probably continue skipping the song...Besides, he pulls off this genre much more engagingly on the track "Shipbuilding" on his very next album...
But even that song's better than tracks like "The Long Honeymoon," "The Loved Ones," "Little Savage," "Kid About It" and "Town Cryer" which still haven't made any impression on me at all, despite playing them consistently for over 10 years now (They should have replaced one of these with the enjoyable waltz-time title track that's been unjustly relegated to the bonus disc)... Although, one of the best songs emerges unexpectedly on this second side...The simple sing-song melody and easy-flowing lyrics of "Pidgin English" marks it as one of the album's sleeper tracks. It took a dozen listens for this gem to jump out at me, but now when I pull the record from the shelf it's usually because I have a hankerin' to hear this song...
The wealth of stunning material and the overall alluring atmosphere make "Imperial Bedroom" a very worthwhile entry in the Elvis Costello discography, despite a few forgettable tracks. If you're as big a fan of overproduced 60's albums like "Pet Sounds," "Sgt Pepper" and "Odessey and Oracle" as I am, you're going to go nuts over this, but if you find something inherently pretentious about string sections and cool jazz, then you might want to stick with "This Year's Model."
Here's "Pidgin English" by Elvis Costello...Enjoy...
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