| Imperial Bedroom | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Elvis Costello & the Attractions | ||||
| Released | July 2, 1982 | |||
| Recorded | AIR Recording Studios, London, 1982 | |||
| Genre | New Wave, Post-Punk, Baroque Pop | |||
| Length | 50:48 | |||
| Label | F-Beat (UK) Columbia (U.S.) Rykodisc (August 30, 1994 Reissue) Rhino (November 19, 2002 Reissue) Hip-O (May 1, 2007 Reissue) |
|||
| Producer | Geoff Emerick "from an original idea by Elvis Costello" | |||
| Professional reviews | ||||
|
||||
| Elvis Costello & the Attractions chronology | ||||
|
||||
Imperial Bedroom is a 1982 album by Elvis Costello and the Attractions. It was the second Costello album, along with Almost Blue, not produced by Nick Lowe, the production duties handled by Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick. "I wanted to try a few things in the studio that I suspected would quickly exhaust Nick's patience," as Costello put it in the liner notes to the 1994 Rykodisc reissue.[1]
It was voted as the best album of the year in The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics poll. In 1998 readers of Q magazine named it the 96th greatest album ever. In 1989, it was ranked #38 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 100 Greatest Albums of the 80s. In 2003, the album was ranked number 166 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[2] The album reached number 6 in the UK charts and number 30 in the U.S., but the singles were less successful. "You Little Fool" and "Man Out of Time" each briefly appeared in the British top 60, but neither charted in America.
Contents |
In addition to being the first album of original material not produced by Lowe, this was the first of Costello's albums to be recorded without any of the songs having already been performed live. As such, the songwriting and arrangements were done during the twelve-week recording session at AIR Studios. It was recorded at the same time as Paul McCartney's Tug of War, on which Emerick simultaneously served as recording engineer.
Unlike the previous two albums, there was no intent to have the songs in any particular arrangement or production style. Instead, they covered a variety of styles and included songs that were written at the end of the Trust (1981) sessions, through Costello's production of Squeeze's East Side Story, and during the "Nashville adventure"[1] of Almost Blue.
Imperial Bedroom continued a direction, started with Trust, where Costello used a piano to compose songs, which was different from the writing approach he used on his first four albums.[1] As initially recorded, the album sounded very much like Trust, but none of these versions survived to the final recording, except the intro and outro of "Man Out of Time". Instead, the band experimented with different instrumental choices, including a 40-piece orchestra for ".....And in Every Home". Costello also attempted to vary his vocal performances, such as the contrasting vocal tracks in "Pidgin English". Many of these studio embellishments had to be stripped when the songs were played live in concert.
Despite some of the lyrical content, Costello had imagined this to be his most optimistic album to date.[1]
The album inspired the title of Bret Easton Ellis' novel Imperial Bedrooms, a sequel to Ellis' earlier novel Less Than Zero, whose title was borrowed from Costello's song "Less Than Zero".
The name of the album "Imperial Bedroom" appears on the sleeve as IbMePdErRoIoAmL. The cover painting, titled "Snakecharmer & Reclining Octopus"[3] by Barney Bubbles (but credited to "Sal Forlenza") is a pastiche of "Three Musicians" by Pablo Picasso, and letters on the zipper-like creatures in the upper right spell "PABLO SI".[1]
This was the first Elvis Costello album to include lyrics, printed on the inner sleeve in all capitals with no punctuation. The UK release varied this presentation of the lyrics, such that on one side of the inner sleeve there was a circular cut, which made one side of the LP's center label visible. The lyrics, printed on that side of the inner sleeve, continued straight across that side of the LP's center label.
All songs written by Elvis Costello unless otherwise indicated.
Note: The Rykodisc version has the original tracks and bonus tracks on one CD. The Rhino version has two CDs with the original tracks on the first CD.
Album
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Billboard Pop Albums | 30 |