Imperial Bedroom

Imperial Bedroom
Studio album by Elvis Costello & the Attractions
Released	2 July 1982
Recorded	AIR Recording Studios, London, 1982
Genre	New wave, baroque pop
Length	50:48
Label	F-Beat (UK) Columbia (US) Rykodisc (30 August 1994 Reissue) Rhino (19 November 2002 Reissue) Hip-O (1 May 2007 Reissue)
Producer	Geoff Emerick "from an original idea by Elvis Costello"
Elvis Costello & the Attractions chronology
Almost Blue (1981) Imperial Bedroom (1982) Punch the Clock (1983)

Imperial Bedroom is a 1982 album by Elvis Costello and the Attractions. It was the second Costello album, after Almost Blue, not produced by Nick Lowe. Production duties were 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 No. 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] In 2012, Slant Magazine listed the album at No. 59 on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980s".^[3] The album reached number 6 in the UK charts and number 30 in the US, 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.

Background

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. 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, starting 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".

Packaging

The name of the album "Imperial Bedroom" appears on the sleeve as IbMePdErRoIoAmL. The cover painting, titled "Snakecharmer & Reclining Octopus"^[4] 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 a transcript of the lyrics. They were 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.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[5]
Piero Scaruffi	6/10[6]

Parke Puterbaugh in a 1982 review in Rolling Stone felt that Costello had written "his masterpiece" after spending some years trying out various approaches on previous albums.^[7]

Robert Christgau appreciates the songwriting, feeling that some songs "are as great as songwriting ever gets"; though he feels that on the whole the album concentrated too much on the technique of songwriter, and as such the emotion is literate rather than heartfelt – so the finished product is "pretentious".^[8]

LP track listing

All songs written by Elvis Costello unless otherwise indicated.

Side one

1. "Beyond Belief" – 2:34
2. "Tears Before Bedtime" – 3:02
3. "Shabby Doll" – 4:48
4. "The Long Honeymoon" – 4:15
5. "Man Out of Time" – 5:26
6. "Almost Blue" – 2:50
7. "...And in Every Home" – 3:23

Side two

8. "The Loved Ones" – 2:48
9. "Human Hands" – 2:43
10. "Kid About It" – 2:45
11. "Little Savage" – 2:37
12. "Boy with a Problem" (music: Costello; lyrics: Chris Difford; additional lyrics: Costello) – 2:12
13. "Pidgin English" – 3:58
14. "You Little Fool" – 3:11
15. "Town Cryer" – 4:16

Bonus tracks (1994 Rykodisc CD)

16. "From Head to Toe" (Smokey Robinson) – 2:34 produced by Elvis Costello
17. "The World of Broken Hearts" (Mort Shuman, Doc Pomus) – 3:01 produced by Elvis Costello
18. "Night Time" (Patrick Chambers) – 2:52 produced by Elvis Costello
19. "Really Mystified" (Tony Crane, John Gustafson) – 2:03 produced by Elvis Costello
20. "I Turn Around" – 2:09 produced by Elvis Costello
21. "Seconds of Pleasure" (Version 2 of The Invisible Man) – 3:43 produced by Elvis Costello
22. "The Stamping Ground" – 3:09 produced by Elvis Costello
23. "Shabby Doll" (Early version) – 4:18 produced by Elvis Costello
24. "Imperial Bedroom" – 2:47 produced by Elvis Costello

Bonus disc (2002 Rhino)

1. "The Land of Give and Take" (Early version of "Beyond Belief") – 3:05
2. "Tears Before Bedtime" (Alternate version) – 3:03
3. "Man Out of Time" (Alternate version) – 3:43
4. "Human Hands" (Early version) – 2:44
5. "Kid About It" (Alternate version) – 3:18
6. "Little Savage" (Alternate version) – 3:07
7. "You Little Fool" (Alternate version) – 2:59
8. "Town Cryer" (Fast version) – 2:15
9. "Little Goody Two Shoes" (Alternate version of "Inch by Inch") – 3:10
10. "The Town Where Time Stood Still" (Alternate version) – 2:57
11. "...And in Every Home" (Rehearsal) – 3:12
12. "I Turn Around" – 2:09
13. "From Head to Toe" (Robinson) – 2:34
14. "The World of Broken Hearts" (Shuman, Pomus) – 3:01
15. "Night Time" (Chambers) – 2:52
16. "Really Mystified" (Crane, Gustafson) – 2:03
17. "The Stamping Ground" – 3:09
18. "Shabby Doll" (Demo version) – 4:18
19. "Man Out of Time" (Demo version) – 3:27
20. "You Little Fool" (Demo version) – 3:11
21. "Town Cryer" (Demo version) – 3:03
22. "Seconds of Pleasure" (Demo version) – 3:19
23. "Imperial Bedroom" – 2:47

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.

Personnel

• Elvis Costello – vocals, guitar, piano
• Steve Nieve – piano, organ, harpsichord, accordion, guitar on "Tears Before Bedtime," orchestrations
• Bruce Thomas – bass
• Pete Thomas – drums

Charts

Album

References