Elvis Costello And The Attractions Imperial Bedroom on 180g LP
Remastered from the Original Master Tapes!
Recorded with famed Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick, Imperial Bedroom stands as Elvis Costello and the Attractions' most highly decorated traditional pop album. Boasting sumptuous arrangements, large-scale instrumentation, ambitious layers, Tin Pan Alley melodies, and orchestrated devices, the 1982 record is a testament to studio creativity and ornate production. Amidst the lavish settings beats the heart of Costello's biting, brutal lyrics that confront domestic malaise and sober emotional reflection.
Imperial Bedroom overflows with contagious pop, savvy torch, cabaret, chamber, and jazz-influenced fare. If it's details you seek, then look no further. With Emerick's assistance, each tune is distinguished with painstaking sonic accents, blended rhythms, counterpoint bass lines, dazzling passages, and inventive motifs. Accordions, tremolo guitars, organs, harpsichords, marimbas, horns, and an assortment of other instruments help color the subtly dark canvases. A 40-piece orchestra graces the gorgeous "...And In Every Home." And that's just for starters.
Originally intended to be a stripped-down affair, Imperial Bedroom reflects Costello's migration to composing on piano as well as his listening tastes at the time: Billie Holliday, Cole Porter, Frank Sinatra, Debussy. Intricate, expansive, and complex without ever sounding inaccessible, the record includes the now-classic "Man Out of Time," "Beyond Belief," and "Almost Blue," the latter a ballad that Chet Baker included in his live sets until he passed away. In another stroke of brilliance, Costello used the record as an opportunity to address the melancholic changes in both his own personal situation as well as that of England, the songs functioning as smart, sometimes satirical dialogues on issues such as disenchantment, identity, and relationships.