07.02.2017
IT WAS 35 YEARS AGO TODAY….
100 Best Albums of the Eighties
From synth pop and rap to metal and funk, 100 best albums of the Eighties selected by the editors of Rolling Stone.
No 38. Elvis Costello and the Attractions, ‘Imperial Bedroom’
When Columbia records released Elvis Costello’s Imperial Bedroom — the angry young Brit’s seventh album in six years — the company took out ads that read, Masterpiece? Without question, Imperial Bedroom is one of Costello’s major artistic statements — and arguably the high point in the career of a prolific musician who has consistently delivered impressive work.
Perhaps reacting to the creative limitations of his preceding album, Almost Blue — a disappointing collection of country covers recorded in Nashville with the veteran producer Billy Sherill — Costello returned to form on Imperial Bedroom. It is a far-ranging gem that finds him moving all over the musical map, from the ominous, jazzy “Shabby Doll” to the Sgt. Pepper-esque pop of “… And in Every Home.” Reviewing the album in Rolling Stone, Parke Puterbaugh wrote, “Elvis Costello’s Imperial Bedroom is really a mansion, each of whose rooms is decorated with painstaking care and detail by the artist.”