181-818: Imperial Bedroom is the seventh studio album by the English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello , and his sixth with the Attractions —keyboardist Steve Nieve , bassist Bruce Thomas and drummer Pete Thomas (no relation). It was released on 2 July 1982 through F-Beat Records in the United Kingdom and Columbia Records in the United States. Recording took place at AIR Studios in London from late 1981 to early 1982 with production handled by Geoff Emerick . Placing an emphasis on studio experimentation,
362-540: A BAFTA award, an ASCAP Founders award and a Gemini award. In 2003, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame . In 2016, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame . From 2008 to 2010, he hosted a television show, Spectacle: Elvis Costello with... , on which he interviewed other musicians. In 2015, he published a well-received memoir, Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink . Elvis Costello
543-463: A Problem". Nieve arranged the majority of the string sections, including three Wagnerian -like French horns for "The Long Honeymoon", brass and woodwinds for "Pidgin English", "Philly-style violin" for "Town Cryer" and a full 40-piece orchestra for "...And in Every Home". Nieve conducted the orchestra himself, while Martin supervised the arrangement as it contained several allusions to his work with
724-503: A Whisper to a Scream " (a duet with Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze ) became the first Costello single in over four years to completely miss the chart. Costello also co-produced Squeeze's 1981 album East Side Story (with Roger Béchirian ) and performed backing vocals on the group's hit " Tempted ". October saw the release of Almost Blue , a cover album of country music including songs written by Hank Williams ("Why Don't You Love Me (Like You Used to Do?)"), Merle Haggard ("Tonight
905-554: A band that would be an important influence on him. While in Rusty, Costello wrote an early version of a song he would record in 1980 as "Ghost Train", although by then little remained of the Rusty version except the central narrative idea of a married double act making their way through the low end of show business. In 2022, Costello reunited with Mayes to record and release an EP called The Resurrection of Rust . The EP contained songs that were typical of Rusty's shows in 1972, including
1086-421: A career in music, partly because his upbringing had made him aware of the potential pitfalls involved. The shock of witnessing a teenage friend's death in a traffic accident changed his mind. He would later write, "Suddenly, everything but music seemed like a waste of precious time." Costello completed his formal education in 1972 and, still living at home with his mother, set out to find a job that would earn him
1267-492: A duo, with Mayes and Costello singing and playing acoustic guitars. For a little over a year, Rusty played regularly in small venues like pubs, clubs, schools, and community centres, mostly in and around Liverpool, unpaid or for small amounts of money. In Mayes's estimation, Costello was already a talented songwriter, able to quickly write songs in a variety of styles, and could sing like Neil Young or Robbie Robertson . Mayes has said he introduced Costello to Brinsley Schwarz ,
1448-400: A far cry from the bulk of his material four years ago". Critics were, however, divided on Imperial Bedroom 's complexity. While some argued it made Imperial Bedroom an album that would enjoy repeated listens, others felt its concentration on complexity resulted in a "pretentious" and non-" easy-listening " final product that softened the impact of the songs. Costello's lyrical wordplay
1629-584: A few weeks later, were inspired by film scores Bernard Herrmann had done for Alfred Hitchcock . Costello later called the recording of "Watching the Detectives" his first experience of "making records as opposed to recording some songs in a room". The song would be released as a non-album single in the UK and as a track on the US version of My Aim Is True . My Aim Is True received extensive, favourable coverage in
1810-706: A gold certification in Canada in November 1979. Other well-known Lowe songs include "All Men Are Liars". A re-recording of "Cruel to Be Kind" was his only US Top 40 hit, reaching No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1979. In 1979, Lowe married country singer Carlene Carter , daughter of fellow country singers Carl Smith and June Carter Cash and stepdaughter of Johnny Cash . He adopted her daughter, Tiffany Anastasia Lowe. The marriage ended in 1990, but they remained friends, and Lowe remained close to
1991-409: A hotel dining room, the male character describes his female lover as a "shabby doll"—meaning she was once glamorous but is now past her prime—but by the end of the song, the role have reversed and he becomes the "shabby doll". Like other album tracks, the song displays the artist's acknowledgement of distributing blame evenly between men and women that began on Trust . Its themes of betrayal are aided by
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#17327723217222172-690: A job as a computer operator at the Elizabeth Arden cosmetics factory in North Acton , in northwest London, similar to the one he had in Bootle and with similarly low wages. By early 1975, Costello was a husband and father and was struggling to support his family. Flip City's live engagements added little to his income, rarely paying more than the band's expenses. Costello recorded demos with Flip City at several sessions from mid-1974 until mid-1975, hoping to use them to get live bookings, secure
2353-501: A journalist that, when Costello was 11 years old, his school entered him into a writing contest held by The Times intended for people aged 16 to 25, for which he won a prize. As he finished secondary school, he earned one A-level , in English, despite having made a firm decision to pursue a career in music a few months earlier and putting little effort into his final months of school. Although he never had any alternative career plan, Costello had previously been reluctant to commit to
2534-407: A major extent. Mason observes that the vocals are double-tracked in both stereo channels, giving the appearance of dueling inner dialogues. In an example of Imperial Bedroom 's focus on breaking free from the static of daily life, the song offers an expansion on the themes of "Human Hands", with Perone stating that it displays "numerous images of people's inability to articulate their emotions in
2715-468: A new label founded by an associate of Jake Riviera. Riviera had split from Dave Robinson and was now Costello's sole manager. For the next year and a half, Costello's records were released on Radar in Britain. Costello recorded his second album and his first with the Attractions, This Year's Model , during short breaks from touring, from November 1977 through January 1978. Produced by Nick Lowe, it
2896-424: A number of songs with clever wordplay that qualify as " novelties ", among them: Lowe's work as a producer is at least as notable as his work as a performer and songwriter. His early 'rough and ready' production style earned him the nickname "Basher", inspired by his supposed instructions to bands to 'bash it out—we'll tart it up later'. Beginning with his tenure at Stiff Records as an in-house producer in 1976, Lowe
3077-526: A one-night reunion concert with Elvis Costello in October in San Francisco, Lowe embarked on his first non-solo United States tour "this millennium." His backing band consisted of Geraint Watkins (keyboards), Robert Treherne (drums), Johnny Scott (guitar) and Matt Radford (bass). In March 2011, Yep Roc reissued Lowe's 1979 solo album Labour of Lust . Lowe played Glastonbury 2011, performing
3258-738: A planeload of British journalists were flown over by Famepushers to witness the event, but the stunt backfired and Brinsley Schwarz became a laughing stock until they established credibility on the London pub rock circuit. Lowe wrote some of his best-known compositions while a member of the band, including " (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding ", a hit for Elvis Costello in 1979; and " Cruel to Be Kind ", also in 1979, Lowe's single and biggest worldwide hit, co-written with bandmate Ian Gomm . After leaving Brinsley Schwarz in 1975 Lowe began playing bass in Rockpile with Dave Edmunds . In August 1976, Lowe released " So It Goes " b/w "Heart of
3439-541: A professional career as a musician coincided with the rise of punk rock in England. The primitivism brought into fashion by punk led Costello to disguise his musical savvy at the beginning of his career, but his stylistic range has come to encompass R&B , country , jazz , baroque pop , Tin Pan Alley and classical music . He has released album-length collaborations with the classical ensemble The Brodsky Quartet ,
3620-463: A recording contract, or sell Costello's songs for other artists to record. All but the first of these sessions were at a small studio owned by Dave Robinson , future Stiff Records founder. Robinson later said that he thought Flip City "could not play at all" but Costello was talented and ought to "find a real band." After Costello became successful, Flip City's demos were widely bootlegged, often misleadingly labelled to imply they were outtakes from
3801-704: A rented house in southwest London with some of his bandmates. Flip City played the London pub rock circuit until the end of 1975, occasionally opening for more prominent bands such as Dr. Feelgood , but generally making little money and attracting little notice. Flip City's performances consisted of a mix of Costello's original songs and covers of rock, R&B, and country songs. Their repertoire of Costello originals included early versions of songs that would appear on his first two albums as "Pay It Back", "Miracle Man", "Living in Paradise", and "Radio Radio". Costello wrote all but one of Flip City's original songs, did most of
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#17327723217223982-493: A resting woman with laced hands surrounded by zipper-like creatures—which spell out "Pablo Si"—sitting next to ringmaster-type figure, wearing what Costello interpreted as a tricorn hat. In his book Let Them All Talk , Hinton describes the picture as "a violent exercise in harsh red and blues". The cover won the Creem readers' poll for the best album cover of 1982. The original LP's inner sleeve boasted photographs by David Bailey of
4163-472: A short solo set of Brinsley Schwarz tracks on The Spirit of 71 stage, where they played back in 1971, before heading to the Acoustic Stage for a full band show. On 29 October 2013, he released his first Christmas album, Quality Street , on Yep Roc Records. He performed two songs from this album on 7 December taping of NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! In spring 2019 he embarked on tours, in both
4344-477: A significant presence in Costello's life and the two remained close until Ross's death in 2011. Costello has said that a childhood spent watching his father work gave him an innate sense of how to be a musician but also an understanding that a career in music was a job like any other, requiring discipline and hard work. Costello's parents never insisted he take music lessons or otherwise pushed him to follow in
4525-441: A single tape to publishers, not yet realising that no publisher would have the patience to listen to so many songs. Sometimes he went to publishers' offices to perform his songs in person. None of this generated anything but rejections until he began creating "show reels" of no more than six of what he believed were his most attention-getting songs, selected to appeal to the recipient of each demo tape. By February 1976, Costello
4706-516: A soft soul ballad that uses Nieve's orchestral arrangements to the fullest extent; by the song's extended coda, the orchestra overtakes the rest of the band. Costello utilises heavy wordplay to portray a man who has lost at love and has reached his breaking point: he dubs himself a "town crier" and is anxious to make his tears public. Gouldstone argues the introspective tone comes off as a deliberate personal confession. Reviewing Imperial Bedroom on release, Trouser Press 's Scott Isler argued that
4887-420: A song like ' Alison '." Even before disbanding Flip City in late 1975, Costello was writing songs he did not include in the band's repertoire. He recorded some of these as solo demos for Dave Robinson in mid-1975. For the next year, he shopped these and other solo demos to music publishers and record companies, hoping to be hired either as a songwriter or a recording artist. He sent out as many as 20 songs on
5068-582: A sparser sound than on the album. Pete Thomas , formerly of pub-rock band Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers , who were managed by Riviera, agreed to be drummer, although Thomas was then living in California and needed to be brought back to England. Steve Goulding and Andrew Bodnar , rhythm section of the Rumour , also participated in these audition sessions, so that Costello could test how
5249-532: A steady wage while he pursued a career in music. He soon took a job as a computer operator at the Midland Bank data centre , in the Merseyside town of Bootle , because, at £20 a week, it paid slightly better than other unskilled work he felt he was qualified for. According to Costello, the job consisted of essentially manual labour such as mounting tape reels and loading punched cards . Because
5430-437: A stream-of-consciousness style and contrasts the resulting confusion with the oft-repeated fade-out phrase "P.S. I love you". Costello elaborates that "among the colloquialisms and lyrical puzzles of 'Pidgin English', there is a longing for the simple words to express love". "You Little Fool" is a more straightforward number akin to mid-1960s pop equipped with a harpsichord; the author Mick St. Michael viewed it as "one step" from
5611-455: A study of the waste of lives and marriage destruction. Costello described "The Loved Ones" as "the horror of a parade of relations at the fate of a doomed and wasted youth". A mid-1960s pop number, Perone found its impressionist imagery catches a despised man in the midst of being alienated from society. "Human Hands" is an operatic love song about the desire for human contact, with images of masturbation and prostitution. According to Gouldstone,
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5792-572: A trait that had permeated Almost Blue . He also commented that he believed the vocal and instrumental additions set Imperial Bedroom apart from his prior works. The album was completed by March. [The songs] exhibit a malaise of the spirit and a sinking feeling about happy endings. The souring and spoiling of England was just under way. Passing from town to town on the tours of the early '80s, I came to know some people who seemed just as disenchanted and discouraged. Their stories found their way into these songs. —Elvis Costello, 2002 A departure from
5973-465: A trumpet solo by Baker. Prior to the release of Costello's own version, a version of the song was a minor UK hit for Soft Machine founder Robert Wyatt . Nick Lowe Nicholas Drain Lowe (born 24 March 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer. A noted figure in pub rock , power pop and new wave , Lowe has recorded a string of well-reviewed solo albums. Along with being
6154-451: A vocalist, Lowe plays guitar, bass guitar, piano and harmonica . He is best known for the songs " Cruel to Be Kind " (a US top 40 single) and " I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass " (a top 10 UK hit ), as well as his production work with Elvis Costello , Graham Parker , and others. Lowe also wrote " (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding ", a hit for Costello and " I Knew
6335-546: A young child, Costello's musical influences came from his parents' record collection, which encompassed a wide range of styles but centred on traditional pop and jazz. Ross's job with the Joe Loss Orchestra required him to sing many of the pop hits of the day for the band's weekly radio show. To learn these songs, Ross received demonstration copies of the original artists' records, which he brought home to rehearse. When Costello grew old enough to have an interest in
6516-586: Is a sumptuous mélange of pop styles, from Beatles-baroque to Phil Spector Wall-of-Sound to torch-song intimacy." Rolling Stone 's Parke Puterbaugh wrote that the album contains a "potent, articulate musical kick" that relates to the Who 's Tommy (1969), the Pretty Things ' S.F. Sorrow (1968) and the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). The biographer David Gouldstone says
6697-545: Is definitely writing and performing some of the best songs in pop music." Isler argued in Trouser Press that the album's recognition would improve over time, similar to the Beach Boys ' Pet Sounds (1966). Reviewers highlighted the music, lyrics, Nieve's piano and orchestral work, and Emerick's production, although Billboard magazine questioned whether Costello's longtime fans would appreciate it compared to
6878-469: Is not heavily produced, "Almost Blue" is played in a somber jazz and lounge style, emphasising changing harmonies. In "Almost Blue", the main character is devoid of feeling as he is lost in love, which he brought upon himself, while being in a relationship that has never reached full happiness. Janovitz associated its sorrow quality to Frank Sinatra 's 1954 In the Wee Small Hours and 1958 Only
7059-689: Is personal, with somewhat public themes on "Man Out of Time" and "Pidgin English" given personal embodiments. Speaking to Palmer in June 1982, Costello commented that "the more personal songs are either imaginary scenarios, observations of other people, or observations of myself". The subjects in the songs are far-reaching, representing a wide range of individuals from all levels of society. After having mostly third person narrators on Trust , Imperial Bedroom utilises mostly first-person narrators, with third-person ones making appearances on "The Long Honeymoon", "...And in Every Home" and "You Little Fool". Despite some of
7240-586: Is pop music organised to an incredible sophistication. However it has been achieved, ... it sets out parameters of sound that seem to alter within the inner ear: which means that Costello has finally achieved a synthesis of words and music that correlates to the duplicity of each." Critics expressed admiration for Costello as a songwriter and artist. Several declared him the finest songwriter in pop music, earning comparisons to Lennon and McCartney , Cole Porter and George Gershwin . Smash Hits writer David Hepworth asserted: "Like steel going through butter,
7421-556: The Los Angeles Times . Upon release, Imperial Bedroom was greeted with near universal acclaim. Drawing comparisons to Sgt. Pepper , Puterbaugh declared in Rolling Stone that Costello had written his masterpiece following years of experimentation. Sounds magazine's Dave McCullough arguing that it sees Costello reach a "kind of peak of peaks". In a highly positive review for NME , Richard Cook proclaimed: "This
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7602-503: The My Aim Is True sessions or otherwise affiliated with Stiff Records. The only Flip City recording to have been officially released is Costello's song "Imagination (Is a Powerful Deceiver)", recorded in early 1975, which appeared as a bonus track on the 1993 and 2001 reissues of My Aim Is True . In the liner notes to the 2001 reissue, Costello wrote that, in retrospect, the song sounded to him like "a very early attempt to write
7783-568: The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics' poll, with This Year's Model and Imperial Bedroom (1982) voted the best album of their respective years. His biggest US hit single, " Veronica " (1989), reached number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100. Born into a musical family, Costello was raised with knowledge and appreciation of a wide range of musical styles and an insider's view of the music business. His opportunity to begin
7964-461: The Billboard chart but spent fewer weeks on the chart than My Aim Is True . "Radio Radio" was released as a non-album single in the UK in October 1978, where it reached number 29. This Year's Model was highly praised by critics in Britain and the US. Melody Maker called it an "achievement so comprehensive, so inspired, that it exhausts superlatives." The NME review read similarly, saying
8145-553: The Imperial Bedroom recordings alone throughout early 1982, including experimenting with vocal inflections on "Kid About It", "Human Hands" and "Pidgin English". He also overdubbed "vocal groups" onto "Tears Before Bedtime", "The Loved Ones" and "Town Cryer" as a way to contrast with the more straightforward approaches in "Almost Blue", " Man Out of Time " and "The Long Honeymoon". The biographer Graeme Thomson states that he wanted to move away from "having one feel throughout",
8326-544: The Motown Chartbusters compilation series. By the time Costello reached his mid-teens, Joni Mitchell had become an important and enduring influence on him. When Costello moved to Liverpool, he found he did not enjoy much of the progressive rock that was popular with his peers, so, casting around for music he might like, he developed an interest in the Grateful Dead and other folk rock groups like
8507-561: The New Orleans R&;B songwriter and producer Allen Toussaint and the hip-hop group The Roots . Costello has written more than a dozen songs with Paul McCartney and had a long-running songwriting partnership with Burt Bacharach . Costello has had hits with covers of songs, including Sam & Dave 's " I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down ", Jerry Chesnut 's " Good Year for the Roses " and Charles Aznavour 's "She" . One of
8688-545: The Pretenders (the 1978 debut single " Stop Your Sobbing ", which was a modest UK and U.S. hit); Graham Parker (his well-received first and third albums); Dr. Feelgood (several LPs, and their biggest hit single, 1979's " Milk and Alcohol "); Johnny Cash (his 1980 single "Without Love", a minor hit on the U.S. and Canadian country charts); and his then-wife Carlene Carter (2 albums in 1980 and 1981). From 1982 to 1985, he produced material for Paul Carrack , John Hiatt ,
8869-464: The R. White's "Secret Lemonade Drinker" commercial jingle. Ross sang the lead vocal while Costello played guitar and sang backing vocals. In the second half of 1973, Costello formed a band called Flip City with several slightly older men who, like him, were fans of Brinsley Schwarz and other pub rock bands. The members of Flip City also shared Costello's enthusiasm for The Band , the Grateful Dead , and Clover . For most of 1974, Costello shared
9050-533: The Stop & Shop , to write a song about the historical Art Deco building he rode past every day. Although he did not record it until 1980, Costello regarded this song, "Hoover Factory", as an artistic breakthrough. In the period just prior, he had been trying to imitate songwriters Randy Newman and John Prine . "Hoover Factory", he later recalled, got him "through the door to a different, less ingratiating way of speaking" in his songwriting. The next song he wrote
9231-499: The UK Singles Chart , becoming Costello's first single to chart in any country. This was the first of an unbroken streak of eight Costello singles to reach the UK top 30. When Costello began touring the US in mid-November, he received prominent coverage in the US press, even though he played venues holding fewer than a thousand people. By this time, Costello had signed to Columbia Records , who released My Aim Is True in
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#17327723217229412-570: The "Secret Lemonade Drinker" jingle featured in a series of advertisements for R. Whites , with Costello on backing vocals. Ross's father, Patrick Matthew McManus, known as Pat, was also a professional musician. Pat was raised in an orphanage from age eight, where he learned to play trumpet. He later played trumpet as an army bandsman, a ship's musician for the White Star Line , and an orchestra musician in music halls and in theaters showing silent films. Costello has said that Pat, being
9593-433: The "emotionally open lyrics". "Little Savage" returns to a more conventional pop/rock song style and structure. The music contrasts with the lyrical theme of the difficulties and failures of relationships, wherein the main character tells his lover his drinking eases the "emotional baggage" of their relationship. "Boy With a Problem" mixes midcentury torch with contemporary rock and connects prominent lyrical ideals throughout
9774-433: The "marital claustrophobia" of numerous Get Happy!! tracks, concerning a dysfunctional relationship where the characters have given up hope that the fighting will end. Perone finds the song evidence of Costello's continued development in aligning moods of the words and music. "Shabby Doll" is an exploration of the feelings of anger and hate that come with rejection. Taking its title from an old cabaret poster Costello saw in
9955-486: The 100 best rock albums of the 1980s. In 1998, readers of Q magazine named it the 96th greatest album ever. Five years later in 2003, Rolling Stone placed Imperial Bedroom at number 166 on list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time , maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list. The album was also voted number 321 in the third edition of writer Colin Larkin 's book All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000), and included in
10136-403: The 100 greatest albums of the 1980s. Over two decades later, Slant Magazine listed the album at number 59 in a similar 2012 list. Staff writer Huw Jones stated that the album "affirms Costello as a poet laureate for the counterculture and a restless musical genius all in the space of 50 topsy-turvy minutes". Three years later, the album was also included by Ultimate Classic Rock in their list of
10317-732: The 1960s. Even after she no longer worked selling records, Lillian maintained a keen interest in a wide variety of music, including the popular music of the day. Costello's father, Ross MacManus (1927–2011), was a professional trumpet player and singer, born and raised in Birkenhead , across the River Mersey from Liverpool. He began his career in music in the late 1940s, playing trumpet in bebop bands in Birkenhead and Liverpool. He segued to playing trumpet and singing in modern jazz bands after moving to London in 1951. By 1954, he
10498-427: The 2018 edition of Robert Dimery's book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus OBE (born 25 August 1954), better known by his stage name Elvis Costello , is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, author and television host. According to Rolling Stone , Costello "reinvigorated the literate, lyrical traditions of Bob Dylan and Van Morrison with
10679-458: The Attractions , helped define the new wave genre. From late 1977 until early 1980, each of the eight singles he released reached the UK Top 30. His biggest hit single, " Oliver's Army " (1979), sold more than 500,000 copies in Britain. He has had more modest commercial success in the US, but has earned much critical praise. From 1977 until the early 2000s, Costello's albums regularly ranked high on
10860-519: The Attractions , would be Costello's touring and recording band for the next seven years. Costello used the time with Goulding and Bodnar to arrange and rehearse " Watching the Detectives ". He recorded the song with them at Pathway a few days later. Costello had written the song a few weeks earlier, partly inspired by the Clash 's newly released debut album . Some of the musical ideas, which Nieve fleshed out when he overdubbed his piano and organ parts
11041-521: The Attractions briefly toured Britain from mid-September to early-October, road-testing several new songs that would appear on 1983's Punch the Clock . In later decades, Imperial Bedroom has received acclaim as one of Costello's best records, with some proclaiming it his masterpiece. Commentators agreed the record was Costello's showcase as a songwriter, standing as the Bob Dylan or Van Morrison of
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#173277232172211222-573: The Attractions toured America from July to September 1982. The singer boasted more friendly on-stage demeanor compared to previous tours, including a stunt where he appeared in a full gorilla suit during the encore of the show coinciding with his 28th birthday. The setlists embraced funk and R&B flavours and mostly consisted of material from Get Happy!! , Trust and Imperial Bedroom , as well as covers and old hits. He received backlash from fans who only wanted to hear older hits, which challenged him; he had previously rejected fan requests. Additionally,
11403-427: The Beatles and Phil Spector 's wall of sound . The lyrics primarily concern love and relationships, with insight into the emotional problems of individuals. Squeeze 's Chris Difford co-wrote the lyrics for "Boy With a Problem". The cover artwork, a painting by Barney Bubbles , is a pastiche of Pablo Picasso 's Three Musicians . Promoted under the tagline "Masterpiece?", Imperial Bedroom reached number 6 in
11584-586: The Beatles as his biggest musical influence. Costello was also deeply impressed by the songs of his future collaborator Burt Bacharach , which he knew through the hits British artists Cilla Black and Dusty Springfield had with them. As Costello grew into his teens, his favourites included British beat groups the Kinks , Small Faces and the Who , Jamaican rocksteady and reggae acts who were popular in Britain, and especially Motown artists, who he knew mainly through their British hit singles and through
11765-620: The Beatles at the height of their psychedelic era, he was used to innovation." According to the author Tony Clayton-Lea, Emerick transformed the record from a "decent" eight-track demo album into an "aural tour de force". The album was recorded at the same time as Paul McCartney 's Tug of War , on which Emerick simultaneously served as engineer while George Martin produced; Emerick departed for small periods to work on Tug of War —with Jacobs taking over—before resuming work with Costello. The artist later explained that he and McCartney were initially set to have non-conflicting recording schedules but
11946-522: The Beatles; Ringo Starr visited the studio during the session. The album's original working title was Music to Stop Clocks before being changed to This Is a Revolution of the Mind , a line from James Brown 's " King Heroin " (1972). Clayton-Lea found this title "would blatantly publicize the health-conscious change of attitude". It was changed again to P.S. I Love You —a line from "The Loved Ones" and "Pidgin English"—before settling on Imperial Bedroom ,
12127-502: The Bottle Let Me Down"), Gram Parsons ("How Much I Lied") and George Jones ("Brown to Blue"). The album received mixed reviews. The first pressings of the record in the UK bore a sticker with the message: "WARNING: This album contains country & western music and may cause a radical reaction in narrow minded listeners". Almost Blue did spawn a surprise UK hit single with a version of Jerry Chesnut 's " Good Year for
12308-759: The Bride (When She Used to Rock 'n' Roll) ", a hit for Rockpile bandmate Dave Edmunds . Lowe attended the independent Woodbridge School in Suffolk . He began his musical career in 1967, when he joined the band Kippington Lodge, along with his school friend Brinsley Schwarz . They released a few singles on the Parlophone record label as Kippington Lodge before they renamed the band Brinsley Schwarz in late 1969 and began performing country and blues-rock . The band were launched by their management company Famepushers Ltd with an appearance at New York's Fillmore East ;
12489-463: The British and American releases in addition to several bonus tracks. In March 2009, he released a 49-track CD/DVD compilation of songs spanning his entire career. Proper Records released it in the UK and Europe, entitled Quiet Please... The New Best of Nick Lowe . In September 2010 Yep Roc issued The Impossible Bird , Dig My Mood and The Convincer on vinyl for the first time, and after
12670-707: The Byrds and the Band , and through them, country music . Costello was a well-behaved if sometimes argumentative student, but not generally an academically outstanding one. Not having scored well enough on his eleven-plus exams to go on to grammar school , he attended Archbishop Myers secondary modern school in Hounslow and then a comprehensive school in Everton, Liverpool , for sixth form . Costello did, however, show an early talent for writing. His mother told
12851-544: The Carter/Cash family. He played and recorded with Johnny Cash, and Cash recorded several of Lowe's songs. Lowe and Carter's 1979 wedding was filmed and the footage became the basis for the promotional video clip for "Cruel to Be Kind". After the demise of Rockpile, Lowe toured for a period with his band Noise to Go and later with the Cowboy Outfit, which also included the noted keyboard player Paul Carrack . Lowe
13032-810: The City", the first single on the Stiff Records label, where he was an in-house producer. The single and the label were initially funded by a loan of £400 from Dr. Feelgood 's Lee Brilleaux . The label's first EP was Lowe's 1977 four-track release Bowi , apparently named in response to David Bowie 's contemporaneous LP Low . The joke was repeated when Lowe produced the Rumour 's album Max as an 'answer' to Fleetwood Mac 's Rumours . Lowe continued producing albums on Stiff and other labels, including The Damned’s first album. In 1977 he produced Dr. Feelgood's album, Be Seeing You , which included "That's It, I Quit", written by Lowe. Private Practice , issued
13213-739: The Fabulous Thunderbirds and the Men They Couldn't Hang . Beginning in the mid-1980s, Lowe became more selective in his choice of outside production tasks, helming the 1986 LP Blood & Chocolate for Elvis Costello, a 1988 single ("Windows of the World" b/w "1969") for the Pretenders, and the Katydids ' self-titled debut album of 1990. After that, Lowe essentially retired from producing recordings for other acts, although
13394-452: The LP demonstrated that the band could thrive in a more musically expansive environment compared to previous albums. Actor Robert Downey Jr. named Imperial Bedroom his favourite album of all time in 2005. Speaking to Uncut , he stated: My first impression of it was that I could imagine someone spending their entire life thinking an album like this out, having enough life experience, getting
13575-592: The Lonely LPs and overall mood to Miles Davis 's Kind of Blue (1959). In contrast to "Almost Blue", "...And in Every Home" vaunts the most extravagant production on the album. Its music is led by Nieve's orchestral arrangements, which one reviewer likened to the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper . The lyrics depict stagnant views of relationships, whose individuals' act in age-inappropriate ways; the characters cheat on their spouses with individuals half their age in an attempt to recapture their youth. Gouldstone interprets it as
13756-617: The Netherlands and 49 in Australia. F-Beat also issued a now-rare collectible double promotional LP, titled A Conversation with Elvis Costello , featuring album tracks interspersed with comments by the artist on the makings of each track. The album's singles performed poorly. The first, "You Little Fool" backed by the Lowe-produced outtakes "Big Sister" and "The Stamping Ground", was released in June 1982 and reached number 52 in
13937-623: The New Year's Eve show, Robert Palmer of The New York Times commented: "Some of them have the harmonic and melodic sophistication of pop standards from the 1930s and 1940s." On 7 January 1982, the band performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in London, mostly playing older hits and songs from Almost Blue and Imperial Bedroom . Costello continued tinkering with
14118-464: The Rolling Stones ' " Mother's Little Helper " (1966). In a lyric mirroring Trust 's "Big Sister's Clothes", a teenage girl is ready to grow up to adulthood while her parents do not understand her nor approve of her love life. Perone says "You Little Fool" offers a culmination of the album's themes of "dejection over the messes people make of their lives". The final track, "Town Cryer", is
14299-482: The Rolling Stones' " Stupid Girl ". Most of the songs on This Year's Model were written while Costello was still working a full-time office job, before his first album was released. Among them was " (I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea ", which was released as the album's first single in early March 1978, reaching number 16 on the UK Singles Chart. The second single, "Pump It Up" , which reached number 24,
14480-630: The Roses ", which reached number 6. Costello had long been an avid country music fan and has cited George Jones as his favourite country singer. He had appeared on Jones' duet album My Very Special Guests , contributing " Stranger in the House ", which they later performed together on a 1981 HBO special dedicated to Jones. Imperial Bedroom (1982) featured lavish production by Geoff Emerick , engineer of several Beatles records. It remains one of his most critically acclaimed records, but again it failed to produce any hit singles—" You Little Fool " and
14661-556: The UK Singles Chart and number 65 on Billboard Hot 100. Costello's 1980 Get Happy!! album featured a sound based on vintage American soul music . Some songs marked a distinct change in mood from the angry, frustrated tone of his first three albums to a more upbeat, happy manner. The single, " I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down ", was a rendition of a Sam and Dave song. Lyrically, the songs are full of Costello's signature wordplay. His only 1980 appearance in North America
14842-448: The UK and number 30 in the US. Its singles , " You Little Fool " and " Man Out of Time ", failed to break the top 50 in the UK. Its commercial performance led Costello to take a new direction with 1983's Punch the Clock . It was greeted with massive acclaim from music critics and continues to be regarded as one of Costello's best works. Reviewers praised the songwriting, production, instrumentation and performances, although its complexity
15023-525: The UK music press through a combination of effective publicity stunts , such as Costello busking in front of the London hotel hosting the CBS Records business convention, and genuine enthusiasm for his music among music journalists. The album reached number 14 on the UK Albums Chart within a few weeks of its release. "Watching the Detectives", released in mid-October, reaching number 15 in
15204-503: The UK, Europe, Canada and the US. Released in early January 1979, Armed Forces debuted at number 2 on the UK Albums Chart, and spent 28 weeks on the chart. In the US, it spent 25 weeks on the Billboard chart, peaking at number 10 in mid-March. The US release replaced "Sunday's Best" with Costello's cover of Lowe's " (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding ". Costello's best-selling single, " Oliver's Army ",
15385-491: The UK. The second, "Man Out of Time" backed by an alternate version of "Town Cryer", was released in late-July and reached number 58; both failed to chart in the US. The label, expecting another success akin to Armed Forces , were disappointed with the performance of Imperial Bedroom . Costello later opined that the label's choices of singles were poor and "did little" to designate the album's change of style from previous records; he felt "Beyond Belief" would have performed well as
15566-768: The US and UK, with American instrumental rock band Los Straitjackets . In June 2019 Lowe played at the Glastonbury Festival . Lowe has been married twice. His first marriage to country singer Carlene Carter lasted from 1979 to 1990. He married designer Peta Waddington in 2010. The couple have a son, Roy, born in 2005 who is an aspiring musician who plays drums amongst other instruments. Lowe lives in Brentford , London, England. Lowe's best-known songs include his own hits: He also wrote songs most famous for their cover versions: Some songs were written or co-written for albums he produced: Lowe also wrote
15747-549: The US in early November. The album gradually climbed to number 32 on the US Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart and was named among the best albums of the year by US music critics. In mid-December, Costello and the Attractions appeared on Saturday Night Live , where they angered the show's producer by unexpectedly playing the then-unrecorded song " Radio Radio " during the live broadcast. By late 1977, Costello had moved from Stiff Records to Radar Records ,
15928-451: The album has aged well and highlight its wordplay, and the performances of the Attractions. Mojo 's Mat Snow gave particular praise to Bruce Thomas's basslines and compared them to that of Paul McCartney, calling his work "models of dramatic invention". Bruce himself considered it Costello and the Attractions' best record: "We were all throwing in musical ideas." In his book The Words and Music of Elvis Costello , Perone contends that
16109-405: The album saw the group use unusual instruments, including harpsichord , accordion and strings arranged by Nieve. Songs were rewritten constantly while Costello tinkered with the recordings, adding numerous overdubs . Employing a variety of pop styles that embody new wave , baroque pop and art rock , Imperial Bedroom contains an ornately lush production that several commentators compared to
16290-506: The album was "so ridiculously good that one's immediate inclinations are to clamber effusively over the top, superlative peaking superlative." The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics' poll voted it the best album of 1978. Rolling Stone named it among the best five albums of 1978. For the seven months following the completion of This Year's Model , Costello and the Attractions continued touring Britain, Europe and North America, playing larger venues and debuting new songs that Costello
16471-469: The album's influences came from the music Costello and the Attractions listened to while touring, from the Berlin-era records of David Bowie and Iggy Pop to ABBA and Kraftwerk . Costello later said that Armed Forces was his first album of songs he wrote with an awareness of having an audience. The album's lyrics reflected his experiences on the road in the US, as well his continued concern over
16652-403: The album. He chose former Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick to produce the album, who the artist primarily used to "make his scattershot ideas a reality"; Emerick would be listed on the album sleeve as producing "from an original idea by Elvis Costello, assisted by Jon Jacobs". It was Costello's first album of original material not produced by Nick Lowe , as Costello believed his complex ideas for
16833-476: The artist's collaborations with Burt Bacharach , Allen Toussaint and the Brodsky Quartet . On its 40th anniversary, Allison Rapp of Ultimate Classic Rock stated that Imperial Bedroom was one of Costello's most mature attempts at wrestling with one's existentialism. The production has been praised for its intricacy, offering a listening experience that rewards repeated listens. Others have argued
17014-441: The artist's previous albums, Imperial Bedroom employs a variety of musical styles, characterised by commentators as new wave , baroque pop , and art rock . Reviewers also found it Beatlesque , and drew comparisons to Tin Pan Alley . AllMusic 's senior editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine regarded the songs as an extension of the jazz and pop infatuations explored on Trust . In The New York Times , Palmer summarised, "the music
17195-533: The backing band. Starting in late November or early December, Costello travelled to Headley Grange in East Hampshire , where Clover were living, to spend the day rehearsing and working out arrangements for a batch of his songs and then recording the songs with the band the next day at Pathway. Costello still held a full-time office job, so the sessions were spaced over several weeks to accommodate his work schedule and Stiff's tight finances. My Aim Is True
17376-524: The concert venues. After a concert in Columbus, Ohio, on 15 March, Costello got into a drunken argument at a hotel bar with members of the Stephen Stills band and entourage. The argument culminated in Costello disparaging James Brown and Ray Charles with racially charged insults, in comments he would later call "the exact opposite of my true feelings". When Costello's comments were reported in
17557-526: The confused state of the world, the song sets up a recurring theme where people do not learn from their mistakes. Gouldstone comments that while Costello had previous acted as an observer or outsider, with "Beyond Belief" he now acts in a more positive role than playing a cynical observer. AllMusic's Bill Janovitz viewed the track's use of vocal layering, effects and instrumentation as resembling and predating techniques of sampling and looping before their widespread use in rock . "Tears Before Bedtime" returns to
17738-426: The country albums Red Headed Stranger (1975) by Willie Nelson and The Battle (1976) by George Jones . Many of the songs, particularly "Beyond Belief" and "Man Out of Time", represent an embellishment of somber reflection for Costello, having experienced numerous public and personal disturbances over the past five years and having little time for rumination. Gouldstone states that every song on Imperial Bedroom
17919-596: The country-rock band the Mavericks persuaded him to produce one track for the Apollo 13 soundtrack in 1995. In 2011, The New York Times claimed: "The 40-year career of the English singer-songwriter Nick Lowe constitutes a paradox: the songs he has written are better known than he is." Alex Turner , of the Arctic Monkeys , described Lowe as one of his favourite lyricists. In another interview, he said that he
18100-477: The critically acclaimed " Man Out of Time " both failed to reach the Top 40 in the UK. Costello collaborated with Chris Difford , also of Squeeze, to write the song "Boy With a Problem". Costello has said he disliked the marketing pitch for the album. Imperial Bedroom also featured Costello's song " Almost Blue ", inspired by the music of jazz singer and trumpeter Chet Baker . Baker later recorded his own version of
18281-416: The current pop hits, Ross began giving him five or six of these demonstration records per week. Costello has said, "That's why I know so many songs." Chief among Costello's early favourites among the hit-makers of the day were the Beatles . Costello has said that, having turned nine years old in 1963, he was exactly the right age to experience the full force of Beatles fandom as he grew up. He has described
18462-525: The early version of "Ghost Train", then called "Maureen and Sam". By early 1973, Costello had determined that the music scene in Liverpool was too small to support his ambition to have a career in music, so he arranged to transfer from his job as a computer operator in the Midland Bank data centre in Bootle to a position as a clerk at the bank's Putney branch. Returning to London, Costello moved into
18643-414: The entire band in black-and-white. The one of Costello, in which he glares into the camera with his chin resting on his fist, was used as the sleeve photo for the "Man Out of Time" single. Imperial Bedroom was Costello's first album to include a lyric sheet. In a 1995 interview with the author Peter Doggett , he explained that up until that point, he was uncomfortable with having "little poems" printed on
18824-426: The environment and concentrated the most on the sound of the recordings. Unlike previous albums, where there was a general production idea, Costello stated that the band treated each song individually. Emerick concurred, stating, "My co-production consisted of abandoning the arrangements that we had carefully worked out." Bruce Thomas recalled: The thing about Imperial Bedroom was that we went away and rehearsed all
19005-429: The family business. Instead, they raised him in a home filled with music, encouraged his musical curiosity, and supported his efforts to find his own way toward a career in music. Lillian told journalists that she knew before he was born he would have a career in music and that she listened to a broad range of music while she was pregnant with him with the intention of giving him an early start in music appreciation. As
19186-677: The far west side of London. This meant Costello's commute to work in North Acton took him past the Hoover Building in Perivale . Around the same time, he was starting to become aware of the nascent punk movement, although he would not hear any of the British punk bands until they began releasing records. He was, however, inspired by the Modern Lovers ' song " Roadrunner ", with its reference to such quotidian landmarks as
19367-690: The fastest. Stiff had been founded by Jake Riviera , who managed several acts Costello admired, and Dave Robinson. Nick Lowe , whom Costello was on friendly terms with because he had attended so many performances by Lowe's band Brinsley Schwarz, was the label's first artist and soon became its in-house producer. Following a successful test-session in mid-September at Pathway Studios , an inexpensive studio in North London , Stiff agreed to finance more sessions for Costello with Clover , an American country-rock band from Marin County, California , as
19548-496: The first in the family to make a career in music, is the reason he himself is a musician. Costello spent most of his childhood in Twickenham , in west London, before moving to Liverpool with his mother in 1970. Costello was raised Roman Catholic and served as an altar boy until he was 14. Costello's parents had separated by the time Costello was ten years old, after which he was raised by his mother. Ross continued to be
19729-584: The first single. The non-album single "From Head to Toe", a Smokey Robinson cover, was issued in September and performed better than both Imperial Bedroom singles. Clayton-Lea opines that Costello was "swimming against the commercial tide" in the age of New Romantic bands such as Adam and the Ants , Duran Duran , Depeche Mode , the Human League and Soft Cell . Imperial Bedroom was promoted under
19910-471: The former would become one of his best-regarded and best-known songs. However, Costello was receiving increasingly prominent, positive coverage in the British music press. My Aim Is True had been completed since the end of January but its release was delayed, first because Stiff had wanted to release records by other artists who seemed more tied to transient music trends and then because of legal difficulties with Stiff's distributor, Island Records . It
20091-959: The job involved frequent periods of waiting for the mainframe computers to complete their tasks before beginning them on the next one, it gave Costello time to write songs while at work. Except for a few months in 1973 when he worked as a clerk at the Midland Bank Putney branch, he continued to work full-time as a computer operator until a few weeks before his first album was released in July 1977. Costello began writing songs and teaching himself to play guitar by age 14. To test his songs in front of an audience, he performed them in folk clubs that permitted amateur musicians to perform unpaid. He played these clubs regularly in London and continued in similar clubs when he moved to Liverpool at age 16, although folk music venues that welcomed original songs were scarcer in Liverpool than in London. By 17, he
20272-444: The latter's was moved up, forcing Emerick to work between the two. The new record was Costello's first where the songs were not performed live before properly recording. Costello instead drew upon brand new songs, but took some tracks from prior ventures: "Boy With a Problem" originated during the sessions for Trust , "Kid About It" from the artist's time producing Squeeze 's East Side Story (1981) and "Tears Before Bedtime" during
20453-412: The line, "love and unhappiness go arm in arm", perfectly describes the album thematically. Gouldstone contends that if the album itself is a quest to improve satisfaction following the overall dissatisfaction of Costello's earlier albums, the LP ends relatively the same as how it started; however, he maintains the journey itself has been "an enriching experience", and the long fade out of "Town Cryer" allows
20634-431: The listener to process the album as a whole before it ends. The cover artwork, a painting titled Snakecharmer & Reclining Octopus by Barney Bubbles (credited to "Sal Forlenza"), is a pastiche of Pablo Picasso 's Three Musicians (1921). Costello was taken aback upon seeing the painting for the first time, believing Bubbles had responded to "the more violent and carnal aspects of the songs". The painting depicts
20815-406: The lyrical content, Costello imagined this to be his most optimistic album to date. The opening track, "Beyond Belief", evokes 1960s psychedelia and utilises an unusual song structure, wherein there is melodic contrast from section-to-section and the chorus does not appear until the track's outro, to describe a tense relationship study between two mutually mismatched forces. Providing commentary on
20996-483: The massive critical success of Imperial Bedroom , its modest commercial performance forced Costello to reevaluate his musical style. Columbia, remaining eager for another Armed Forces , showed little interest in the artist's less-commercial works. By 1982, Costello had garnered a loyal fanbase, largely through his own merits, but knew his heavily artistic and challenging material was doing him more harm than good, so he decided to change direction with his next record. He and
21177-493: The more "rough-edged rock" of Costello's Lowe-produced records. Several gave high praise to the Attractions, although some noted the band played a lesser role in the arrangements compared to previous records. Reactions to Costello's singing were mostly positive, labelled by some the strongest of his career. Others acknowledged the change in attitude from the artist's previous albums, Barry Alfonso of LA Weekly describing Imperial Bedroom as "the most benign album he's recorded yet,
21358-584: The musicians auditioning played as part of a band. Chosen were bassist Bruce Thomas (no relation to Pete), who was 28 years old and had ten years' experience in professional bands, the most successful being the Sutherland Brothers and Quiver ; and keyboardist Steve Nieve (then Steve Nason), a 19-year-old student at the Royal College of Music who had formal musical training but no experience in any kind of pop group. The band, soon named
21539-409: The musicianship right. There was just so much on it. So many words, so many ideas. And every song is a triumph. It took me about 10 years to even begin to understand it. [...] [Costello's] made so many great albums, but Imperial Bedroom is the one that says: 'This is where the bar has been – now how about this, you fuckers?' Imperial Bedroom has not been without its detractors, particularly regarding
21720-412: The name of a track Costello wrote and recorded after the sessions wrapped. He later remarked that the chosen title had "just the right combination of splendour and sleaze to fit all the tracks on the album". After completing the basic tracks in November 1981, Costello and the Attractions debuted several Imperial Bedroom tracks live during shows throughout late-December. Reviewing the newer numbers during
21901-481: The narrator's plea for the woman to love him after the man has left her; if she does not love him, he loses grasp on reality. AllMusic's Rick Anderson opined that the song presents both the "best" and "worst" of the album, but found its "lush and heartbreakingly pretty" production lends the chorus its emotional weight. "Almost Blue"—titled after his preceding album of country covers—was based on Chet Baker 's recording of " The Thrill Is Gone ". The album's only track that
22082-443: The narrator's seclusion is accentuated through references to the hostility of the outside world. Like "Man Out of Time", "he needs love to protect him from the chaos surrounding him", although his repeated attempts result in failure. Costello wrote "Kid About It" the morning after John Lennon's murder and reflects his mindset following the event. A gospel -inspired waltz with a simple arrangement, AllMusic's Stewart Mason compared
22263-402: The new At My Age , moved him out of the realms of ironic pop and animated rock and into the role of a worldly balladeer, specialising in grave vocals and graceful tunes. Lowe's four most recent solo albums mine the wealth of American roots music, drawing on vintage country, soul and R&B to create an elegant mix of his own." Lowe was quoted as saying that he had "escaped from the tyranny of
22444-460: The new wave era, and earning him the respect of musicians and critics who disregarded him as a punk rocker. In his book Let Them All Talk , Hinton proclaims Imperial Bedroom as "an album of astonishing vitality and musical optimism" that "remains perhaps his most perfect achievement", occupying "an aural richness" that would return on 1996's All This Useless Beauty . Reviewing Costello's entire career, Klinger argued that its musical styles predated
22625-518: The next year, included " Milk and Alcohol ", written by Lowe and Gypie Mayo . This song and " I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass " are the only Lowe compositions to reach the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart . Because the two main singers in Rockpile had recording contracts with different record labels and managers, albums were always credited to either Lowe or Edmunds, so there is only one official Rockpile album, 1980's Seconds of Pleasure , which
22806-419: The number using the backing track as a guide. A contemporary review from NME 's Richard Cook noted that the guitars were demoted to "mere colouration", with the keyboards drawing "the predominant melodic shape". Nieve also played the distorted guitar during the fade of "Tears Before Bedtime" as "a joke". The Attractions recorded some tracks without Costello present, such as "Pidgin English" and "Boy With
22987-641: The one-word tagline, "Masterpiece?", which Thomson says attracted as much positive publicity as it did negative. After refusing to conduct interviews for several years, Costello began speaking with the press again, explaining: "In the beginning [of my career], I did a few interviews, and I didn't feel they went very well, so I just stopped doing them. [...] Then when the time went by, and I felt there were some thing that were perhaps necessary to explain, I changed my mind." According to Thomson, Costello's initial refusal did little to help in his diminishing sales numbers, as interviews were essential to album promoting at
23168-403: The page". Speaking to Doggett, he said: "It makes for quite interesting reading. You can make up your own lines, starting in the middle of one song and into the next one." Eric Klinger of PopMatters later argued that the sheet "lent to the air of mystery and challenge to the listening", making it "even more of an immersive experience". Although the album was finished by March 1982, its release
23349-400: The partly autobiographical "Man Out of Time" was the "heart" of the album. Bookended by a fast-paced band-led performance with screaming—the initial recorded version—"Man Out of Time" boasts a wall of sound production and excessive wordplay to describe three characters: the narrator, a woman and a man who holds a public position. The details are minimal and obtuse, but Gouldstone interprets it as
23530-439: The press a few weeks later, the bad publicity was sufficiently severe and widespread to be regarded, including by Costello himself, as the reason he never achieved the top-level commercial success in the US that had been predicted for him. In June, Costello had a hit as a songwriter when Dave Edmunds released his recording of " Girls Talk ", a song Costello had written but not yet recorded. Edmunds' version reached number 4 on
23711-416: The production makes the songs sound "spontaneous and immediate", while the author James E. Perone remarks that Costello's voice is higher in the mix , presenting a "clearer presentation" of his voice than any of Lowe's productions. The lyrics on Imperial Bedroom are also a departure from previous albums, wherein every song is primarily concerned with topics of love and relationships, and delve further into
23892-412: The production. Writing for Blender magazine, Douglas Wolk stated that the "hyperdense songwriting" and elaborate orchestrations make for a difficult listening experience, a sentiment echoed by Slant Magazine . Others, including Treblezine 's Tyler Parks, have found it "pretentious" and "obsessed with its own virtuosity", while Jason Mendelsohn of PopMatters believed its lush set pieces were
24073-452: The psych of dealing with emotions rather than the "revenge and guilt" fantasies of Costello's early work. Gouldstone summarises the album as being about "the emotions, and more specifically the emotional problems, of individuals", while Perone wrote that the songs "can be fully appreciated as a statement on importance of breaking through the noise and static of life to reach simple clarity and focus". Puterbaugh compared its "thematic concerns" to
24254-403: The publication also placed "Man Out of Time" as one of the year's top ten tracks. Additionally, The New York Times ranked it 1982's seventh best album, while Rolling Stone included it in their list of the year's top 40 albums, recognising the LP as Costello's "most fully realized" and "most compassionate" album to date. Time included it in their list of the year's best albums. Costello and
24435-449: The raw energy and sass that were principal ethics of punk ", noting the "construction of his songs, which set densely layered wordplay in an ever-expanding repertoire of styles." His first album, My Aim Is True (1977), spawned no hit singles, but contains some of Costello's best-known songs, including the ballad " Alison ". Costello's next two albums, This Year's Model (1978) and Armed Forces (1979), recorded with his backing band
24616-448: The record would be too much for the producer; engineer Roger Béchirian did not return either. Lowe later returned to produce 1986's Blood & Chocolate . Emerick's primary role was to let the musicians take charge of themselves, as a way to "draw things out of the artist". Costello commented in 1995: "He was used to being thrown an incomprehensible garble of sounds and musical directions and making some sense of it. After working with
24797-486: The record's greatest strength and weakness, becoming so "overwrought" it makes you yearn for the artist's simpler works. Costello himself admitted in the 2002 liner notes that the record "is not exactly easy listening as it is". Gouldstone argues that "whatever your opinion of the production, Imperial Bedroom remains a collection of high-quality songs". Imperial Bedroom has made appearances on several best-of lists. In 1989, Rolling Stone ranked it number 38 on its list of
24978-403: The record, including alcoholism, domestic violence, impotence, relationship dysfunction and lack of self-esteem. The song depicts a marriage going through a tough period, in which the husband is drinking again and both parties are committing acts of violence on one another. The ending gives a sense of hope that she will forgive him. In a stylistic detour, "Pidgin English" echoes 1960s psychedelia to
25159-505: The rise of far-right political groups in the UK; the album was originally to be called Emotional Fascism . Just before the album's completion in late September, Costello and the Attractions played to an audience of 150,000 in Brockwell Park , south London, as part of the second Rock Against Racism music festival. A few weeks later, they began six months of touring that included, for the first time, Japan and Australia, as well as
25340-498: The same Twickenham flat where he had lived with his mother a few years earlier, by then occupied by his father (Ross), Ross's second wife, and their infant son. When booking himself into London clubs, he began using the name Declan Costello, adopting a family name that Ross had once made a record under, because it was easier to spell and understand than MacManus when he spoke on the phone. Around this time, Costello accompanied Ross to Costello's first professional recording session, for
25521-425: The sessions for Almost Blue . Tracks he wrote at home on the piano included " Almost Blue ", "...And in Every Home" and "The Long Honeymoon". Costello asked Sammy Cahn for input in writing what would become "The Long Honeymoon" but the writer declined, which gave him the motivation to finish writing it himself, while Squeeze's Chris Difford co-wrote lyrics for "Boy With a Problem". To some extent Imperial Bedroom
25702-442: The singing, and chose the cover songs they played. A friend from those days later told a journalist, "It wasn't so much that he imposed the ideas; he was the one who had the ideas." None of the other members of Flip City shared Costello's commitment to pursuing a career in music and some disapproved of his desire to make money from his music. Costello became engaged to marry a former schoolmate in late 1973. By then he had found
25883-423: The sleeve, preferring his words to be heard rather than read. Gouldstone interpreted the inclusion as to possibly not be misheard or misinterpreted. The lyrics appear in a continuous flow, without punctuation nor breaks between songs, and in all caps , which was done by Bubbles at Costello's instruction as he wanted the final result to be a graphic effect rather than, in his words, "stressing any order or hierarchy on
26064-473: The snare drum" in No Depression , (September–October 2001) when explaining his move away from regular pop music that would get played on mainstream radio. In 2008, Yep Roc and Proper Records released a thirtieth anniversary edition of Lowe's first solo album, Jesus of Cool (entitled Pure Pop for Now People in the US, with a slightly different track listing). The re-issue includes tracks from
26245-531: The song. Imperial Bedroom placed first on the Village Voice' s annual Pazz & Jop poll. In 1983, he released Punch the Clock , featuring female backing vocal duo ( Afrodiziak ) and a four-piece horn section ( the TKO Horns ), alongside the Attractions. Clive Langer (who co-produced with Alan Winstanley ), provided Costello with a melody which eventually became " Shipbuilding ", which featured
26426-500: The songs and then didn't do the arrangements when we got in the studio. We just improvised totally new versions, changed the lyrics, changed the melody, changed the arrangement, so it's like we learned the structure of the songs then just deconstructed them and played completely different versions. [They] were changing all the time. The group utilised unusual instruments, including mellotron , harpsichord , accordion , twelve-string guitar , marimba , strings and trumpets . Once Costello
26607-423: The songs are offset by an edge that only a craftsman could manufacture." Some critics felt Imperial Bedroom pushed Costello to the forefront of musical innovation, despite lacking major commercial appeal. Record Review 's David M. Gotz argued that the artist lacked youth appeal, but his work nonetheless "continues to be a stimulating experience for those who have enough time and sense to listen. [...] But he
26788-533: The songs he is best known for, " (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding ", was written by Nick Lowe and recorded by Lowe's group Brinsley Schwarz in 1974, but remained obscure until Costello released his version in 1979. Costello's own songs have been recorded by artists including Linda Ronstadt , George Jones , Roy Orbison , Johnny Cash , Dave Edmunds , Chet Baker and Alison Krauss . Costello has won two Grammy awards, two Ivor Novello awards, four Edison awards, an MTV Video Music Award ,
26969-521: The soundtrack album to The Bodyguard , an album that sold about 44 million copies worldwide. A New York Daily News article quoted Lowe as saying his greatest fear in recent years was "sticking with what you did when you were famous." "I didn't want to become one of those thinning-haired, jowly old geezers who still does the same shtick they did when they were young, slim and beautiful," he said. "That's revolting and rather tragic." Rock critic Jim Farber observed, "Lowe's recent albums, epitomised by
27150-404: The studio craft of Imperial Bedroom meant the tracks, particularly "...And in Every Home", "Beyond Belief" and "Man Out of Time", were harder to play live. [ Imperial Bedroom ] got some of the greatest reviews imaginable, [but] it didn't sell more than any other record. The record company couldn't find any obvious hit singles on it, though I thought it had several. —Elvis Costello Despite
27331-521: The tension-building instrumentation of the Attractions. "The Long Honeymoon" is a tale of infidelity that employs a Latin -type groove, jazz and lounge inflections on piano and French cabaret -style accordion. Perone likens its arrangement to a 1940s/1950s torch song . Its instrumental middle section boasts a rare guitar solo from Costello. Gouldstone compares its themes to the Trust numbers "Big Sister's Clothes" and "Shot With His Own Gun". Costello felt
27512-598: The time. During a particular interview with Rolling Stone 's Greil Marcus , he atoned for an incident that occurred on the American Armed Funk Tour in March 1979, in which he insulting various American musical artists James Brown and Ray Charles , using racial slurs, in a drunken exchange with Stephen Stills . He gave further apologetic comments in The New York Times , Newsweek and
27693-485: The top 30; Armed Forces (1979) and Get Happy!! (1980) both reached number two. He had experimented musically with Get Happy!! , Trust and Almost Blue , and began to write more introspective lyrics than the angry material of his first three albums. However, the weaker commercial performances of these projects caused him to re-evaluate himself as an artist, leading him to take a new direction for his next album. Costello's initial vision for his seventh studio project
27874-436: The track's "1950s cool jazz" sound with that of "Almost Blue". In "Kid About It", the narrator pleads to his lover but believes she is behaving immaturely and not taking the relationship seriously. Wanting to return to a less complicated time, he is done playing games and wants to fully settle down. For his vocals, Costello sang in his lowest octave and strained on some of the higher notes, which Mason felt added "vulnerability" to
28055-410: The unobtrusive rimless glasses Costello had worn to correct astigmatism since he was a teenager for a pair with large black frames. Costello's first single, " Less than Zero ", was released at the end of March 1977. It received a few brief, mixed reviews in the British music press and sold very few copies. Two further singles, " Alison " and " (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes ", also sold poorly;
28236-543: The voice to convey the lyrics in an emotional way, describing the album as "pompous, narrow-minded, pseudo-literary hooey mired in incoherent, desultory musical forms, boring, lifeless melodies and log-jammed lyrics". Imperial Bedroom made appearances on several lists of the year's best albums, including number one placements by Record Mirror and The Village Voice on its annual Pazz & Jop critics poll. NME placed it number two, behind Marvin Gaye 's Midnight Love ;
28417-574: Was "Radio Sweetheart", which would become the B-side of his first single. In mid-August 1976, Costello included "Mystery Dance" and "Radio Sweetheart" on a demo tape he gave to Stiff Records , a new independent label that had just released its first single. Partly due to the airplay received from Gillett around the same time, Costello was soon evaluating offers from several record companies, including Gillett's own Oval Records. Costello chose to work with Stiff Records because they seemed prepared to move
28598-507: Was also a member of the short-lived mainly studio project Little Village with John Hiatt , Ry Cooder and Jim Keltner , who originally got together to record Hiatt's 1987 album Bring the Family . In 1990 he wrote a song, "Who Was That Man?" about a man who died in the King's Cross fire . In 1992 "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding" was covered by Curtis Stigers on
28779-518: Was at the Heatwave festival in August near Toronto. In January 1981, Costello released Trust amidst growing tensions within the Attractions. The single " Watch Your Step " was released in the US only and played live on Tom Snyder 's Tomorrow show, and received airplay on FM rock radio. In the UK, the single " Clubland " scraped the lower reaches of the UK Singles Chart; follow-up single " From
28960-444: Was booking himself into clubs as a solo act under the name D.P. Costello, D.P. being his initials and a nickname he was sometimes called by his family. While working as D.P. Costello, he learned to sing and play guitar very loudly and developed a forceful stage presence, although he was still playing to small audiences for very little money. Few of the songs he had played with Flip City were included in these performances. Instead, he
29141-568: Was born Declan Patrick MacManus, on 25 August 1954, at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington , West London, the only child of a record shop worker and a jazz musician. Both parents were from the Liverpool area and had moved to London together a few years earlier. Costello's father was Catholic and of Irish descent, while his mother is English and was raised a Congregationalist . Costello's mother, Lillian MacManus (née Ablett, 1927–2021),
29322-602: Was born and raised in Toxteth , Liverpool, the daughter of a gas-main layer and a mother who became increasingly disabled by rheumatoid arthritis as Lillian grew up. Responsible for caring for her younger brother and sick mother, Lillian left school at 13 and took the first of a series of jobs at music stores. After moving to London with her future husband Ross in 1951, she took a job in the record department in Selfridges department store and continued selling records through
29503-575: Was debuting some of the songs that would start to get the attention of the music industry, such as "Mystery Dance" and "Wave a White Flag". Costello included both songs on a six-track demo tape he sent to London radio presenter Charlie Gillett , who thought "Wave a White Flag" was the best of the six. Gillett played several songs from the tape on his radio show later that year, the first time any Costello song received airplay. Sometime in 1976, lack of money forced Costello, his wife and their toddler son to move in with relatives near Heathrow Airport , on
29684-567: Was divisive. Imperial Bedroom has appeared on several best-of lists and has been reissued multiple times with bonus tracks. By 1981, Elvis Costello had released six studio albums in four years. Following the release of his country covers album Almost Blue (1981), the artist was facing diminishing popularity, particularly in America, where Trust (1981) and the Taking Liberties (1980) collection of outtakes had only reached
29865-472: Was not released until the waning days of the collaboration. Seconds of Pleasure featured the Lowe songs "When I Write the Book" and "Heart". However, two of the pair's most significant solo albums from the period, Lowe's Labour of Lust and Edmunds' Repeat When Necessary , were effectively Rockpile albums, as was Carlene Carter 's Lowe-produced Musical Shapes album. Lowe's album Labour of Lust received
30046-403: Was occasionally being paid a little money. On the eve of the release of his debut album in 1977, Costello told a journalist that by that time he had written hundreds of songs. At the beginning of 1972, Costello was invited to join a folk-rock band called Rusty by the band's founder, an 18-year-old veteran of the Liverpool music scene named Allan Mayes. As other members left, Rusty soon became
30227-647: Was pushed back four months due to financial disputes between F-Beat and Columbia Records . Costello and the Attractions toured Holland and Oceania from April to June as pre-release promotion. Released on 2 July 1982, Imperial Bedroom reached number 6 on the UK Albums Chart and number 30 on the US Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart; it spent 12 weeks overall in the UK top 100. Elsewhere, it peaked at number 18 in Norway, 30 in Sweden, 37 in New Zealand, 45 in
30408-498: Was recorded and mixed in six four-hour sessions for a total cost of about £1,000. The final mix was completed in late January 1977. Producer Nick Lowe, recording engineer Barry Farmer and Clover bassist John Ciambotti have all said they found Costello confident, well-prepared, and mature beyond his years during the making of the album. By February 1977, Riviera and Robinson, who were now Costello's managers, had given him his new stage name, Elvis. The reference to Elvis Presley , who
30589-423: Was recorded at Eden Studios , in west London, in eleven days. Inspirations for the album's sound included 1960s beat groups like the Who, the Kinks and Small Faces, as well as contemporary acts like Talking Heads , but the biggest influence was the Rolling Stones ' album Aftermath (1966). Costello himself called This Year's Model "a ghost version of Aftermath " and "This Year's Girl" an answer song to
30770-637: Was released in Britain in February. Costello has said he wrote the song after his first visit to Northern Ireland and was inspired by seeing young British soldiers on the streets of Belfast as a part of the Troubles . The song reached number 2 on the UK Singles Chart. It was also his biggest hit single in Ireland , reaching number 4 on the Irish singles chart. The second single, " Accidents Will Happen ",
30951-608: Was released in early May. According to Costello, the song was written in response to his own marital infidelities. The song reached number 28 in the UK. In the US, it reached number 101, missing the Billboard Hot 100 but charting higher than any previous Costello single. The concert tour promoting Armed Forces was marked by bad publicity. Costello and the Attractions played some shows that audiences considered too brief and refused to return for encores. Audiences in Sydney, Australia, and Berkeley, California, responded by vandalising
31132-403: Was released on 22 July 1977. Two weeks earlier, Costello had left his job as a computer operator at Elizabeth Arden on the condition that Stiff pay him, as an advance on future royalties, a regular stipend equal to the wages he had been earning at his job. In mid-June 1977, Costello held auditions for a bassist and keyboardist for a backing band for a tour to promote My Aim Is True , wanting
31313-718: Was responsible for producing some of the benchmark releases of punk and new wave, including the Damned 's first single, " New Rose ", considered the first English punk single, as well as the group's debut album, Damned Damned Damned . Lowe also produced Elvis Costello 's first five albums, from 1977 to 1981, including My Aim Is True , This Year's Model , and Armed Forces , which spun off numerous UK hit singles. Other Stiff acts produced by Lowe included punk parody group Alberto y Lost Trios Paranoias , new wave singer Wreckless Eric and roots rocker Mickey Jupp . Other clients (both before and after Lowe left Stiff in 1978) included
31494-457: Was satisfied with where a track was at, Emerick used his experience to shape them. However, the "idiosyncratic, piecemeal approach" led to each track being led by a specific instrument rather than displaying the Attractions as a creative unit: "Shabby Doll" showcased piano and bass, while " Beyond Belief " showcased drums, which Pete Thomas performed in one take after a heavy night of drinking; Costello stated that Pete's performance led him to rewrite
31675-406: Was still alive at the time, was simply intended to get attention. Costello neither particularly liked nor disliked Presley. Because Costello had seen his father, Ross, work under a variety of stage names, he gave little thought to the name change. Riviera and Robinson also helped give Costello a distinctive appearance that contrasted with the contemporaneous ideas how pop stars looked; they swapped
31856-744: Was sufficiently well known for his son's birth to be announced in the New Musical Express . From 1955 to 1968, he was a featured singer in Joe Loss Orchestra , one of Britain's most popular big bands . Ross had a solo cabaret act from 1969 through the 1990s, playing workingmen's social clubs in the North of England, Scotland, and Wales. Ross recorded for small record labels under a variety of aliases, including Day Costello – Costello being Ross's paternal grandmother's maiden name. He also recorded advertising jingles. In 1973, he sang
32037-410: Was the record on which the Attractions and I granted ourselves the sort of scope that we imagined the Beatles had enjoyed in the mid-'60s. We had engaged the engineering skills of the sonic, and somewhat unsung, genius behind many of those productions. —Elvis Costello, 2002 With an emphasis on studio experimentation, songs were constantly being rewritten in the studio; Costello took full control of
32218-595: Was to record most of it live with minimal overdubs . He and his backing band the Attractions —keyboardist Steve Nieve , bassist Bruce Thomas and drummer Pete Thomas (no relation)—spent two weeks rehearsing the material at a remote college in Devon using this method, yielding an eight-track album . Costello eventually settled on using heavy studio experimentation when he found the material sounded too similar to Trust . The band regrouped at London's AIR Studios in November 1981, where Costello had booked 12 weeks to record
32399-496: Was viewed as too cumbersome by some, but praised for its vocabulary. Ken Tucker of The Philadelphia Inquirer griped that "In song after song, Costello forces you to become nothing more than a picky English teacher, grading his self-conscious compositions." More negatively, some believed the album was more "artifice than art" and lacked innovation. Bill Carlton of the New York Daily News wrote that Costello lacked
32580-563: Was writing for his next album. In July 1978, Costello performed at the Danish Roskilde Festival , topping the bill with three other artists, premiering the song " Oliver's Army " that would become his biggest hit in the UK. Costello and the Attractions recorded his third album, Armed Forces , at Eden Studios in six weeks from August and September 1978. It was again produced by Nick Lowe, but Costello himself provided greater creative control. Like This Year's Model ,
32761-561: Was written later, while Costello was on tour with other Stiff acts, in reaction to what he later called his "first exposure to idiotic rock and roll decadence." Upon release in March, This Year's Model entered the UK Albums Chart at number 4. The US version of the album dropped "(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea" and "Night Rally", a song written in response to the rise of the British National Front , and replaced them with "Radio Radio". The US release reached number 30 on
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