Trouser Press, October 1982: Difference between revisions
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You expect more from an Elvis Costello album, and on ''Imperial Bedroom'' you certainly get it. The 15 songs here are so densely written and tightly arranged that the slightest alteration would probably cause the record's contents to fly apart like an overwound mainspring. | You expect more from an Elvis Costello album, and on ''Imperial Bedroom'' you certainly get it. The 15 songs here are so densely written and tightly arranged that the slightest alteration would probably cause the record's contents to fly apart like an overwound mainspring. | ||
Bouncing back from his ambitious but indifferently received country album, ''Almost Blue'', Costello has returned to pop with a vengeance. The music on ''Imperial Bedroom'' sounds like something you might hear on rock radio. Costello puts it to the service of his distinctive lyrics, though, transmuting accepted song structures in the process. The result is his most baroque album since '' | Bouncing back from his ambitious but indifferently received country album, ''Almost Blue'', Costello has returned to pop with a vengeance. The music on ''Imperial Bedroom'' sounds like something you might hear on rock radio. Costello puts it to the service of his distinctive lyrics, though, transmuting accepted song structures in the process. The result is his most baroque album since ''Armed Forces'', with a fascinating but intimidating sheen. | ||
It may also be his most unified LP yet. As the title (with typically Costellian overtones of dominance and repression) suggests, ''Imperial Bedroom'' is monomaniacally concerned with love, or at least romance. The 5 musical case histories presented herein compendium of backfired emotional relationships: She-hates-him ("[[Beyond Belief]]"), they-hate-each-other ("[[Tears Before Bedtime|Tears before Bedtime]]"), they-hate-each-other-and-themselves ("[[Shabby Doll]]"), etc. Whether Costello is still "angry" or not is irrelevant. He ''is'' restless, which is almost always more attention-getting than doing a James Taylor. | It may also be his most unified LP yet. As the title (with typically Costellian overtones of dominance and repression) suggests, ''Imperial Bedroom'' is monomaniacally concerned with love, or at least romance. The 5 musical case histories presented herein compendium of backfired emotional relationships: She-hates-him ("[[Beyond Belief]]"), they-hate-each-other ("[[Tears Before Bedtime|Tears before Bedtime]]"), they-hate-each-other-and-themselves ("[[Shabby Doll]]"), etc. Whether Costello is still "angry" or not is irrelevant. He ''is'' restless, which is almost always more attention-getting than doing a James Taylor. | ||
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Words, words, words. They cover both sides of the inner sleeve, run together teletype-style with no punctuation, no break between songs and an occasional typo. The presentation exemplifies another Costelloism: the grudging bestowal. Printed lyrics facilitate communication, but what is Costello communicating? As in the past, much of his writing seems more concerned with linguistic gymnastics than underlying meaning. | Words, words, words. They cover both sides of the inner sleeve, run together teletype-style with no punctuation, no break between songs and an occasional typo. The presentation exemplifies another Costelloism: the grudging bestowal. Printed lyrics facilitate communication, but what is Costello communicating? As in the past, much of his writing seems more concerned with linguistic gymnastics than underlying meaning. | ||
He needn't rely on such grandstanding. "[[The Long Honeymoon]]," a surprisingly clearcut narrative, depicts a wife waiting for her (probably errant) husband with deft touches: ''"When the phone rang only once she took a dreadful fright."'' "[[Almost Blue (song)|Almost Blue]]" ("There's a girl here and she's almost you") is a careful neo-torch song arranged similarly to Costello's reading of "[[My Funny Valentine]]" on the '' | He needn't rely on such grandstanding. "[[The Long Honeymoon]]," a surprisingly clearcut narrative, depicts a wife waiting for her (probably errant) husband with deft touches: ''"When the phone rang only once she took a dreadful fright."'' "[[Almost Blue (song)|Almost Blue]]" ("There's a girl here and she's almost you") is a careful neo-torch song arranged similarly to Costello's reading of "[[My Funny Valentine]]" on the ''Taking Liberties'' LP. "[[Boy With A Problem|Boy with a Problem]]," another introspectively paced number, dissects its tangled interpersonal hang-ups with a sure songwriter's scalpel, even showing rare compassion for the second-person female (or is that because its lyrics are mostly by Squeeze's [[Chris Difford]]?). | ||
"[[You Little Fool]]"'s mixture of pathos and contempt will be more reassuring to inflexible Costello fans. Other customary traits can be found in "[[Pidgin English]]" and "Tears before Bedtime" (aggression), "Shabby Doll" and "[[The Loved Ones]]" (threats, denigration), "[[Human Hands]]" (assertive longing), and "[[Town Cryer]]" (self-pity). The last-named sums up the album thematically with the line, ''"Love and unhappiness go arm in arm."'' | "[[You Little Fool]]"'s mixture of pathos and contempt will be more reassuring to inflexible Costello fans. Other customary traits can be found in "[[Pidgin English]]" and "Tears before Bedtime" (aggression), "Shabby Doll" and "[[The Loved Ones]]" (threats, denigration), "[[Human Hands]]" (assertive longing), and "[[Town Cryer]]" (self-pity). The last-named sums up the album thematically with the line, ''"Love and unhappiness go arm in arm."'' | ||
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Revision as of 03:31, 2 February 2015
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