Track Listing
DISC 1:
1. Beyond Belief
2. Tears Before Bedtime
3. Shabby Doll
4. Long Honeymoon, The
5. Man Out of Time
6. Almost Blue
7. And in Every Home
8. Loved Ones, The
9. Human Hands
10. Kid About It
11. Little Savage
12. Boy With a Problem
13. Pidgin English
14. You Little Fool
15. Town Cryer
DISC 2:
1. Land of Give and Take, The - (early version of "Beyond Belief")
2. Tears Before Bedtime - (alternate version)
3. Man Out of Time - (alternate version)
4. Human Hands - (early version)
5. Kid About It - (alternate version)
6. Little Savage - (alternate version)
7. You Little Fool - (alternate version)
8. Town Cryer - (alternate version)
9. Little Goody Two Shoes - (alternate version)
10. Town Where Time Stood Still, The - (alternate version)
11. And in Every Home - (rehearsal)
12. I Turn Around
13. From Head to Toe
14. World of Broken Hearts, The
15. Night Time
16. Really Mystified
17. Stamping Ground, The
18. Shabby Doll - (demo)
19. Man Out of Time - (demo)
20. You Little Fool - (demo)
21. Town Cryer - (demo)
22. Seconds of Pleasure - (demo)
23. Imperial Bedroom
| Details | | Producer: | Elvis Costello, Geoff Emerick | | Distributor: | WEA (Distributor) | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
Album Notes
This reissue contains a bonus disc with alternate versions, demos and rehearsal takes.
With his seventh album, IMPERIAL BEDROOM, Elvis Costello was hailed as being more than just a New Wave rocker. With intricate, Beatlesque arrangements and unusual, sophisticated song structures, Costello emerged as full-blown master craftsman. Some of the more excitable critics of the day declared him a modern Cole Porter. Indeed, it's possible to imagine some 1940s torch singer crooning the slinky "The Long Honeymoon" or the mournful "Kid About It," but the free-associative, polyrhythmic likes of "Beyond Belief" and "Shabby Doll" had never been heard anywhere in pop music before.
Undeniably one of Costello's finest hours as a tunesmith, IMPERIAL BEDROOM shows several sides of his musical personality. He's roots-conscious enough to pen a perfect jazz ballad ("Almost Blue," later covered by Chet Baker), but adventurous enough to push the lyrical and harmonic envelope even farther than on his rococo masterpiece, ARMED FORCES.
Editorial Reviews
Ranked #38 in Rolling Stone's 100 Best Albums Of The 80s survey.
Rolling Stone (11/01/1989)
5 Stars - Indispensable - ...Costello's masterpiece. Rich in musical styles, baroque, Beatlesque and unstoppable...the most endlessly rewarding of all Costello's albums...
Q (11/01/1994)
Ranked #41 in NME's list of The 50 Greatest Albums Of The '80s.
NME (09/25/1993)
5 stars out of 5 - ...It's baroque majesty still thrills....Elegant, expansive, knotted with concealed emotional conflict, exciting, beautiful...
Uncut (01/01/2003)
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