So now we come to Imperial Bedroom, the second album in my Costello Holy Trinity and probably my favorite of his records. To paraphrase Ed Wood in Tim Burton’s film: “This is the one they’ll remember him for!”
To be fair, Costello will be remembered for far more than Imperial Bedroom, not least the fact that he can put out an Imperial Bedroom as well as a country album, a classical album and a Burt Bacharach album. But this is certainly a highlight in his discography.
With today’s selection, I’m breaking from my usual rule of featuring only album cuts. This is an interesting clip of ‘Shot With His Own Gun’… it appears to have been filmed as a simple music video more than a live performance. I’m not sure where it originally aired.
I’m OK using the non-album cut in this case because the song as it appears on Trust is similarly bare-bones. It’s just Costello on vocals and the fabulous Steve Nieve on piano. I do regret that this version leaves out the nice piano solo in the middle of the album version, but mostly it’s spot on.
In 1979, Costello stirred up controversy and damaged his career with some drunken racist remarks about Ray Charles and James Brown. He made them in a bar during a fight with some other musicians and days later saw them plastered on the news.
His next album, Get Happy, was a collection of 20 quick-burst soul songs that many listeners read as a reaction to the embarrassing episode. Get Happy is also one part of my Costello Holy Trinity — the three albums I consider his most spectacular achievements (I’ll reveal the other two as they come up chronologically).
And so Battlestar Galactica, one of television’s greatest shows, has come to an end, signing off with a rousing finale that highlighted both how wonderful and how frustrating it could be. The series was as maddeningly imperfect as its characters but at its best it was among the most resonant and meaningful works of art I’ve seen in any medium.
From the miniseries that launched this reimagining of the 70s cheese-fest of the same name through the midway point of Season Two, Galactica delivered at a level previously uncharted in the sci-fi genre. Viewers expecting cardboard-cutout heroes and villains and rubber-suit aliens were instead met with brutal morality tales and deeply flawed protagonists. It was often tough to watch, but always rewarding.
Once in awhile an album or song you’ve owned for awhile winds up surprising you. Maybe you never really gave it a proper listen in the first place or maybe something in you changed in the meantime and you’re somehow hearing it with fresh ears.
Such was the case for me with today’s song, ‘Two Little Hitlers.’ I’ve always considered Elvis Costello’s third album, Armed Forces, among his weakest efforts. Apart from strong singles ‘Oliver’s Army’ and ‘Accidents Will Happen‘ and nifty, disturbing little pop song ‘Green Shirt,’ I just haven’t found much to like on the record.
