Tag Archives: Elvis Costello

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Song of the Day #884: ‘Shipbuilding’ – Elvis Costello

Keeping up his breakneck streak, Elvis Costello released his seventh album in as many years in 1983. Punch the Clock was a departure from the baroque pop of Imperial Bedroom and Costello’s most commercial-sounding album to date.

Punch the Clock was produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley, a pair of Brits I’ve seen described as “hit-makers,” though I don’t recognize any of the so-called hits they produced. They brought a high-gloss sheen to Costello’s tunes, including a jaunty brass section and a pair of girl-group backing vocalists known as Afrodiziak.

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Song of the Day #878: ‘Man Out of Time’ – Elvis Costello

Imperial Bedroom, as you’ve likely guessed, is the second of the three albums I consider Elvis Costello’s masterpieces. And if I had to single out just one of his albums as his best, this would be the one.

It occurred to me recently that Elvis Costello isn’t really an album artist. By which I mean that he doesn’t often release complete albums that succeed start to finish. I can usually count a few duds among the gems, and he has a habit of overstaying his welcome and releasing 15 songs when 12 might have been more effective.

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Song of the Day #877: ‘Human Hands’ – Imperial Bedroom

Those Elvis Costello fans confused and disappointed by his foray into country music with 1981’s Almost Blue didn’t have to wait long for his return to the sort of musical experimentation he started with Trust.

In 1982, he released Imperial Bedroom, his most ambitious and intricate album yet. Produced by Geoff Emerick, who served as the engineer on several Beatles classics, this record was Costello’s Sgt. Pepper’s — packed to the brim with musical flourishes, including a full orchestra on some tracks.

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Song of the Day #871: ‘Good Year For the Roses’ – Elvis Costello

My conversion from country music hater to a guy who Tivos the CMAs and owns every Miranda Lambert and Brad Paisley album has been well documented on this blog. But Elvis Costello hasn’t really benefited from my change of heart.

Sure, I’ve enjoyed his forays into country styles, blended with his own rock sensibility, but that was the case even before I became a fan of country music.

Almost Blue, his one true country and western album, remains a mystery to me, banished from my CD shelf years ago never to return.

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Song of the Day #870: ‘Sweet Dreams’ – Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello’s fifth album came out the same year as Trust — 1981 — and it must have thrown fans for a real loop. Almost Blue is a 32-minute record made up of 12 covers of classic country and western songs.

I wish I’d been an Elvis Costello fan at the time, because it must have been something to hear the man’s first four albums — packed with brainy wordplay and furious modern musicality — and then find out that his follow-up was something this square.

But the truth is that Costello was (and remains) a huge fan of American country music. This just happened to be the first time he explored that interest in the studio.

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