at a glance...

Hometown: Liverpool, England
Born: 1954

Personnel:
Elvis Costello -vocals, guitar
Bruce Thomas -bass
Pete Thomas -drums
Steve Nieve -keyboards, piano, accordion, arrangements

Bands in the Family:
Nick Lowe, Burt Bacharach, Brinsley Schwarz, The Specials, The Pogues, Squeeze, Roger McGuinn, Ian Dury, Paul McCartney, Clover, The Brodsky Quartet, Wendy James

Notes:
He's been through more styles in less time than Bob Dylan, and it's to "the Big D" he's probably best compared in terms of influence, lyrical craftsmanship, and willful perversity, but Elvis Costello has the edge in terms of melodic craft. He was born Declan Patrick MacManus in London, the son of an Anglo-Irish music-hall bandleader, but his debut album on Stiff Records showed no signs of music-hall bounce at all: My Aim Is True was filled with angry, frustrated, impotent songs informed by punk, reggae, and rockabilly. But even as the album was released, Elvis had assembled the crack outfit called the Attractions, and together they formed one of the best working bands in the world. Every subsequent album showed more chutzpah and chops, and Costello's clever songs of rage made him a hero to fans on both sides of the Atlantic, but many casual followers deserted him when he branched out into country (Almost Blue), orchestral pop (IbMePdErRoIoAmL), and just plain radio pop (the underrated Punch the Clock). After one truly horrible album (Goodbye Cruel World), he regrouped in 1986 by forming an extremely diverse band called The Costello Show for King of America. Some would claim that the 1990s were largely wasted for Elvis, but 1998's Painted from Memory, his highly acclaimed collaboration with Burt Bacharach, had critics and record buyers salivating again.

In the movie "Amadeus," the Emperor Franz Joseph is revealed as a philistine asshole because he hears one of Mozart's operas and criticizes it by saying it had, "Too many notes." You're supposed to chuckle knowingly; what kind of dork would criticize Mozart for writing too many notes? And yet that's exactly what happens to most people when they think of this album. Elvis Costello wasn't supposed to get any more sophisticated than "Alison" and "Radio Radio," and he certainly wasn't supposed to deliver a set this ambitious, diverse, and way ahead of its time. Imperial Bedroom is complex, multifaceted, clever, tragic, soulful, orchestral, and just flat-out classic. Even though it really does have too many notes.

This is all made abundantly clear in the first track, "Beyond Belief," which piles up verse after verse of over-heated imagery, each one punctuated by new sounds from the Attractions, into a whirling off-kilter free-for-all; Elvis has so much to say that his vocal lines start overlapping so he can get it all in, and the song can't be bothered with a real chorus (there is a bridge, but it leads nowhere) until the very end. It's brilliant, and it sounds brilliant. This is probably the best the Attractions ever sounded and it sets the tone for what turns out to be a smorgasbord of an album. We have country torch ("Almost Blue"), Duane Eddy crossed with bossa nova ("The Long Honeymoon"), orchestral pop ("...And in Every Home," "Town Cryer"), and songs you just can't classify ("You Little Fool")...and they all have too much to say, too many piano flourishes and puns and internal enjambed rhymes and it's all so messed-up and beautiful.

But none of this addresses the real beauty of this album, which is the depth of the writing. This is a home-run-hitter's album, and my man very often knocks the ball out of the park. Check out the chorus of "Human Hands": "Whenever I put my foot in my mouth/and you begin to doubt/that it's you that I'm dreaming about/Do I have to draw you a diagram?/All I ever want is just to fall into your human hands." He may well have saved my marriage with one line from "Pidgin English": "If you're so wise use your lips and your eyes/Take her to the Bridge of Sighs." We even get into a little American football mope-rock thing on "Town Cryer": "I'm a little down/with a lifetime to go." Amazing stuff; emotional stuff. Too many notes? Who gives a shit?