Imperial Bedroom

I can't figure out what these kinds of albums are for - like, if you're a fan, when do you listen to this? what does it do for you? what mood does it set? what experience are you after? He's a style chameloeon, hoping around sounds from light new wave, to adult sophistipop, to jazzy Parisian bossa nova - but it's always the same scaly big eyed chameloeon - the distinctive voice and melodic phrasing.

I made it to track 7. It's an Elvis Costello album, alright. I can't fucking believe there are six albums of his on the list.

This, realistically, was inoffensive but mediocre. It's just that he has a way of making pretty much every song sound the same, even when they're totally different. In my feeble past attempts at creating art and in my four decades of appreciation of art, I have always thought that perhaps the most difficult part of an artist's job is knowing how much is enough; knowing when to stop adding to the piece. Elvis Costello does not understand this, and is ABSOLUTELY UNDESERVING OF SIX ALBUMS YOU "MUST" LISTEN TO. This is the 3rd I have listened to, and I don't look forward to the others.

⭐⭐

solidan album koji mi je ipak malo kvalitetom prevrludav. dvije su mi se stvari u biti dosta dopale: »the long honeymoon« i »almost blue«. ostatak je isto načelno dobar, ali ne toliko, neke su stvari sasvim zaboravljive i zanemarive, što ne čudi s obzirom na kostelovu hiperprodukciju, a i činjenicu da album ima čak 15 pjesama koje se rastežu (uf, lazo) na 50 minuta. nisam hejter ko većina na ovoj stranici, pa ne hetjam kostela, premda stvarno ima previše albuma na popisu (imaju šugavi bitlsi više, ali to je zbog nekog razloga u redu...)

no ja sam evo s ovim albumom završio svoje službeno druženje s kostelom! i dalje ću, vjerujem, kao i dosad, tu-i-tamo pustit »oliver's army« i »tokyo storm warning«. te su mi stvarno dobre, no nisu na ovom albumu

my last Elvis Costello album on this list, finally. feel like I finished a lingering side-quest.

I think the author left Diana Krall albums off the list out of jealousy.

Not the kind of thing I wanted to listen to during a headache, immediately after a bad date. It went almost perfectly. But she kept calling me "boy" after getting a little too drunk. I wonder, when I read these reviews back far in the future, I will remember who this is, or if she'll still be in my life. Hey future Rylee, her name begins with A. Remember?

Anyway, 50 minutes of mediocre Elvis Costello didn't help. I really liked the first album I heard from him, This Year's Model, but this is far less exciting. More bloated. More varied, sure, but that means there's a higher chance for things here to sound like something I don't like. And most of the time, I don't. Sorry.

I don't like Elvis Costello's voice. The rest of the music isn't nearly good enough to make up for it. After four songs, I had to turn it off. It was just too annoying. 2/5

I never seek out Elvis Costello, but I'm never disappointed when he turns up

Wasn’t bad. But there’s better in Elvis’ discography. 2.75

The Good: We get a massive bed to play in!
The Bad: We find out that our empress isn’t who we’d hoped she'd be…
The Ugly: Finding out that “& The Attractions” has nothing to do with looks…

What an utter disappointment.

Here are a couple of words which describe best this album:
* Beige
* Fluff
* SHIT

I could go on, but I’ve already wasted too much energy rating an album which has NOTHING admirable meriting it’s presence on a 1001 Album’s You Must Hear Before You Die…

*1

Plenty of Costello on here already, this is not one that should be.

If Michael Bublé had grown up on folk and rock instead of jazz, this would be what you’d get. Now, I never liked Michael Bublé and I don’t like this muddy, moody collection of indulgences. Costello is best when he sings with energy, purpose and urgency but this album offers none of that.

Another album I saw and had made up my mind about before listening.
I'm not a big fan of his sneery voice and haven't found the other albums of his I've listened to so far to be that inspiring.
However, this kept me reasonably entertained as I stripped a bike. The voice can still be grating after a while but here the sneer index seemed to go up and down with different songs.
Overall it was passable.

I enjoy this one but slot it into his post-peak period. It’s more self conscious and less pure pop than his first three absolute classics. Perhaps the end of the beginning of his remarkable career….he was never as good again.

If someone had asked me before I started this project whether I liked Elvis C I would have answered cheerily of course, love that guy, but that was on the basis of his greatest hits and listening to his entire albums confuses me as when he is good, as he is with Beyond Belief, he is amazing but the rest of the tracks as well crafted as they are feel a bit fillery.

This was a well done album. I liked the instrumentation and melodies. It is a little long, but not overly so.

3.5/5.0: Very Good

this album was pretty good. it was a little long, i feel like if you cut three or four tracks this could be a five star album.

The songs are alright but this doesn’t really the same bite as This Years Model or Armed Forces. The songwriting is still really good. Favorite songs were Man Out Of Time and Human Hands.

The day has come. My fate is sealed. The dreadful moment foretold by the stars: an Elvis Costello album.

I’ve never heard a single thing from this man, but I keep seeing him mentioned in reviews. I also keep seeing that he has a shit ton of albums on here, which can only mean one thing: they’re all a steaming pile of hot garbage. I have to prepare myself emotionally, psychologically and spiritually before I listen to any of this. God, if you do exist, please have mercy on my soul. But I know that you ain’t real. Or at least not a good god. A loving god wouldn’t bestow upon his creation so many Elvis Costello albums.

Okay, first impression. His voice kind of annoys me at times. It’s nothing incredible. It’s not really my cup of tea, honestly. I’m not an expert on production, I know next to nothing about it, but I feel like his voice is too loud on some songs. I think that was the intention, but it just annoys me. I think I’m going crazy, but the way he sings doesn’t really go that well with the instruments that are played. It feels like there’s him and then the rest, and I feel like that’s true. I think I could’ve enjoyed this album if it were approached differently. Yeah, no reason for six Costello albums. I have no idea what impact this one had, but I’m sure it’s impossible for all six to be that influential.

God, do I hate Almost Blue. It may be the worst song on this album. He’s yelling over the instruments. Was this the best take? The vocals could use some polishing. The instrumentation is varied from song to song, but he still somehow sounds the same in parts. The way he sings the chorus on Kid About It makes me gag. New worst song on the album.

I don’t know how else to explain it, but throughout this entire album there are points where his voice sounds disconnected from the instrumental. He’s also trying to do some things that his voice clearly isn’t fit for. I wasn’t looking forward to hating this album. I really wanted to give it a chance. I just don’t enjoy it. Not my taste at all. It’s not the worst thing ever, but I wouldn’t bring myself to listen to this again. A Man Out of Time is the best on the album in my opinion. I fear the day the next album from him will grace me.

Midvis Cumtelllo

Ok. Never really got into it at any stage but it wasn't terrible to listen to.